Picked up my first Sabina

I like the way this seller sends coins. The holder with the coin info on it is nice.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Very nice! I love the Ancient Roman silver & gold coinage.

There is just so much art and variety in Roman coinage because they were constantly changing the designs.

Gold & Silver are the easiest coins to see the designs for sure.

I love to think about who may have held the coin throughout it's history.

Maybe a farmer used it to buy something simple like wine?
Maybe it was a soldier's daily pay?
Maybe it was used as part of a payment to buy a slave?

You just never know who owned those coins and what they used them for.

If these coins could talk I bet they'd have alot of stories to tell.

 

I

Exactly! Thats what I say. Its why I pretty much switched from modern coins (1800's-up) to Ancients and mainly Roman coins. I am addicted bad.

 

It's a very nice coin. I like it. But I hope you ignore the dealer's "grade." I've come to believe that many European dealers (especially French dealers, even more than German ones) routinely overgrade their coins. I've seen coins characterized as "AU" by French dealers on MA-Shops that I would expect to be graded as "F." Barely. I don't know whether they do this deliberately to increase the prices they can ask, or out of ignorance of Anglo-American grading terms.

 

There is definitely a lot of history in them for sure.

I believe that coins with historical numismatic value will hold their value better than the modern stuff & bullion stuff.

What’s crazy is when you see private collectors with better examples of ancient coins than a lot of museums.

I’ve always believed academics & museums should get first dibs on buying coins that they want to study as long as they pay fair market value like the UK requires them to.

 

Congrats, @Everett Guy . I have always enjoyed working with Dolf at Germania Inferior. Very fine person in any of my dealings.

As to "grade", I never paid attention to them, nor honestly cared. I focused on the coin.

I believe this one is a GEM PROOF for me. It is a GEM in my collection, and PROOF that I have one!

SABINA


Roman Principate
Sabina
117-137 CE
AR Denarius
3.18g
Head of Sabina right "SABINA AVGVSTA"
Venus standing right holding an apple and drawing a fold of drapery from her shoulder "VENERI GENETRICI"
RSC 73
Ex: Aegean Numismatics

 

Yes, I see miss graded coins all the time now and wonder how some of these dealers call themselves numismatics. They have to know better? Its like partially false advertising.

 

That’s one reason I like slabbed coins.

At least with those the grade isn’t completely off the mark.

Sure you may get an AU on a coin you believe is MS but they definitely won’t give an F condition coin the AU grade.

 

Like @Alegandron, I essentially never pay attention to the dealer's grade. Or even a slabber's grade. The photos of the coin are by far the most important factor in deciding whether I like a coin enough to buy it. After all, there are plenty of ugly coins with poor strikes that are weak and off-centered, but are technically "uncirculated" because the problems were always there rather than resulting from wear in circulation.

 

Very nice, with a well-rendered portrait, @Everett Guy! Here are my Sabinas with the IVNONI REGINAE reverse type:


Sabina, Augusta AD 117-137.
Roman AR denarius, 3.12 g, 17.9 mm.
Rome, AD 133-135.
Obv: SABINA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust, right.
Rev: IVNONI REGINAE, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter.
Refs: RIC 395a; BMCRE 940; RSC 43; RCV 3921; Strack 379; CRE 54.
Notes: Sabina's coins adopted a simplified form of obverse legend, SABINA AVGVSTA, in about AD 133.


Sabina, AD 117-137.
Roman AR denarius, 3.28 g, 19.4 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 128-134.
Obv: SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P, diademed and draped bust, left.
Rev: IVNONI REGINAE, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter.
Refs: RIC 401b; BMCRE 909 note; RSC 37a; RCV --; Strack 370; CRE 56.


Sabina, AD 117-137.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 22.51 g, 31.2 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 132.
Obv: SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P, diademed and draped bust, right.
Rev: IVNONI REGINAE, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1028; BMCRE 1869; Cohen 38; RCV 3934; UCR 500; Strack 86.

