The most beautiful denarius I’ve ever seen.

I was watching a video that
@Roman Collector shared with me about the debasement of the denarius from the medium sized high purity coins of the Late Republic to the tiny copper coins with a silver wash by the time of Gallienus.

One of the coins he showed as an example of an earlier denarius of good size & high purity was this Augustus denarius.



I don’t know why but I find that denarius to be one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. There’s just something about it.

The way the entire circle around the portrait is still there and it’s just a clean bust of Augustus with no titles or praises of himself.

He knew that everyone knew who he was and what he did without needing to remind them on coinage.

Anyway how much does an Augustus like that cost? Where would I find one?

 

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There's a few reverses from that series - in the few years between the Battle of Actium in 31 and when he started calling himself Augustus in 27. They're not all *that* rare but they ain't cheap either. I'd budget $500-800 for one that is relatively problem-free. I've yet to add one to my collection.

 

Oh wow really? They’re “only” $500-$800? I thought they’d cost way more than that.

I’ve had a budget of $1,000 waiting for a nice Augustus but haven’t been able to find one.

Where are you looking?

 

Without seeing or knowing the reverse I doubt you'd find it for anything less than $1000

https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?search=Octavian+denarius&s=0&upcoming=0&results=100

Scroll through and look

 

But those are all priced in Euros and GBP so it looks like they’re selling from Europe.

None of them are slabbed either

I was hoping to buy a slabbed one in the US with US Dollars.

 

The anepigraphic portrait is very pleasing. If the reverse looks as nice as the obverse you might have a hard time finding one for $1000 in the current market. Here's a similar one from CNG that sold for $1700 (+ buyers premium).

 

But that one isn’t in a slab either

I would pay the same price for that coin in a slab.

It’s not as nice as the one in the video but I would still be happy with it.

 

If you want to buy them slabbed you should look at Heritage. Here's an example, there are many more.

 

FWIW, I eventually gave up my hunt for one of these because I discovered his cistophorii, which IMO are much more pleasing.

This one was relatively inexpensive ($200-250?) But they come a lot nicer, generally under $2,000 unless you go for some "finest known" quality


These really pop in the folder next to the tiny little denarii


Ironically, the nicest portraits of Augustus in any metal are the Antiochene tetradrachms, which are one of his very few silver provincials that only come in Greek:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=0

 

Ah yeah I’ve been keeping an eye on Heritage but they’re pretty scarce in decent condition.

Like the one you posted is from 2015. Good price though!

 

Why not buy from Europe? Shipping delays? Losing money on the exchange rate?

 

Yeah a bit of both. Plus dealing with any problems is extremely difficult internationally.

 

I enjoy these types not only because of the time period in which they were struck, but also the straightforwardness and honesty of the portraits.







And here's his portrait with some adjustments. Notice the period between this one and the previous coins. Please, Octavian, tell me your secret; how do you stay so young?

 

One, as Octavian, similar to the OP, and others, later in the reign of Augustus












Q

 

I like Augustus denarii - these are a couple of mine that I like a lot (I've shared them before, but what the hell!):





ATB,
Aidan.

 

Nice! I hope to get an Augustus denarius one day .

 

Augustus made great denarii. He didn’t need to put a bunch of titles and praises. Instead he just stuck with “Augustus” and if you didn’t know who he was then you weren’t important enough to matter.

I also like that his are pretty large and high purity silver compared to later Emperors.

 

I suspect what's resonating with you is the "anepigraphic" obverse: it has no extra inscription or legend around the coin.

They don't occur often but Augustus does indeed have some beautiful portraits with anepigraphic obverses:

 

Yeah I think that might be it.

Most of the other Emperors crammed as many titles onto their coins as possible.

Augustus kept it simple and it sent a powerful message of:

“I am Augustus. Everyone knows who I am. If you don’t know who I am you’re probably not important enough to matter anyway.”

 

FWIW, about 80% of my coins are from Europe. I've yet to have a single issue. Most of the auction houses send Fedex/DHL and I receive the coins faster than when I buy from CNG.

You're also limiting yourself by sticking to only slabbed coins. As already mentioned, those are mainly found on Heritage and Stacks Bowers, and in my experience buyers tend to significantly overbid on those sites. If you really want it slabbed, then you can always buy it unslabbed and ship it to NGC.

For an Augustus denarius, consider the one with Caius and Lucius (already posted here twice). They have a very nice portrait and can be found significantly under $1k in great condition.