Did I Upgrade or Not ?

I recently won this handsome follis of Constantine I from the last CNG auction, see the photo below. I needed this coin like I need a trip to Disneyland .


Constantine I as Augustus, AD 310 - 337 (struck AD 307 - 9), Trier Mint, AE follis: 6.65 gm, 26 mm, 6 h. The reverse depicts Mars advancing with a spear & shield. RIC VI, p. 278, 775-8.

The coin is a bold strike from fresh dies & has an attractive brown patina. The only flaw on this coin is the missing O from the name CONSTANTINVS, probably caused by a die filled with metal or dirt. I bought the coin pictured below from a CNG auction 9 years ago, it is the same type as the coin I just won . I paid only slightly more for the 2nd coin as I did for the 1st coin . Did I waste my money or make a smart purchase ? You be the judge...

 

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To be honest, I like your older coin more. I don't think your new purchase is an upgrade. They are both pretty coins.

 

I like the older coin as well. That being said, everyone needs a trip to Disneyland.

 

It is an upgrade but the first is still a good coin which I hope will find a loving home. I only have one. This is a common situation with ancient coins. Each coin has faults and strong points. Style, strike in a hundred different parts of the coin, surface and color all conspire to make it hard to rank coins and lead us to buying still another. Mine is good enough for me but I am not driven toward perfection and prefer to spend the next money on something different.

ex Tom Wood 2014 $75

 

I find the new coin much better in all aspects it has more details, it is less worn and the old one has a weak strike in several letters anyway. I wouldn't mind the only one weakly struck letter.

 

I prefer your new coin. I will admit that the obverse portrait on the old coin has more character, but the details on your new coin, particularly on the reverse, are much stronger.

 

Agreed, I like the new one more also. I like the reverse much more on it. The missing "O" sucks, but when I look at coins, I don't look at letters as the main point of viewing.

 

Your new acquistion has sharper details. One can see Mars' little thingy hanging there, the legs are overall more full and round so to say, and the portrait of Constantine on the obverse is definately shraper. Such a nice coin is not a waste of money by defintion. Whether it was smart of course depends on your own collection wishes. And everybody needs a trip to disney land!

 

side by side, I would pick the newer coin

 

Your new coin is an upgrade in pretty much every way, but not by much. They are both nice examples. You should never need to upgrade your new coin.

 

Very nice coins, I'd take either of them in my collection. I suppose the new coin is bit nicer because of the surface details.

 

I find the new coin to be of a better style and I would have picked it as a matter of preference, but the older coin is also a beautiful example.

 

It's undoubtely an upgrade. That said, with the first one in my trays I wouldn't have bought another one.

My "twoletterless" example



Q

 

For me, the new coin is better. Sorry about the "O". @dougsmit is right.

For example, many Byzantine copper types are poorly produced with uneven strikes and poor dies. It is quite possible to own three of a single type, each the best of the bunch in some way but not in other ways. Then I can hope to find a fourth, as good as than all of the others every way so I could "upgrade" to just one coin of the type. It rarely happens.

I agree with Cucumbor.

However, it is hard not to when the price is almost the same. On the other hand, the money could be spent on any of the tons of other types out there that would improve a collection.


Back to Constantine:



Coincidentally, this one is also missing the "O" in "CONSTANTINVS" (as well as other letters). This one is of Constantine as Caesar (The OP coin was as Augustus).
27 mm. 6.53 grams.
FL VAL CONSTANTINVS NOB C
MARTI PATRI PROPVGNATORI
S A in fields
PTR in exergue
RIC VI Trier 730 struck "c. summer 307"

 

I like the newer coin, both are beautiful though.

 

Given the quality of the first piece you had, I would have been looking for an ungrade. but I know the motivation for doing it.

This is a U.S. coin, but it's an example of where I went too far.

I had this 1864 Small Motto Two Cent Piece in my collection. It was graded Mint State Brown. I forget the exact number.



I upgraded it with this one, which is an MS-64, R&B. Now I have some buyers' remorse.

 

I'm far from an USA specialist but whatever the colour I don't see a mint state in your first 2 cents.
The second one is gorgeous !!

Just my two cents
Q

 

Are you going to sell the 'old' one? (I'm not hinting to buy it at all, sincerely.) I have frequently used the upgrade process to build a nicer collection one example at a time. A few examples I have are the result of 3 or 4 upgrade moves over the past 20 years or so. But I always sell the 'old' example. On a few occasions I've actually come out ahead financially though that is not the norm :-o. But, even in worst case scenario, the proceed$ from selling the 'old' has gone a long way toward paying for the 'new' one. :-D

Anyway, I would welcome with a huge smile EITHER of those 2 examples into my collection! As several above have already noted, both are very nice coins!!!!!!

 

I think the new one is absolutely an upgrade and I prefer it to the old one. Even with the missing letter, the rest of the coin is so crisp and well struck that that it's forgiveable. The reverse of the new example is really magnificent.

That said, both are great coins.

 

1st one by a mile