Coins from my collection

double post

 

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Beautiful nero. Great beard detail & I agree roma is engraved well. The cuirass is also nice. Stunning collecting Ides.

 

This thread is a showcase parade of roman coins in exceptional condition. Beautiful ALL,
without exception, but those aureii are really exceptional.
One has to wonder how coins like that survived 2000 years of history.

 

One of the sub-themes I've attempted in my collection is to collect interesting reverse types -- at least, interesting to me. This aureus of Vespasian fit that theme with its portrayal of Neptune on the reverse:



VESPASIAN 69 - 71 A.D.
AV Aureus (7.35 g.) Rome Jul. - Dec. 71 A.D.
IMP CAES VESP AVG P M Laureate head right. Rev. NEP - RED Neptune standing left, right foot on globe, holding acrostolium and scepter.
RIC 44

Vespasian's portrait is reasonably good style, but Neptune on the reverse is what caught my attention. Something about it reminds me of the Domitian sestertius I posted earlier in this thread - the one with Mars on the reverse.

 

Nice, I have a titus denarius with that neptune reverse. Pretty worn though.

 

I've recently added another bronze to my collection. I have been looking for a Galba as for some time, having missed an opportunity to acquire a good one about a year ago. Since there haven't been any candidates recently, I decided to accept a dupondius as a representative for a "small bronze" in place of an as:



GALBA 68 - 69 A.D.
AE Dupondius (13.55 g.) Rome 68 AD
IMP SER SVLP GALBA - CAESAR AVG TR P Laureate and draped bust r. Rev. PAX AVGVSTA Pax standing left, holding olive branch and caduceus; S - C in field
RIC 320

The portrait style on this coin seems pretty good and compares favorably with the few other small bronzes of Galba that I've I've run across in the last year or so. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether Galba is adorned with a laurel wreath (which would make it RIC 320) or an oak wreath (which would make it RIC 321). I think it's a laurel wreath, correct? The seller had this coin incorrectly attributed as RIC 247, which is completely wrong.

 

Beautiful and expressive Galba.
I am sure I have seen that coin before....

 

One ugly dude. like WC Fields

 

Definitely laurel. This is Oak on a sestertius:
http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=201261

I do not get to see many coins of this bracket but do not recall seeing a dupondius with oak. It does bother me that many coins in this bracket have been tooled and most at least smoothed making it an area only to be purchased from a dealer of the highest ability and reputation. Since my experience with the coins is from photos, I fear what I expect is colored by having seen tooled coins. I did notice that acsearch had another oak sestertius with a little wear that made it harder to separate except from the leaf at the very top end.

IMHO: If you bought such a coin from a top end dealer at what I assume to be a top end price, you deserve top end service. That should include answering questions like your one on oak/laurel long after that purchase and certainly as long as you remain a regular customer of theirs. I encourage you to make use of what you pay for when you buy from the big dogs and to pick their brains on every such matter. Then you can come here and share it with little guys like me who would like to learn what you have gained beyond simply the coin. I don't mind such questions but we here not the best persons to ask.

 

Thanks for clarifying the laurel-vs.-oak wreath issue. The coin to which you included the link really illustrates what an oak wreath looks like.

Also, my dealer personally inspected this coin to ensure its authenticity as well as verify that it wasn't tooled. He is simply amazing at spotting tooling of any kind, especially on bronzes. Most of the time I can't detect the tooling that is obvious to him, so his guidance is crucial, a result of spending 40 years in the ancient coin business.

As for the inaccuracy of the attribution, while it's important ultimately to have the correct attribution, the most important criteria are the coin's authenticity and grade, lack of tooling, and appropriateness for my collection. Incorrect attribution can be corrected, but a tooled coin will always be a tooled coin, and this error would be uncorrectable. This particular seller (an auction house) is not alone in having the RIC reference incorrect -- I've noticed this with most auction houses from time to time. I don't find this unusual due to the high volume of coins that go through auctions each year; there are bound to be a few errors.

 

Another great looking coin!