Share your rarest coin

As per roman provincials, my rarest is most probably this one


Plautilla, Bronze minted in Pautalia, Thrace
PHOYL TTLAVTILLA CEBA, diademed and draped bust right
HTE CIKI KLAPOV OVATTI TTAUTALIAC, river god seated left
12,4 gr
Ref : Ruzicka, Pautalia # 771a, G&M #134/1849, same obverse die

From the review he made (see discussion at Forvm here : http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=49682.0), Curtis Clay classifies it as #6A (second message from top)

Q

 

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I can't resist adding something.

As a coin type the Lucius Papius Denarius Serratus is not rare. It was produced from multiple matched die pairs. The British Museum has logged 232 different matched die pairs so far and we suspect that 246 die pairs were actually created because one of the die pairs has CCXLVI as the symbols on both sides. This wouldimply that there are stilla few die pairs that were created that are still to be found. The following coin was confirmed by the British Museum and is included in the 232 above and is still the only example from this die pair found to date.

L Papius Denarius Serratus

Obv:– Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat skin tied under chin. Behind head, Dolphin wrapped around anchor.
Rev:– Gryphon running right; in ex., L. PAPI.; in field, Hippocamp
Minted in Rome from . B.C. 79.
Reference(s) – RSC Papia 1. RRC 384/1. RCTV 311.
Symbol variety – RRC -. Babelon -. BMCRR -.

A previously unknown symbol pair and the only known example.



Martin

(Rare enough for ya?)

 

Man, I always love seein' that sweet hippocamp and dolphin-anchor winner!!

=> I'm sure that you're very proud of that cool example (congrats)

... great centering and decent strike (yah, I'm totally jealous of your L-Papius collection) ... it's a very cool side-collection-avenue

 

I love everything about this coin! Soooo envious

 

Part of the reason why rarity is no good measure of value in ancients is a failure for us to agree on what we mean by rare. Many late Roman rarities are rare because they have a dot in a different place or a workshop letter that usually was not used for that type or ruler. How much extra interest is added to a coin in a series you are not interested in owing the whole set by a dot? I would absolutely love to have a coin of the Papius rare symbol pair even if it were the most common of the 232. Those are really cool symbols. Included in the 232 are quite a number I consider boring and I really do not care if I have them or not.

Martin and I each have a number of coins thought to exist in very small numbers (one to ten?) but many of them are variant combinations of dies not previously seen or spelling errors that occur on a die or two. Our favored Emesa mint seems to have combined obverses and reverses differently every day and there are obverse dies known with a dozen different reverses. When some of these dies have differences in spelling or spacing, rarities are born but the number of people (other than Martin and I) who care is not large.

So, what is a difference that really counts? Does it matter that a coin is known to exist in a public collection but not in the trade where we can buy it? My example is this Julia Domna denarius listed as Cohen 250, RIC 634a from the one in the French National collection. The listings put it down as a 'hybrid' of either Septimius or Pescennius but that reverse legend is known for both of them only with Victory walking and not seated. Again, is this coin not rare because there are two (one of which in every catalog because of who owns it) or because someone thinks it copies a type not known to exist makes it an error?


If you are willing to accept small variations as rare:
Below are two variations of the very common Julia Domna type showing Venus from the rear. These commonly abbreviate VICTRICI as VICTR but these two dies spell it out. The second of them replaces the R's with B's. Are these coins (they use the same obverse die) different enough to be rare or just a boring spelling error. To bring notice in the ancient coin market, a coin needs to be rare and completely different as a minimum but it would help a great deal if the type was not only different but interesting. That explains how a coin known to exist in 100 examples (the Brutus EID MAR) is 'rare' but things known from one example are boring.



Martin: Your Papius is the only one known of its symbol set. Of the 232 sets, how many are known from one example? What is the recorded count for the most common ones?

 

Doug,
When discussing this with someone from the BM they said that some symbol sets have a dozen or so known examples and yes there are several where there is a only single example known to the BM (I have two). I bought this one without knowing about the symbol pairing being unknown, purely because it appealed to me.

I would echo your comments on our speciality. I have several "only known example" coins but in general there are very few of us who care one way or another. It doesn't stop me searching though.

Regards,
Martin

 

Well done! Beautiful piece. Very cool devices!!!

