Valentinianus II Solidus 387AD Constantinople Mint

My AV Solidus ND

 

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Wow, super sharp details!

I love your collection.

John

 

Thank you. I got that piece from Numismatic Fine Arts Auction in 1990. In the same auction they had almost every Western Roman Emperor from Constantine II thru Julius Nepos in FDC quality. If, I been rich, I would got them all back then.

 

NFA had great coins and nice catalogs. I was so poor back then I had to scrape to buy the catalogs much less the coins. I would have bought every Greek coin they sold back then if I could have. I am getting much more into Roman and other civilizations now for the interesting history.

 

this one's a chart topper from the 80s....the 380s, but still the 80s.

 

Well, at least I got the catalogues for free! I have no idea why they went out of business, they certainly had access to tremendous collections. Tkalec/ Ars Classica/CNG have mindblowing quality material. I always wonder why so many of the Uber Rich are into drugs/ other nonsense. For me there is a "good high", I got that 10 minutes ago when the mailman delivered a reg. letter. Inside "I know this is an Ancient Forum"...was a France AV 40 Francs 1818 -W (Lille mint) Louis XVIII, so to say I pretty happy!

 

I think we can let you off this once...

 

That V II solidus was lot 155 in NFA XXII June 1, 1989. If you got it in 1990, it must have resold in XXIII for which I do not have the catalog.

That might have been a bad idea since XXII was the sale that included several fakes including the cover coin as I recall. I do not have (but would appreciate if anyone has it) a list of all of the bad coins from that sale but I do recall a stink over the matter back then. I was a low end customer then (as now) getting NFA coins mostly from their Mail Bid sales which were exactly what I was looking for it that period (when I was working). I miss NFA mail bid sales. They were so heavily aimed at big spenders that you could get their low end coins (which were my high end) more reasonably.

You are new here. Several times I have recommended a used book available on Amazon for one cent plus $3.99 postage.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1458058103&sr=8-1

In summary, Bruce McNall went to jail and his businesses folded. Details will cost you one cent (and postage). His autobiography is a fun read but more about his other businesses than about NFA.

 

That is news to me! I am shocked....
Thanks for enlightening me on topic. By the way, I checked my old NFA catalogues. You are right it was 155/XXII...my mistake.
John

 

I hope this Saturninus Aureus was not a FAKE....

 

I once had a chance to purchase a holed gold Tremisis of Theodosius I for 150 bucks, I passed it up, I'm still regretting it...

 

Actually, good decision! NEVER get holed coins/or ones that were mounted as jewellery. You can get a EF Theodosius I Tremissis for $600/ FDC for $1200
But in end the later two will have 2 advantages.....nicer to look at/ and a great investment.
John

 

@noname is 15 years old. A holed tremissis is not an unreasonable thing for him to buy. Intact and high grade gold coins are probably not realistic unless he wants to only buy a coin every few years .

However, with some patience and luck it is likely possible to buy a non-holed tremissis for around the same price as the holed coin he lost.

 

Good for him to start early, that is about when I caught the collecting bug.

John

 

Actually, it was REAL. Nice if they found a hoard of them. Beautifull coin.

John

 

NFA XXVII was not the sale with fakes. That was XXII with the fake Domitius Ahenobarbus on the cover.

Of course I disagree with the advice above but I do not cosider perfection to be the most important feature of a coin. I have a few holed coins that I like because of the story behind their holes. I bought my only pre-Byzantine gold, a solidus of Theodosius II, because it was affordable ($100 which was very little over melt at the time) partly due to wear and being ex-jewelry as seen from the four prong mount marks). My coin is good if you want to fondle gold and I am not afraid to take it out of its holder to make a photograph showing all of its ugly marks.....or are they character marks??? Certainly the advice will get you a higher rate of return n your investment dollar but each of us must decide just why it is we buy these things and whether a $10000 example makes us happier than a hundred $100 ones. I guarantee that panzerman's coins will be easier to sell than mine. The problem is that you have to sell the coins to reap the profits. Even here on CT, no one wants ugly coins. Ask JA how cheap lots sell in his sales compared to high dollar ones.

 

I pity whoever bought the Domitius Ahenobarbus Aureus I just looked at prices realized list. It went for 140,000US back then! LOT #126 Alexander of Carthage went for $240K (That is the one I drooled over!)
John

 

I don't know of a list of the coins which were deemed fake, but I do have the catalog, list of estimated prices, and the list of prices realized for NFA XXII. For what it is worth, there were 40 lots (out of 386 total lots) which do not appear on the Prices Realized sheet. I was hoping those "unsold" lots might represent the fakes but that is not the case since the Ahenobarbus aureus, which if I understand correctly was deemed fake, sold for $140K.

 

One question, NFA was at that time the CNG of ancient coin auctions, how did these coins which were consigned to NFA pass the authencity test?
John

PS: Better still did the actual buyers of the fakes get their $ back?