I think the Roman gold Aureus is one of the most beautiful coins ever minted anywhere. If anyone happens to have any to share I would love to see them . Thanks!
I wish I could lol. I think I'll stick with antoninianii until I win the lottery. I look forward to seeing some aurei from more posters!
I know what you mean. Even in VG/F grade they are still usually over $5,000 each. But for more popular ones like Gaius Junius Brutus (assassin of Julius Caesar) can sell for millions of dollars. I was thinking about picking up a VF aureus of Nero’s but that $5K price tag is hard to swallow as someone on a $40K/yearly income :/.
I have a British Sovereign that weighs similar to an Aureus, for the moment i just pretend I'm holding a Roman Aureus! I'd rather have a nice solidus/tremissis for around $1000 just to tick off the Roman gold, but I can't bring myself to get a worn Aureus for 2-3 thousand bucks.
lol- I rather enjoy the Carthagian Staters for artistry.....and earlier Aureus, but after, say, Marcus Aurelius, they seem to get crude and ugly (in my humble opinion)......one of these days, those Carthagian ponies will be mine!
The solidus is a pretty cool coin too! It’s just a lot lighter and a bit smaller. I particularly like the Histamenons of the Byzantine Empire because they are really thin but they are stretched wide so the details can be easily seen with the naked eye.
Use the Coin Talk search function and you will find quite a few posts where aurei have been shared by some of our members. A few of them are spectacular. We each will make a decision on how to spend our coin budget. If you were given $100,000 to spend on coins would you select one very special coin (there are many that have sold over that number) or 100,000 $1 pieces of metal that probably were coins once upon a time? Most will answer somewhere in between but we are left with the matter of 1000 coins at $100 or 100 coins at $1000. Here is where many of us differ. About thirty years ago, I was told that a 'serious' collector on ancient coins was one who spent $1000 a year on coins. I suspect that number has changed a mite especially now that we have the Covid bubble in effect. The aureus that makes me willing to spend my entire year's budget on one coin may exist. I have not seen it yet. So far this year I have not bought a single coin. Will this be the year of the aureus? Probably not.
You need to check out @AncientJoe's Colosseo Collection. Better put on some sunglasses and strap on your seatbelt before you click that link, though.
Mine will never, ever, ever be. I could sell my entire collection and afford maybe one or two of those things. And while that would be delightful, and I see the benefits of a small collection being a bit more manageable, I do think I’d like to have more coins than I do fingers on one hand, y’know. (My former “Box of 20” has now bloated to around 85 pieces at present.)
Since my goals have been to get at least one coin for each emperor up to Constantine the Great (so far), I have stayed away from the Roman gold because of the cost. I have paid as much for one coin as I would have for an aureus a couple of times (Gordian I and II), but I have pretty much stayed with the silver pieces. I have seen some magnificent gold coins in dealer's inventories on-line, but the kind of coins I collect usually grade EF to AU. Therefore my tastes run too much to the high grades and very high prices. I'll get a gold piece somewhere down the line, but it won't be for a while. I have become a bit of a "gold bug," but it has not gotten to ancient coins yet.
We are all in different places financially, and do the best with what we have. Honestly, if I were making $40k a year OP I would not consider an aureus, heck I would not consider any coin over $30 until you have no credit card debt, 4-6 months value of expenses in the bank, puts in at a bare minimum enough 401k to get the company match, and have bought a house. If you are not finished with your education do that as well. Coins are not an investment. Doing the things I mention will be your best long term investment in yourself, not a coin. I was where you are now, I used to buy junk morgans for a coin fix because they were just $6-7 and that was all I could afford reasonably at the time. Now, 30 years after graduating college I can afford aureus' if I wanted too, but still put "real money" in investments instead. always just use hobby money, money you can afford to lose, for your entertainment. that dollar amount will change over the years.
I recently won a histamenon nomisma at auction, been in transit from Switzerland since March 12...I'm starting to buy more gold these days. Also, sound advice from @medoraman. Pay yourself first, you'll be amazed at the compound interest over the years, especially if you dollar cost average your investments.
I wouldn’t consider buying an aureus unless I made >=$200k per year, or had a net worth of $1M+. Keep in mind I live in the Midwest; those numbers would change if I lived somewhere with a higher CoL. Those suckers are expensive! Agree with the advice of @medoraman
Here is one of my favorits. I very much like the portrait of Vespasian on this one. Vespasian, AD 69-79. Aureus (7.30 g), Rome, AD 77-78. Obv. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head of Vespasian left. Rev. COS VIII (ex.), Vespasian standing left, in milittary attire, holding long scepter with right hand and parazonium with left, being crowned with wreath by Victory standing behind him, holding palm. BMC 205; Cohen 131; RIC 936; Calico 625. If you ever buy one yourself, be careful. Gold is a soft metal and easy to manipulate. Many have smoothed fields or plugged holes and even more have traces of mounts.