Is this Caligula a good deal to any of you ?

That's the truth. I also have to fight the urge to overbuy, because you know, it's a show, you're there, thousands of coins...I always feel anxious about walking away from all those coins I didn't buy. It's just not right!

 

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Curious? => ummm, do they sell red wine at these coin shows?

If yes, then please make every attempt to keep me away from entering the building!! (thanks, gang)

... nobody seems to like my poor Caligula example? (don't worry lil' Calig, I still think that you're a winner)

 

All these are good points. Perhaps my attraction to shows is I get the thrill of the chase some find cleaning the uncleaned or trying to outbid Clio. We all like a little excitement in our boring old hobby. I catch myself not looking as closely at coins at a show as I should and would look at a photo online. At the last show I bought a coin in a stapled cardboard holder without opening it only to find it was afake with serious edge seam. The dealer took it back and admitted he bought it in that 2x2 and had not looked either. That experience should slow me down for a while. I saw the paper glued on the obverse but figured that would come off easily. The edges were completely covered by the 2x2. Should have known better but the show rush was on.

 

Sometimes! It usually coffee, which can be boosted!

No way man, In these parts we usually boost my creativity before we go to the show!

lil' boots...we don't like it, we love it!

 

I confess I overpaid a bit for my Caligula/Vesta Ass (and for all the reasons stated in the posts)-----probably by about as much as the OP coin in today's money.....patience is a virtue, they say, and knowledge and experience certainly help one make more rational decisions instead of impulsive and uninformed ones.

Where were this thread and forum back then???

 

When it comes to having at least a rough idea of what the ballpark figure on a coin ought to be, I think I'm getting better with each year, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the year I stop overpaying for coins is probably the year I stop collecting.

 

I am not a fan of these types of caligulas only because they are pretty common. I opted for a provincial instead and after a year, I had got one for under $75 shipped, from ebay.

Its still one of my favorite bronzes and the portrait is pretty close to the rome issues.


Caligula (37 - 41 A.D.)
AE30 AS
SEGOBRIGA, SPAIN
O: C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS IMP, laureate head left.
R: SEGO BRIGA in wreath.
Segobriga Mint
30.5mm
10.1g
Burgos 1724

 

Is there something special about this coin that would encourage someone to fake it? Looks like a very common Maximian Moneta follis to me. What am I missing?

 

Vesta is the most common, but not cheap. i think if you wait you will find the one for you.

I looked for a long time and was going to buy one, not as nice as this one for the same money.
Gaius Caligula..39-40AD.
Ae, As..
Obv. bare head left.
Rev. Vesta above..S_C across field, Vesta seated left.
30mm x 11.30g.
I think there might be a little tooling, on this one.

 

Nope, just a coin looking for a fool to buy it. I am glad I got my money back. I will be slower to accept coins from that dealer now but I can't blame him too much since I did not look close enough either.

 

This is the Caligula Ass I purchased back around 1995 for about $150-$160...Is it worth it??

Probably not back then and just barely today for the exact same price...but I wanted it so bad LOL

 

If you really wanted it I suppose it's worth it's weight in gold....maybe a little more

 

I really 'like' that one Bing---perhaps you'd consider a trade with the Caligula I just posted??

No ??!!??... Ah well, I'd thought I'd give it a shot.

I LOVE that coin Bing!!!

 

Ok, we'll trade.......N O T!!!!

 

Yep, I agree and I have a lack of all the good coin buyer guidelines! If I like it I buy it. Don't matter if it fits in my collecting scheme or not. Come to think of it I should name my collection "The Radiant" collection, since it radiates in every direction.
Trying to remember if hunger is involved during these moments of "out of the box"
purchases. Good topic! Buy the way prices have really gone up since the mid eighties. Could that be from paying to much and wanting it back or more collectors?

 

Might be due to more collectors --and certainly due to easier access to various markets for buyers and sellers. None-the-less, I notice, even after adjusting for inflation over the years, various coins seem to have dropped in price---and I'm sure that the opening of the iron curtain and extensive use of improved metal detectors have had their effect both in reducing prices and adding to the overall inventory and satisfying demand a bit more. Even so, the total number of those collecting Ancients is still miniscule compared to all other areas of coin collecting. I keep hearing that the total number of Ancient coins that survived to the present is comparable to the number of Ancient collectors ---less than 1% of the respective totals of all Ancient coins produced and all numismatists actively collecting in the market----so demand for quality coins will probably remain high, if a bit trendy. Obviously, the demand for lower graded coins is somewhat weaker and probably always will be.

 

While I do not believe there are "good coin buyer guidelines" I do find the changes interesting. In the mid 60's I had trouble justifying spending $20 on a coin but I was making $1 an hour passing out pool balls at the college rec center. Mikey Zee got it right with his last word. There have been trends and fads. People buy coins that no one would have looked twice at in the 80's and the difference between pretty nice and very nice has skyrocketed. We hear politicians talk about the demise of the middle class and I see it mirrored in coins. Poor collectors buy worse junk and rich ones only consider the top 1%. There are more collectors in both camps.

 

I wonder where each of us sees ourselves falling in this description?

 

Let's not put the cart before the horse. If we start calling coins of lesser grades "junk," we've lost our perspective. Every coin has numismatic interest. Even the collectors on this forum that can afford to buy the most aesthetically pleasing coins have proven, by their posts, that they are ultimately concerned with history and numismatics. From that perspective, we are all the same despite how differently our wallets may bulge.

I am utterly convinced that I take as much pleasure in my research and collecting as AJ or IOM do. Everything else is vanity.