The frog staters of Seriphos

Did it not sell or was it withdrawn? My internet went down while it was on the block. It does not show at all in the results-- doesn't say "not sold", just a gap in sequence.

 

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I have no audio, so I don't know if it was withdrawn or passed. AncientJoe said there was an "interesting commentary" as it came up. I'm trying to find out from him what it was...

 

AncientJoe says it was a re-statement of the suspicion that all specimens except the BMC are of questionable authenticity. I guess that would scare everyone off, alright!

 

The auctioneer introduced the piece by emphasising the questioned authenticity of the series. No one bid. Maybe the fellow who paid 650k Swiss francs for the Ahenobarbus aureus decided to just call it a day
Edited to add:

 

I think I got a pretty good deal, don't you? (yeah, right!)

 

My last NAC bids have finished, going three for seven. I now have a new most expensive Greek coin, which is almost my most expensive coin overall (we'll see if the exchange rate shifts before I lock in a rate )

The aureus that zumbly posted is indeed extremely expensive but also an absolutely incredible (and genuine) coin. My dealer represented the winner, which was sadly not me!

 

Curious why is this coin worth that kind of money? I would say its a VF coin with mediocre devices and shows nothing truly exceptional. Admittedly the temple on the reverse is kind of neat. I take it the ruler is rare as I did not recognize the name right off the bat. I have been collecting coins for nearly half my life and I have hard time believing that someone is not being taken for a numismatic ride...professionally. This coin is not 1/10th as nice as your avatar or 1/100 as interesting as most in your collection or even Bing's collection. I am glad you didn't bring down your collection with this bottom feeder gold piece. I suppose it is a matter of opinion what is interesting and what is beautiful but at some point someone thought it was worth a million bucks. How?

 

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarus was actually one of the chief players in the drama concerning the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Empire. Not liking the coin for its aesthetic appeal is a matter of personal taste, but that is a tremendously important historical coin.

 

I appreciate the compliments It is one of the "flagship" Roman aurei, and definitely a matter of personal preference. There were several coins in this auction which I liked but was pushed away from by my dealer as they weren't artistically up to par with my collection. There are other great coins which I'm simply not drawn to at all that others lust after to extreme prices. I suppose if we all collected the same thing, prices would make it impossible for most anyone to buy anything.

The reverse of this aureus has always deeply attracted me, and the history is fantastic. NAC does a good job of selling it:

"Exceedingly rare and the finest known specimen of the four in private hands (eleven in total).
One of the rarest, most difficult and desirable issues of the entire Roman gold series.
A realistic portrait struck on a very broad flan. Extremely fine
Ex Sotheby's 10 November 1972, Metropolitan Museum, 4 and Leu 50, 1990, 265 sales. From the J.H. Durkee Collection.This aureus ranks high amongst the prizes of Roman numismatics. Its remarkable portrait has been the subject of much debate, especially since it is different from the one on denarii issued at the same time by Ahenobarbus, the man who unwittingly was the great-grandfather of the emperor Nero.Here we have a fleshy, indulgent, almost Vitellian portrait that is filled with character and individuality. On the denarii we have a portrait of a thin man that is stiff and noticeably stylised. The difference in the engraving quality may be due to the fact that a better artist worked on the aureus dies, but it is more likely that the denarius portrait was meant to represent an ancestor and that the aureus portrait is of the imperator himself.On both issues the name AHENOBAR appears alone on the obverse, and his title is relegated to the reverse. To many scholars this suggests that both portraits are of Ahenobarbus' ancestors, but that argument is not conclusive. Had Ahenobarbus placed his portrait on one of the issues, the aureus would have been a good choice since it circulated amongst the most influential members of his retinue.The temple of Neptune on the reverse may help narrow the portrait down to two men in the family who either built or restored such a temple. Most agree it is the Aedes Neptuni, the temple of Neptune on the Campus Martius, but some consider it to be one attributed to Domitius Ahenobarbus, who was consul in 192 B.C., and others favor the temple that the coin-issuing Ahenobarbus vowed between 42 and 38 B.C. (and seems to have realised in 32, when he was consul).Philip Hill considers the temple to have "...every appearance of being a 'blueprint' rather than representing a building which had been in existence for more than a century and a half." He notes that the actual temple was hexastyle – having six columns on its façade – rather than tetrastyle, as it is shown on the coin. If the temple is the one attributable to the coin- issuing Ahenobarbus, then we might rightly describe the portrait as that of the imperator himself."

 

I went 0 for 2 today. There were a dozen realistic targets but I put all my eggs in two baskets with book bids contingent on budget. The bids were certainly generous but is was NAC, after all. It wasn't enough today. The good news is that I wasn't outbid by just a few increments so I won't have to regret not bumping up the bids a few notches.

 

I went 0 for 3, missing two of them by just one increment!

 

Whenever I see this type offered, I think about this catalog:
http://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/anc..._and_roman_coins_fakes_prl/43462/Default.aspx
At $140,000, the cover fake was lowest realizing of three listed as 'estimate on request' in the catalog. I would like a complete list of the coins in that sale that were later declared fake. This was a pretty book.

 

I went on a book and catalog buying binge a few months ago and a dozen NFA catalogs were among the purchases, including XXII. Interesting! I would also like a list of the later-determined-fake lots.

 

Curious, TIF => did Clio side-swipe today's coin-targets?

 

I'm not sure. More than one person outbid me on both coins. There were dozens of Clios in this auction. Clio probably got Clio'd a few times today .

Oh well. There are plenty of interesting coins in upcoming auctions.

 

For the record, here were my targets (sniffle):

 

Nice => man, too bad you didn't score one or both of those two winners!!

... oh well, the chase is a 1/4 of the fun, eh?

 

Hi from Me !
Here is my authentic stater frog from ancient serifos 8.1 grams !
ask me fotos !
edited

 

Welcome @kos. I couldn't open your link.

 

At the risk of totally derailing this interesting thread, might I suggest purchasing the frog and then having it slabbed for your peace of mind?



Okay flame away!