I bought this little guy at the San Fransisco coin show in December and it came from an older collection apparently formed in the 1970's. It has a Joel Malter NFA tag with it and the date May 17, 1976 written on it for $159. So, I knew this had at least a 40 year old provenance when I bought it. Fast forward to earlier this week, I was at the American Numismatic Society's library in New York City doing provenance research on my coins. I really didn't have a lot of luck, but I did find this coin possibly in a Naville Ars Classica XVII auction from 1934, the Sir Aurther Evans collection. It was almost closing time and I have the catalogue in my home library so I didn't look it up until last night. The picture wasn't definitive...it was made from a cast so it can vary a lot especially around the edges...but it looked close enough for further inspection. The auction entry was virtually the same weight as mine, which is a good indicator that it's my coin, but then I noticed the entry mentions Rudolpho Ratto's Joseph Martini Collection lot 74. Well, I happen to have the Ratto Martini sale too (remember, I just sold a coin in Triton from it) so I pull up the plates and....TA DA!...no doubt it's my coin. There are some flan casting flaws on the obverse at 2-3 o'clock that nails it. Anyway, bronze is not my speciality but it was a pleasing little coin, inexpensive, and now with an 85 year old provenance from 2 very significant named collections! Anonymous, Semuncia circa 217-215, AE (20.3mm, 6.05g, 9h). Draped female bust r., wearing turreted crown. Rev. ROMA Horseman galloping r., holding whip in r. hand and reins in l. Crawford 39/5; Sydenham 97. Carthago 2016 Picture: Naville Ars Classica Sir Arthur Evans Collection 1934: Ratto Joseph Martini of New York Collection 1930:
Superb coin, and great sleuthing! Whenever I see pics from older catalogs, I'm always struck by how much of a gamble older collectors were taking, if they didn't have a chance to view lots in person, that is. I would have looked at lot 74 and said, "Eh, it's good, but nothing to write home about." Then I look at your pic and
The idea of tracing this stuff down seems daunting to me, well done sir! Just curious, how far back have you gone on any one coin?
Fantastic coin and provenance! It's always a great feeling when you can buy a coin and find a "hit" in an old catalog or two. I really need to pick up the Ratto Martini sale catalog myself. My catalog collection is largely made up of older free catalogs found online and modern catalogs like the RBW and Goodman catalogs.
Thank you for the comments, everyone. My pictures isn't even that great as photographing bronze is challenge for me. It's a nice little coin, and must have been nice enough decades ago to warrant a picture in the 2 auctions. My oldest find is a "likely" Hirsch 1901 auction. I say likely because I found this coin in Haeberlin 1933 and the Haeberlin auction lot mentions it was purchased from Hirsch in 1901 and this type is in a Hirsch 1901 auction, but no picture to prove it. I bought it unprovenanced just a few months ago. A beautiful old collection coin.
Nice!! => very cool OP-coin!! (I love it) Carthago ... total winner!! Hey, it's definitely "not" the same coin-type, but I do have a pretty cool example of a dude ridin' a horse and snappin' a whip!! C Piso lf Frugi ... is that cool? Cheers, coin-bro
that's fantastic! JA summed up the first thing that popped into my head, looking at the old pics at first i didn't even think it was the same coin.
Yeah, me neither until I found the earlier Martini provenance which shows the casting flaws on the obverse. It's hard with these old catalogues to always be certain because they were casts of the coins and could have a lot of variation. You have to find certain coin flaws that are identical plus the weights help, but often the weights were given in the old auctions. Searching for provenances extends the hunt for me, which is the majority of my collecting pleasure.
