I Just Had to Have It!

@David Atherton It is beautiful.

 

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Ken stated my attitude on the matter perfectly. I believe you will find more of us of a certain age that consider wear a fact of life and are more turned off by poor surfaces, ugly color and missing details from strike and centering. He also showed a nice array of ugly-as-sin scraps of metal that are still 100% collectible and desirable for the interest they bring. Now lets be quite clear that I also expect coins of this nature to sell for a discount. The slab crowd wants those MS and AU coins with problems that are deal breakers to me but won't look at a VF let alone a VG. That fact means I don't have to compete with a thousand new people --- just Ken and a handful of other right thinking folks.

Coins I could not resist:
Leader in its category: My Paypal payment was enroute withing 30 seconds of seeing this coin online. It is a Byzantine Anonymous A3 overstruck on a Gordian III as. Some roaches take longer to stamp out than others.


Another is the first and only gold over silver fourree I encountered in a half price box. This one required a fraction of a second to accept because I had heard of these but not seen one and would have paid full price.

Frank Robinson listed this one as what it was and I decided to bid just a bit more than I though it was worth. I had wanted a Byzantine overstrike on what was obviously a quarter cut of a larger coin. He mentioned that the coin was the example photographed in the Sear Byzantine book #1262. I thought that was worth a bonus. No one else did.


Did I mention? I don't collect Byzantine to any great degree but, when a coin asks nicely, who am I to say no?

I don't collect Parthian as a specialty but this Mithradates II was just too beautiful to leave at that show. I feel so shallow falling victim to a pretty face. At least it is too worn to be EF!


I like turtles. This stater of Aigina was struck on a nugget flan rather than the relatively more boring round style most people prefer. This coin was to replace in my heart a coin I turned down when I was first collecting that had an even more baroque flan but I was not willing to pay the price then. I have kicked myself repeatedly over the years. I still like this coin but it was a 'settle' not really a 'had to have'. I wonder where the first one ended up? Maybe it was melted since it would not fit in a slab??? Moral: When you see a 'have to have' coin maybe you need to get it so you don't have to settle for a really nice second place in your heart example.

 

Here's one I had to have. It's well outside of my normal collecting area. It's a fascinating type, and I like the color and wear. Reasonably priced, and nice provenance, too. I bought this from @Valentinian.
Valentinian II (son of Valentinian I by Justina); 375–72 CE. Æ2, Antioch, 378–88 CE; 23mm, 5.24g. RIC IX Antiochia 42c, cf. LRBC II 2881 (ANTA). Obv: DN VALENTINIANVS P F AVG; pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust r. Rx: REPARATIO – REIPVB; emperor standing l., raising kneeling female wearing crown, and holding Victory on globe; ANTB in exergue. F.

ex @Valentinian, acquired from the British Museum duplicate trays in trade, September 1986.

 

Wow such beautiful coins and colours - drool

 

One coin that I actually borrowed $ from my bank to afford it/ really glad I did now! In my book, only reason to borrow money is to buy a house/property/ classic car/ of course great COIN! Here is that coin/ back in 1983.

AV 6 Dukaten 1644 Riga Mint
Estonia under Swedish Occupation during Thirty Years War
Queen Christina of Sweden
Perfect as struck

 

Great coin, Justin!

 

That is fantastic!!!

 

That's a great looking specimen!

However, it surprises me that the eagle is on a globe....in the first century didn't they still think the earth was flat?....

 

A very nice pickup @David Atherton I love it. Here is a coin I had to have. It is a denarius of Vespasian with a pegasus reverse from the mysterious 'O' mint. Although this reverse is common for Domitian, it is very rare for Vespasian.

RIC 1473

 

I love that outstanding portrait on your mithradates II drachm. I'm also a fan of your turtle stater. Does it have an eye? I don't think I've ever seen that before.

 

Many of the coins in my collection were ones that I did not go looking for. Several of them were ones that I spotted listed under New Merchandise headings on dealer websites. Here are the most recent. I had almost given up on considering any of these Bar Kockhba Revolt coins for my collection due to the exorbitant cost being asked. I was able to convince myself that coins of this type were outside of my area of interest. I spotted these however and decided to grit my teeth and pull the trigger. Now that I've purchased them I've satisfied the need to have a couple of Bar Kockhba Revolt coins and I feel as though the pressure is off.

 

Beautiful coin @David Atherton

There are many coins I couldn't resist to (almost all actually, or I wouldn't collect coins.... )

The one below was shown to me in a side alley at a coin show by a coin dealer I knew a bit who was there as a visitor/customer rather than a dealer that time. We started to discuss coins and to show each other what we'd already got at the fair. When I saw it I immediately knew I had to have it. After a short while (and no violence ) I was able to get it from him. And the friend who had been shown the coin previously turned crazy when they realized I got it when they'd been unable to convince the owner to part with it


Severus Alexander, Sestertius - Rome mint AD 231
IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG, Laureate bust of Severus Alexander righ, with light drapery on left shoulder
IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing left, holding thunderbolt and sceptre, with a small figure of the emperor at his feet, SC in field
14.75 gr
Ref : RCV #7966, Cohen # 74

Q

 

It has an eye. Did all the dies have one but most are lost? Most sellers show these as facing up but I see it as swimming left with the head turned so the beak points down. There were many dies over many, many years. Did the intent of the die cutter change to the usual top down view at some point? I have never noted a coin showing a top view with two eyes but many heads are just stubs rather than having mouth and eye. Was this intentional? Many turtles have rear legs and tail which mine lacks. Many have better shell details. These things have to be graded according to what features mean the most to us individually. Wear is low on my list.

 

That's a beautiful coin, @Orfew ! I would have had trouble resisting that one also.

 

What a great portrait @David Atherton! Here's one of mine that I couldn't pass up despite it's flaws.

Vespasian, 69-79. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 34mm, 23.49 g 6), Rome, 71.
O: IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS III Laureate head of Vespasian to right.
R: VICTORIA AVGVSTI, S C in ex, Victory standing right, left foot set on helmet, writing on shield; in right field, mourning Judea seated beneath palm tree.

 

Great lookin' AE at @David Atherton !

This coins isn't anything special, except is was love at first sight when I saw it....picked it up right away. So I guess it is special.


Pisidia, Etenna. 1st century AD.

Obv.: Nymph grappling with snake, amphora in left field. Rev.: E-T, sickle-shaped knife. 19 mm, 3.5 g. Hans von Aulock, Pisidiens, 522

 

The snake lady! I have one of those. Definitely a favorite! It was given to me by one of our kind and generous Ancient Forum members last year.

 

My biggest "couldn't resist" thus far:

Odoacer, Kingdom of Italy
AE nummus
Obv: OD[O-VAC], bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust right
Rev: Odoacer's monogram (letters ODOVA) within wreath
Mint: Ravenna
Date: 476-493 AD
Ref: RIC X 3502

 

When one sees a spectacular coin, my favorite quote, "Resistance is futile" Of course that works with other nice things too.....another one of my fav. mottos, "Work hard, play hard"

 

Play even harder...