Are you Kidding Me!!

I bought a lot of crap too when I was starting out - just so I could fill a hole in my one-per-emperor collection. My mangled holed rusty Macrianus was unloved and quickly upgraded.

I now know that - for me - expensive rarities are only worth having if they're in good shape, attributable, and authentic beyond doubt.

 

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Some of us will be happy to have the worst known of a very rare coin and will be glad not to have competition. In most cases there is little competition for the really rare things since so few people have them on their want lists. Today condition drives the market and most people prefer an EF of something available by the roll to something unique or nearly so in F. Few have Poor coins on their want lists so even a rarity will be cheap. I'm happy to have the ones I have but I don't pay much.

I have a now virtually worthless book in two volumes dated 1834 Descriptive Catalog of Rare and Unedited Roman Coins by Ackerman. He lists only the rare types of coins and then selects for special note the rarest of the rare. In his day rarity mattered more than grade. The Colosseum type is rated in the second level under Titus. Maybe Ackerman is not so worthless after all. It taught me that this loser coin is not the same type as AJ's beautiful one. Who noticed it was the one issued after Titus died? They seem to be the same rarity so maybe no one cares???

Ackerman is now available online for free so you should not buy a set like I did 25 years ago.

 

I just hope this..



Doesn't end up like This.. will at least like the green half..Then it go's from $15000 to $150000i think TIF got to my coin.. it wasn't moving when i stole the Pic.

 

Looks like a fake to me. The other one too. Two rare coins from the same type with the same wear and the same patina? What, someone dug up a whole box of them?

 

=> pretty hi-tech graphics, Eng ... nice spinnin'

 

this one, previously sold for 100grand is back on the block again. Maybe someone looking for an upgrade
https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=2505&category=52259&lot=2113770

 

Me too. Then again, I collect Gordian III.

 

Personally, I would rather spend my money on a coin that represents a pivotal event in History. A coin that represents and was touched and traded at a critical juncture that changed the course of events. A coin that represents a unique issue by a mint, or has a(n) unique reverse, etc. has no bearing on change that effected human history. Therefore, I cannot get excited with it.

 

Diversity is what makes things affordable and available. If everyone was going after the same thing then the demand-supply relation would be completely different and there wouldn't be enough to go around.

While many look at coinage as an art form, I think they are mass produced tools or devices, and the graphics were only for identification purposes. I rather have specie went through circulation than in mint state, and I don't care how much they are worth, since I don't sell my stuff anyway. I hoard things that others don't value, so I can hoard more, works for me

 

I agree but I consider the building of so great a structure somewhat 'pivotal' and worthy of our interest. In the case of Titus, perhaps more interesting to me are any of the Judaean types or the series that followed the eruption of Vesuvius. Certainly anything architectural beats the 'someone standing there' types unless we know why that someone was standing there. For example, Marcus Aurelius has a lot of coins with a god or personification but the ones showing Mercury commemorating the 'Miracle of the Rain' rise above the usual (while still not 'pivotal').


Types that can be linked to any specific event are worthy of note and the Colosseum certainly was a big deal I would love to have represented in my collection. Everyone knows that building so it sells well far above a portrait sestertius of Titus. On the other hand, people would rather have a Caligula with text on the reverse than his issue for the completion of the lesser known Temple of the Divine Augustus. Go figure.

 

The building of the Colosseum and the Roman conquest of Judaea are very much pivotal events in history. I like the coin brassnautilus posted very much, and I would gladly snatch it up if I could ever experience the pivotal event in history of winning the powerball.

 

LOL, yes, I do understand it was pivotal due to it being built by the slaves of destroyed Jerusalem, and decimated Israel. Yes, the Coleseum is steeped in history.

But, the Coleseum was a gaming house, entertainment...kinda like Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.

 

Take a nice ocean cruise instead.

 

So did that $20,000 slug ever sell?