Challenge; post attractive, sub-$300 coin/s

Just to add a comment/ in 1985 I was charging average $15 @hr. In 2021, I was making $200 @ hr./ so that adds up in a 90 hr work week So, inflation is very much a factor. If you are in the hyper salary class/ dentists/ lawyers/ doctors that means 5X more $$$ to blow on luxuries.
John

 

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Wow, 90 hour work week . Work hard and play hard! You certainly deserve all those lovely coins after all that hard work.

 

Thanks!
Thankfully its easy to go at that pace. Your body gets used to it, and basically you are well paid to get a aerobic workout. I cannot sit idle, love to go full bore/ except when I am sleeping. Problem here since COVID handouts,nobody wants to work anymore I always worked, me/ myself and I and never had to put up with that problem. Right now, I am sitting behind my computer researching precise data labels for my slabbed coins, very time consum ing, but fun.

 

I'm sure I'd learn new German profanity if you saw my yard.

Out comes the Panzer King Tiger to take care of the moles. Fire in the hole!

 

Funny we have VOLES up here/ cute little rodents. But no MOLES which you have. Back home in Germany we had both.

 

Oh, I thought you were in Germany? The house didn't seem very German, but I thought that maybe American-style suburbs had sprouted up everywhere.

 

I wish!
If I where still in Germany I would be getting paid in euros Our loonies are not so great when one has to buy US$/ UK pounds/ Euros I was born in Pattern/ which is in between Jülich and Aachen. Pretty medieval I am glad they restored all their heritage buildings, so much history. Karl der Grosse (Charlemagne) capital was in Aachen.

 

That one beautiful denarius cost me 65 € in 2021 :




And that worn yet identifiable portrait of Julius Caesar himself cost me 54 € in 2021 too :



Q

 

Just to push the envelope on "how much less than $300 can you go" and still find and interesting coin - this BI stater from the Bosporos kingdom with Trebonianus Gallus and Rheskouporis V purchased for 11 EUR (in March 2022) - maybe not the prettiest - but then these coins never are: compare to a nicer EF coin from M. Breitsprecher.

Kings of the Bosporos, Rheskouporis V, with Trebonianus Gallus, BI Stater. 549 BE = AD 252/3
Obv: BACIΛEѠC PHCKOVΠOPIΔOC, diademed and draped bust to right
Rev: Laureate and draped bust of Gallus to right, ΘΜΦ (date) below, trident to right
Ref: RPC IX 198

 

Very nice Gordian!

My one and only Gordian denarius, purchased for the find patina.

 

I know its modern....but I won this for $140US in 2018
RSA
AV Half Pound 1952
Pretoria Mint
George V

 

Beautiful picture. My grandfather took a tour of Germany the hard way. It took him many years to talk about the war, but he mentioned having to march before a tank after his rout at the Huertgen Forest. According to him the guards were relatively nice at the stalag, and he apparently befriended a couple of them. The march back from Mecklenberg at war's end was no fun, though.

 

Even Dresden after the USSR fell apart/ Germany rebuilt the City to its full Baroque splendour. Everything old is preserved to its former glory. Thats why it so sad to see Russians obliterating Ukraine cities You mentioned Mecklenburg/ here is my AV Quarter Dukat from there.

 

One of my favs for $160.
Roman Syria, Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch. Galba, AD 68-69. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 14.22g, 12h). Antioch mint. Dated RY 2 (AD 68/69). Obv: AYTOKPATωP ΓAΛBA C KAICAP CЄBACTOC; Bare head right. Rev: ЄTOYC B; Eagle standing left, wreath in beak, on two laurel branches; palm to left. Ref: RPC 4198; McAlee 308; Prieur 100. Good Fine, nicely toned.

 

One more

 

nero., Congrats on scoring your handsome Philip I Tet from Antioch ! I have always admired this issue (MON VRB), AD 246, with dies engraved from the Rome mint . In 1980 I opened a Coin & Antique business in Rochester, NY, & would often picture an ancient coin in some of the adds I ran . I closed the business in 1987, well after the precious metals market crashed . The Philip I Tet pictured below lured a lot of curious people into my store .

 

Neat. I wonder what the reason for the MON VRB coins was?

 

I have to agree with Doug here: 300$ is still not «cheap»... Depends on what you buy, I guess.

I bought this coin recently for 22€:

Licinius I, 308-24 AD

AE3 Follis, Ticinum 313-14 AD

Obverse: IMP LICNIVS P F AVG, laureate head right

Reverse: SOLI INVICTO COMITI, Sol standing left, holding chlamys across shoulder; raising right hand and holding globe in left, star in left field. Mintmark PT followed by dot

Reference: RIC VII Ticinum 17; Sear 15293

Size: 19 mm Weight: 2,41 g

Reference : RCV 15293

I think it was a good buy. Nice portrait, good details on Sol, nice patina. But I wish it had the star in right field and a cross in left. That would also have made it an interesting coin.