 

..very nice one Everett! ...

 

I don't have a Sabina coin yet. It is on the wish list as I like coins with empresses.

About grading - I guarantee you they know and they are putting "optimistic" grades on purpose. They = auction houses and dealers.
Personally I don't consider this a major issue - I prefer to ignore the grading suggested by auction houses and I decide the grade myself and an actual price I am willing to pay for the coin. If I like the coin and the hammer price is in my brackets, I buy it.

A lot of collectors are absolutely charmed when seeing terms like "good very fine" "almost uncirculated". And a lot of them believe that all the coins described as "rare" are actually rare.

I have a lot of coins described by auction houses as "nearly very fine" or "very fine" but I would be too indulgent if I graded them as F. I didn't care about this aspect and usually I ignore that line in the description - I bought those coins because 1. I liked them 2. the price was OK for their correct grade.

I also saw some slabbed European modern coins with a grade that made me laugh. Overgraded that is. But this is a totally different topic.

A collector needs to learn to grade coins correctly and have a general idea about the price of a coin, judging after rarity and condition (yes, for ancients this is very abstract - just 2 weeks ago I paid 75 EUR + fees for a coin; the correct price would have been, in my opinion, 45-50 - but I wanted the coin and I didn't want to wait a few months for another one to appear)

 

Thats why I picked this one up, its in ok condition for the price and for a few bucks more than what a roached out one sells for Is what I got it for. On the auction site, this auction there was several other better coins people were batteling it out for and my first low bid on this one took it. I was surprised I didn't get the "you have been out bid" and someone didnt snag it for a few bucks more. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

Leftie Sabinas like the one shown by @Roman Collector and mine below are much scarcer than the normal right facing ones.....

 

That's a very nice coin!

Donna's and ambozie's points on grading are well-taken. It also seems necessary to me to understand grading ancient coins from a perspective of collecting history. Before coin photography was widespread and affordable, printed auction catalogues and price lists usually just had a short written description. Back then, giving an honest grade was important: it told potential buyers what to expect. Today, you'll seldomly buy a coin without seeing seeing an image of it first. The grade thus has become mostly superfluous and often can be regarded a form of advertisement on the dealer's side.

I have a single Sabina. It came without a grade:

Sabina, Roman Empire, denarius, 128–136 AD, Rome mint. Obv: SABINA AVGUSTA; diademed and draped bust of Sabina r. Rev: VENERI GENETRICI; Venus standing facing, head l., holding out apple in l. hand and drawing a fold of drapery from l. shoulder with r. hand. 19mm, 2.9g. Ref: RIC II Hadrian 396.

 

Nice coin!.........My only Sabina, it was hole filler but I've become very attached to it!........I have mine as RIC#395a am I missing something??
Sabina AR Denarius 18/19mm..3.21gr
Obverse- SABINA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust right, hair in queue down neck
Reverse- IVNONI REGINAE, Juno standing left holding patera and sceptre.
RIC 395a, RSC 43.


Doesn't RIC#401a Have an obverse legend
SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P

 

the coin is graded very fine+.
Honestly, the coin is looking good and because Germania Inferior dealer is not cheap, but IMO expensive, you have a + for the price you have paid
I dont think you can make use of the same symbols and terms for ancient coins as for modern. I grade this coin as nearly very fine to very fine, because the inscription is well conserved, bur the highest parts of the images are gone. albert

 

Maybe the wrong coin was placed in the holder?

 

I would grade it F-VF (more on the F side than VF )
And yes, congrats @Everett Guy , I would be quite happy with that coin in my collection.

 

You definitely should check out the AE coinage as well.

If you have a big Sestertius (that is not too dark in colour) in hand, you can see the design even without a magnifying glass. You will find longer legends and more room for details.

Here is my humble Sabina:



SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG PP / VENERI GENETRICI S C
Sestertius, Rome
24,83 gr / 32 mm
RIC 1035, Cohen 74, BRMC 1883, Banti 30 (27 specimens)