Who's ready for Roma?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by savitale, Mar 23, 2021.

  1. svessien

    svessien Senior Member

    I watched parts of the auction, and there were some jaw-dropping coins indeed, with supplementary jaw-dropping prices. The favorite of @kazuma78 sure was one of them.
    One thing that made it interesting to watch, was that there was a little flag appearing, showing where the bid came from. There were quite a few US vs. China match ups. I know coin collecting has become popular in China, but wasn’t aware that ancient coins from Europe and the Mediterranian was this popular there. Now we’re all toast.
     
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  3. svessien

    svessien Senior Member

    It’s interesting to see how similar that portrait is to some of the Ephesan denarii of Vespasian.
     
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  4. robinjojo

    robinjojo Well-Known Member

    There's a lot of money floating around out there, and people with newly acquired wealth (stocks, bonds, ipo's, buyouts, etc.) are looking for places to put some of that money. This is an international trend, and for over the past 20 years China has been entering the picture big time.

    I think it means that the really rare, high profile coins will continue to fetch increasingly stratospheric prices. Mid-grade coins are probably the best opportunities to acquire some interesting, rare examples.
     
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  5. Restitutor

    Restitutor Well-Known Member

    Travel anywhere in Europe as a westerner and anything you find intriguing will be immediately beset by Chinese tour groups. I caught on to this game when I visited the Louvre, testing it out by taking pictures of random things and not others to see what would happen, and it was quite entertaining. Not surprised this is translating to western coins as well now. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
     
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  6. savitale

    savitale Well-Known Member

    Nothing today. I had one primary target and it set a new auction record for the type. By a lot. 2.8x what the same coin sold for six months ago.
     
  7. savitale

    savitale Well-Known Member

    That is a very interesting observation. I know that Chinese coins are a big growth market but I'm surprised that there is a market for ancient Greek and Roman in China. The Classical world doesn't really play a big role in Chinese history or art as far as I know.
     
  8. IMP Shogun

    IMP Shogun Well-Known Member


    I was thinking that it was Hong Kong ex-pats. When I saw it in Baktrian coins I realized that’s closer to China than any Mediterranean country, not that geography should equate to interest anyhow. Investing in physical items like artwork may also be a way around the capital controls for taking money out of China.

    More the merrier, I wanted to buy one coin and it went 4x over the worthless estimate and I exited the auction in disgust with myself thinking I had a shot at 2 or 3x estimate. Now we can read how hot the market is because the auction came so much higher than estimated...

    I actually enjoyed the ANA seminar on pre-Roman provincial coins more than I did watching any part of that auction.

    So my advice to the OP would be to spend time learning about coins and buying some to play with and analyze, than participate in an auction of that type today particularly if they are new to the field.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2021
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  9. svessien

    svessien Senior Member

    Although it means even more competition and higher prices, it gives me a feeling of optimism that people all over the world find interest in exploring and understanding cultures that aren’t necessarily related to their own. And like @Restitutor said, the Chinese sure have come out to explore.

    D6716B61-BE17-4616-8182-F60D2E199632.jpeg

    I live close to this rock. When I was a kid, only us locals went there. It would be a peaceful moment on the plateau, with the 700 meter vertical drop down to the fjord stretching east into the country.
    Now it has become a tourist attraction. This is from a monday in April, a few years ago. On a nice day in summer, the plateau will be covered by people from all countries. A large part of them will be Chinese cruise tourists. And Americans, of course. Many of them look like they never walked on anything but pavement and level floors before. I’m glad the now yearly 250 - 300 000 visitors experience a hike. I’ve got plenty of rocks where I can be by myself.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2021
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  10. Romancollector

    Romancollector Well-Known Member

    Didn’t really pay attention to the Greek coins (out of my collecting area ATM), but hammer prices for Republican denarii were absurd. Don’t think I even placed a bid as the ones I wanted shot up pretty quickly. Needless to say I didn’t win anything. :( Did anyone notice there’s an additional 2% fee to bid on Roma-live or biddr? I don’t recall this fee for either option in Roma XX.
     
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  11. svessien

    svessien Senior Member

    The price level on some of the RR coins surprised me a bit too. Some of them went a bit under estimate, didn’t they? (And yes, I noticed that quite a few went higher too.)
     
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  12. robinjojo

    robinjojo Well-Known Member

    That's a beautiful overlook.

    What's the location?
     
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  13. svessien

    svessien Senior Member

    It’s called The Pulpit Rock

    Tom Cruise fell off it and «climbed it» in the last «Mission Impossible» movie. A good climbing buddy and late friend of mine helped attaching some good climbing holds on the face, to help him get up during the filming. So it’s a rock with provenance.
     
  14. Mrktstrtmyhm

    Mrktstrtmyhm Active Member

    I was hoping to get one of the Persian Darics but man, that coin is one hot commodity these days! Was beaten by 1600 pounds on my first bid and couldn't justify paying $4300 total for my second bid.
    I'll never participate in premium Roma auction for a while if it's going to be like this.
    The Daric I was looking at sold for $2500 6 months ago and sold for over $6k today.
     
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  15. kazuma78

    kazuma78 Supporter! Supporter

    I'm right there with you. I passed on several darics about a year ago to 15 months ago that sold for $2250-2700 that showed the bow, the spear head and basically all the figure. But were vf-ish or had something that kept me off. In the current market, those would all be 4-6k or so. Its insane, and rediculous.
     
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  16. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    I expected to walk away without anything today, but had this in my watch list and was successful. The weakness on the crown of Sol is admittedly an issue, as is the off-flan "COS" on the obverse, but I was drawn to the overall style of this typically crude Roman Republican denarius issue, not to mention the lovely toning.
    437-1a-Roma Photo.jpeg
     
  17. robinjojo

    robinjojo Well-Known Member

    A nice acquisition.

    Congratulations!

    Do you have nay information on the counterstamp?

    I think the flatness of part of crown is due to it being opposite the area on the obverse that received the counterstamp.
     
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  18. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    I actually thought for the most part, the Roman Republican lots were uncharacteristically estimated high. Several lots did not reach estimates. A few of the premier examples went way beyond estimates but my general impression is that the estimates were too hopeful.
     
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  19. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Going into the auction as the high bidder on 3 lots, each one 80% of the estimate, imagining what they'd look like on my desk if I won them at my max bid: 3fxxss.jpg
     
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  20. Fugio1

    Fugio1 Well-Known Member

    I don't see a counterstamp on this coin. All artifacts appear to be from the die. Do you see something I am not seeing?
     
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  21. Mrktstrtmyhm

    Mrktstrtmyhm Active Member

    Yeaa once I saw the estimates getting blown out of the water on nearly every lot I knew I was finished.
     
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