Hey everyone, Just wondering what time this auction starts at. Biddr shows that it is beginning in less than half an hour, which I though was the correct time, and Roma live shows that it is starting in approximately 4.5 hours. Does anyone know which is correct? Thanks
An exquisite 12 Caesars set for a total of 343,000 GBP. It's funny that the cheapest one was the Otho at 6,500 GBP...and by the way, what is the G.T. collection ? https://www.biddr.com/auctions/romanumismatics/browse?a=1300&c=27350
I see nothing at all odd about that. The Otho is a rather run of the mill mint state coin with legend loss and less than the finest style. Sure it is miles ahead of anything I will ever own but, in this game, it is up against a Titus described as possibly the finest know bronze of Titus (even if it is a mere dupondius) and ten other coins that are mostly too good to be selling as a set/lot. I would expect the buyer of that set to break it up starting with replacing the Otho with a coin matching the merits of the rest. Unfortunately, the next step would probably be to replace the Titus with an aureus of proper merit. Dupondii get no respect. We have people on this list that could justify buying that set to upgrade a couple of their 'set' coins. This brings up a question we all face. Is it better to have a set that is all the best coin we can get even if the Othos and Caligula are junkers relative to the others or would it be better to have a set of matching denarii that look 'right' together and do not draw attention to the faults of the set-mates? Each can collect as they wish. I own a coin of each of the twelve but I do not think of them as a Twelve Caesars 'set'. They are coins. Who remembers sales where coins in such a set would have been offered individually on a provisional basis and then as a group starting at the sum of the individuals. If a bid for the set exceeded the sum of the parts, the provisional sales would all be vacated. Do they do this sort of thing anymore?
I agree 100% with you about this set. I was rather speaking about "usual" 12 Caesars set. Is there only one member here who gathered the twelve and could say " My cheapest one was the Otho" ?
I was tempted to bid on the Caligula denarius that sold for £3900 (just about the same price it sold in NAC spring sale) but common sense stopped me pulling the trigger. Ill just need to wait for a slightly lesser example more in line with what I have budgeted for.
I laughed at that too! I wonder if it was a deliberate choice by the collector to only buy a (comparably). inexpensive Otho. Perhaps they followed a similar strategy to the "SC Markoff" collection NAC sold a few years ago (I was recently reading up on it as it's where my Eid Mar came from). He collected the nicest portrait style he could find of each emperor, not just buying an aureus for the sake of it being gold but rather looking across each metal. I can respect that strategy, especially as it requires really deeply understanding the totality of available pieces and being deliberately color blind for metals.
I'm sitting at my table in disbelief that I won 3/4 of my targets, which is actually very high when you look at my record . Ironically, I had anticipated this to be the most unsuccessful auction of the year for me. Instead that was Leu, where I won as solid 0/10 coins that I bid on. Anyone else successful today?
These coins are a bit beyond my pay grade but it's great fun watching the auction. I can always dream.
I’m in the same boat - I’m looking forward to the Nov 5 auction though! More attainable prices........ hopefully haha
My feelings precisely. With some exceptions (Carthaginian) I would rather have 4 $600 coins than 1 $2400 coin.