Luckily, they had some interesting coins too:

Claudius AE15 of Sardes, Lydia. KΛAYΔIOΣ KAIΣAΡ, bare head left / ΣAΡΔIANΩN, bearded head of Herakles left. RPC 2996; BMC 114-115; SNG Cop 519-520; Paris 1206; Waddington 5236; Imhoof MG 33; Weber 6907; Sear GIC 453; GRPC Lydia 362.

My bid was 28€ for this one. What I find interesting is the portrait style. This is probably a portrait that is closer to the truth than most of the Rome/Lugdunum portraits. It is very close to the Pergamese cistophorius portraits. Looking at the different samples in RPC, one can see that the chin is shrinking and the nose is growing. I wonder which portraits were first and last?
The Herakles portrait on reverse is also nice. 28€ well spent, I think.


Gaius Caesar AE15 of Apameia, Phrygia. ca 5 BC. ΓAIOΣ KAIΣAΡ, laureate head right / MAΣΩNIOΣ ΡOYΦOY AΠAMEΩN, cult image of Artemis facing. RPC 3130; SNG von Aulock 8305

This coin leaves something to be desired with regards to quality. But it is Gaius, son of Emperor Augustus! Portrait style reminiscent of his father. Had the celators of Apameia seen Gaius at all? Probably not. Still, a coin well worth 20€. And the reverse is the same as the well known pseudo autonymous issue with Zevs on obverse. I like that.




Nero, AD 54-68.

AE26 of Laodikeia, Phrygia, alliance issue with Smyrna, Ionia.

Obverse: NEΡΩN ΣEBAΣTOΣ, laureate head right.

Reverse: ANT ZHNΩNOΣ ZHNΩN YIOΣ ΛAOΔIKEΩN ZMYΡNAIΩN OMHΡOΣ (ANT ligate), around in two lines and down the centre, the two Tyches of Laodikeia and Smyrna standing facing each other, clasping hands. (One Tyche often described as Demos).

Reference: RPC 2928; Franke-Nollé 1197; SNG von Aulock 2242; BMC 265-269; SNG Cop 614; Paris 1535 and 2491; Waddington 7131; SNG Munich 409-410; Weber 7152; Mionnet IV, 723.

Size: 25 mm Weight: 12,18 g

Reference : RPC 2928

Had to shell out 75€ for this one, which made me question if it really was a good buy, uncleaned and common and all. But I think the reverse makes this an interesting coin. Here are two famous ancient cities, committing their future to each other. That’s feelgood. I already have an interest in the Tetrapolis of Seleucis Pieria, Antioch, Apameia and Laodicea in Syria, being marked on their coinage in 147 BC. This coin makes me interested in what was going on between the two cities up there in Phrygia.

I think I have spent half the amount of the OP now, so I’ll just put the rest into gold:


Mamluks. al-Zahir Sayf al-Din Jaqmaq, AH 842-857 / AD 1438-1453.

AU Ashrafi, Dimashq, date off flan.

Reference: Wilkes 1046. Balog, Mamluk, -.

Size: 13mm Weight: 3.38g

Struck on a short flan, otherwise, very fine.

Burji dynasty المماليك الشركس‎ was a Mamluk dynasty which ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517, during the Mamluk Sultanate.

Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq (Arabic: الظاهر سيف الدين جقمق; 1373 – 13 February 1453) was the Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 9 September 1438 to 1 February 1453.

Reference : Wilkes 1046

Source : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayf_ad-Din_Jaqmaq

(With 150 CHF plus 18%, I think I went a little over the 300$ budget.)

 

I won a VAuction several years ago for $50 hammer.

When I wrote the dealer to see if they had more in this price range, they answered: You Wish.

 

Good ol' Hosidius!
I wanted one of those for a while but the prices were discouraging for me.
Managed to win a "compromise" - this was 70 EUR + taxes so fits the thread.


Worse preservation than yours, @rrdenarius but with the same kind of defect - centering. On this aspect, mine seems better. Overall, a good coin especially since it was on my wish list for some months.
But for me this is not a cheap coin. Not a fortune, but I consider it, for my collecting style, average or slightly above average.

Prices paid and how a collector considers a coin cheap or expensive depend on many factors - the income and budget they're willing to spend, how advanced a collector is and if they are also selling coins or not.
I know people who always buy coins in modest or average condition with the goal of reselling those, making a profit and buying better coins. I never liked this (anyway I am not allowed to do this with ancient coins, but I don't have the time and patience to resell any kind of coins).