The Most Expensive Sestertii

R.C., Excellent thread ! It's great to see some of the gems in the hands of CT members too . The sestertii I like are way out of my price range , but I enjoy looking looking at them . I've only got a few humble examples, the one below is my favorite .

 

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robinjojo, I had a similar experience several years ago with a Chinese silver 1 yuan coin from Yunnan Province. I sent the coin to NGC & it came back in a body bag . I then sent the coin to Heritage with a group of other Chinese coins. Heritage then sent the coin to NGC where it was slabbed & sold for a handsome price !

 

TIF, That certainly is a stunning coin ! Out of curiosity, what was the NGC info ?

 

Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina the younger:

 

Thanks

NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5, Fine Style

 

The most treasured Sestertius in my collection? I found it near-impossible to select just one coin -- but my 'most treasured' would likely be one of the following.

 

Beautiful coins there.

Congratulations.

 

Julia Mamaea must have had a very photogenic face, as did other other Roman emperors and empresses.

I wonder what she would look like today, in a 21st century context?

 

That's beautiful!

Nice! I like the Faustina II, of course. You may read about Cornificia in my latest thread.

Wow, @John Wright ! That's like looking at a museum collection!

 

My favorite sestertius


Agrippina Senior, mother of Gaius

 

Wow ! John, I see what you mean . On pure aesthetics the sestertii of Claudius & Agrippina Senior should be at the top of the list .

 

eparch, What a breath-taking coin ! I love the reverse on your example with the added inscription . John Wright's example seems more solemn without the inscription. Both examples represent the epitome of Roman numismatic art .

 

Unfortunately I don't own an sestertii. I have to get used to green copper and smoothing, as a "recovering collector of early U.S. copper." All of those things are tabboo for a U.S. collector, unless you have no choice. I have to develop a better eye to spot what will be stable during my lifetime and what will turn into a flip full of green dust.

The closest I have is a Caligula AS. This coin has been worked on "six ways to Sunday," but it's cheapest way to fill the Caligula hole in a collection. The denarius coins I saw also had been worked on, admittedly a bit less, but cost 12 times as much.

 

Lovely thread!@Roman Collector.....Some wonderful coins shown and the OP WOW!..I've not really got an expensive Sestertius but this one is my favourite by far!...And again thanks for the help..
Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. Æ Sestertius. Rome mint. Struck AD 171...(32mm, 24.68 g)
Obv. Laureate, draped head right, IMP M ANTONINVS AVG TRP XXV
Rev. Fides standing left, holding Victory and standard, FIDES EXERCITVVM COS III SC
RIC III 997......Double die match to the only example in the British Museum Collection..

 

There's an elegance to a well-engraved, well-struck sestertius that's almost impossible to equal on any other denomination, as many of the examples posted here illustrate. The larger size allows for more artistry in the portraits, and the reverses, including those such as John's Caligula with the wreath and epigraph, are always the most interesting on Roman coins.

That's a summary of why I extended my initial collection of 12 Caesars aurei and denarii to include all bronzes, especially sestertii. But as to choosing the ones I like best... I don't think I could leave out any of them.

 

I hope I am doing this right. First time. My Claudius. Still learning how to take pictures. Not expensive in my case. Pretty pockmarked. Brass not bronze. Dummy me, didn't realize at first how much more yellow than the other bronzes. He was very filthy when I got him. He wouldn't stay clean. Some coins will not. So dunked him in BTA for two days, that ought to fix him for a while. I have read that many of the sestercii that the mints had were melted down to make bronze coins in the later empire days.

 

Marcus Aurelius. As Caesar, AD 139-161. Æ Sestertius (31mm, 27g). Rome mint. Struck under Antoninus Pius, AD 145. Obv: AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS II; Bare head right. Rev: S-C; Minerva advancing right, brandishing javelin and holding shield. Ref: RIC III 1243a (Pius); Banti 291.

 

A common coin in uncommon condition:

Philip I. 244-249 AD. AE Sestertius. (29mm; 21.30 gm). Obv: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev: Felicitas standing left, holding long caduceus and cornucopia. P. M. TR. P. III COS. P.P., S.C. in field. Like RIC 149, but no "II" after COS. RIC is incorrect in showing COS II, which only appears with TRP IIII.

 

These are certainly ten gorgeous sestertii, but I think I could find dozens nicer than many of these that sold for a fraction of the price. All it takes is two determined bidders with deep deep pockets to take the price of a coin into record territory. But yes to repeat, these are beautiful but a sharp eyed collector of substantial means can find sestertii as nice for much less - and in fact a really really sharp eyed collector with the time to scour the listings who has access to a good conservator can once in a while find a diamond in the rough. This used to be far more possible to do when we had the influx from Eastern Europe. Some of the finest sestertii in my collection started out looking quite different when purchased - NOT tooled but expertly cleaned and smoothed - there is a big difference. I think it is very hard to find sestertii that are suitable for this now and unfortunately all but one of three conservators I used to know no longer work on coins.

And of course adding patina to sestertii is another means of conserving a coin - but this is an extremely sensitive, almost taboo subject.

In fact I have a story about that - a friend who was a dealer advised me early in my collecting career that a great way to add patina to a coin is to put the coin in potting soil to which dried soil from a river bottom is added and then leave it alone for a few years. I figured great - a natural way to patinate a coin!

So I put the coin with some river soil in one of my wife’s many potted plants. Fast forward a year or so by which time the plants were shuffled around and I forgot which pot it was in. Then some of the plants were mistakenly thrown out. Needless to say a diligent search of the rest did not result in finding the coin. Fortunately it wasn’t too much of a loss -one time I did FAR worse which I’m still not ready to talk about!

Actually that’s a good question - has anyone on the list ever lost or permanently misplaced an ancient coin?