Happy Halloween all. Here are a couple that I need some help identifying. These were in a envelope of bus tokens and foreign coins from a small collection I bought earlier this month. I'm clueless on the ancients, and hope someone here can help. thanks ! Coin #1 Coin #2 Coin #3
The first and last are Roman Imperial while the second is a Roman Provincial of Alexandria in Egypt. The first is Constantius II struck at Nicomedia mint and is an average specimen of a common coin but a little more popular than some since the reverse includes a Christian symbol on the banner. The second is Maximianus and dated to the second year of his reign with Spes (personification of Hope). I'd call this a bit above average but still not a premium item. The last is either of the brothers Arcadius or Honorius but unclear in the photo which. The obverse legend starts DN followed by either name so perhaps you can read on the coin if it is AR or HO. In this condition it might still be worth a little more that the Roosevelt in the picture but not much.
Very informative, and very fast ! Thanks ! I'll see if I can decipher the letters to figure out the last one. Didn't think they had much value, just from similar coins I've seen for sale, but it would have been nice if they did !
Doug's post is spot on, though if you wanted to know I would think the middle coin is the most valuable, maybe $20, while the top one is maybe $8 and the bottom $1. Just my estimates of value to a non-specialist. Of the three the only one I would even look at would be the middle one, since Egyptian Roman coins are much scarcer than late Imperials like the other two. Chris
Chris' post makes a good point. While there might be a market value for the 1st and 3rd coins, most collectors with more than a dozen coins would not touch them at his prices simple because it is too easy to find better ones for little or no more cost. The market for such coins would be to people who have no coins and think anything 1700 years old must be worth money. A few collectors trying to get a coin of each mint or minor variety will see added value in the first coin because it is fully identifiable and not terrible looking. That is the difference between it and #3 which is hardly identifiable and not all that pretty. There are slugs worth less than it so Chris' $1 is probably a fair price even though I would rather have something from a fast food place's value menu and I'm not hungry. It is hard to place values on coins of this type when you already have more than you want of nicer things. There is no Red Book for ancients and no place you can take a thousand ordinary things and expect a quick sale. If you take these two coins into most coin shops and you will be turned away. I'd buy #2 for a price (I'm not saying I'd pay $20 but that is probably fair).
I appreciate the input. I doubted there was much value there. One of the reasons I didn't ask in the original post. They just happened to be included in a box of Morgans and Indian Heads I bought. The envelope they were in was labeled "Tokens" so I didn't even open it when I made the deal because the owner wasn't interested in it either and skipped over it. They were free, and I'll keep them just for the "cool" factor. My interest is in US coins, so they will reside in my drawer of "oddballs" like most folks have. Thanks again, and good luck Trick-Or-Treating !
