Went to my local coin show today, a Spanish cob 8 reales was a bucket-list coin, and luckily I got one within my budget. 8 Reales - Felipe IV, Spain Philip IV (1621-1665) 1621-1665 26.17g These two coins were a bonus that I picked from another dealer's ancient junk bin for 20 usd each! Although worn to the bone, I'll take this denarius of bare-headed Octavian any day, Octavian, Ar denarius, 2.86g 40 BC Obv: C CAESAR III VIR R P C, Bare head of Octavian right Rev: Q SALVIVS IMP COS DESIG around winged thunderbolt And finally a fourree 'Tribute Penny', I don't buy fourree coins, I'd rather have a worn one like above than one with a copper core, but this one's an exception, I really like the quality, the clear bust of Tiberius, even the details on Livia's face is good, also I'm not interested in paying 100s for such a common coin, so this example seemed a good compromise. Tiberius Fourree denarius, 2.84g, 14-37 AD. Obv- TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS; Laureate bust right Rev- PONTIF MAXIM; Livia (as Pax) seated right on throne holding long sceptre and olive branch. Please post any relevant coins!
Nice purchases @Jay GT4 . If you hadn't provided the reverse details for the Octavian, I think I would be hard pressed identifying it. However, I can see the thunderbolt since you mentioned it. The Tiberius fouree is a great example.
I think the fouree is a great coin. The quality is good enough to satisfy the "Tiberius" hole in most collections, the core visibility occurs in places that are not obnoxious, and the fact that it is a fourree just provides another story to tell people about the coin! I probably wouldn't have noticed if you'd not mentioned it, but Livia's face IS detailed to an almost humorous extent Plus...... who's to say that the Tribute Penny in the Gospels wasn't a fourree? It's not like the stories say: Jesus said “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, Jesus punched it to check for purity and examined it with his jeweler's loop, then asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” That might be the one!!! I felt the same way about the prices. But, I suppose I wanted one for the same reason that everybody else wants them, it makes my collection that much more interesting to whomever I can wrestle into looking at it . I certainly wanted to avoid going overboard, but I coughed up what was necessary to get a halfway decent one: The only biblical coin on my list that I'm yet to buy is the Tyrian Shekel. It suffers from the same overpricing problems, but average about 2-3 times the cost