Ah, you Welshmen have some of the coolest stuff and some of the coolest histories...

 

Steve: My best Canada note...

 

Martin - Super symbols!! The hippocampus is amazing and I've never seen it.

Another with type great symbols that I've always like is L. Roscius Fabatus. Texts say that this is a turtle on the reverse, but I'm pretty certain it's an Ankylosaurus which is certainly freaking rare.

 

LOL, great observation!

 

My rarest coins...hum I got some winners...but few are of legendary rarity, this one is probably my most rare.... go ahead try and find another one!!!

Taprobane
Uncertain Traveling mint, Southern Sri Lanka
VijayaBahu I (AD r. 1055 - 1110)
AR Kalanju 23 mm x 4.08 grams
Obverse:Standing figure with head to right. Crown thick straight line with triangle in rear. In a Dhoti (garment) indicated by two curved lines on either side and one line in between longer than legs, standing on a lotus plant stalk with small circle in center ending on left in a chank and on right in flower as in hand. In left hand is an open Jasmine flower (pichcha mala) viewed from side. The right arm is extended To right four annulets and ball above. A beaded circle along the periphery of the coin.
Rev:A figure, head right crown as on obverse Squatting upon asana, (a bed-like throne) represented by a short oblong frame, divided lengthwise by a line and two cross lines. dhoti represented by bent line and small line in angle between the legs. The right arm is pendent over the right knee, which is drawn up; In left hand a chank. In field to right - Legend Shri Vi Ji Ya Ba Hu

 

Man I love dinosaurs.

 

Doug's question/observation regarding rarity mirrors my own thoughts about this topic.

While it doesn't diminish my interest in the coins and descriptions shown in this thread, most of the rarity of the coins in this thread is attributable to specific features and devices that per se do not really increase the coin's historical or other significance.

It occurs to me that this dovetails somewhat with another thread that wondered why more modern coins that are more plentiful are worth more and are more highly collected than ancient coins. Maybe it's due to the somewhat daunting task of understanding the historical positioning and significance of ancient coins, since ancients are so varied in their design, artistic quality, and condition, as opposed to machine-struck coins that vary much less in appearance, thus simplifying the amount of knowledge required on the part of the collector and making it easier for him/her to enter into collecting modern coins.

 

Ancient/Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque era coins are very much under priced in terms of rarity/quality/low mintages....LUCKY for us! If, for example an AV Celtic Stater (less then ten known) in CH-EF sells for $2500US, an identical US $5 Half Eagle would sell for 100X more. If the day ever comes to pass, when the market place realizes this, our collections will be worth a fortune. I am hopeing the status quo remains, so I can afford to buy many more gems for my collection.

 

I think these 3 coins are considered rare in a way or another. The lion pertains to Antiochos VII- SNG 1938. Empress Aelia Flaccilla is listed here under RIC IX-ANT 62E. As for Tyche from Arados, the reverse has Nike which is not listed.

 

Spot on! I know when I first became interested in ancients I was overwhelmed by the amount I didn't know about the coin. Take a Morgan dollar - if you can read English you know how much it was worth and where it was made.

 

This one is probably my rarest coin by far, and I probably paid way too much for it(but it is too interesting not to), a Cr. 41/6e post-semilibral semis, minted during the transition period during the Second Punic War when Rome was switching from cast(aes grave) to struck bronzes. In the Crawford 41 series there are both cast and struck semises, both manufactured to the same weight standard, with the cast examples being much more common. Crawford only knew of one but there are at least 10 or so above ground, most of which have been documented in the past few years as the RBW collection has been disbursed. This one is the lightest and probably scrappiest example known and it has a heavy patina and corrosion that makes it very difficult to photograph, but it's identity is confirmed by a die match with one of the examples published by Russo in Essays Hersh as well as an example from the RBW collection.

This type is a good reason to pay really close attention to your Republicn bronzes. Most sellers would probably misidentify this as one of the much more common later series, and while those bronzes are interesting in their own right, in my opinion this is one of the most interesting of all the struck prow bronzes minted during the Second Punic War.



Roman Republic Æ Semis(18.688g, 30mm). Anonymous post-semilibral series, 215-212 BC. Rome mint. Laureate head of Saturn right, S behind/Prow of galley right, S above, ROMA below. Russo p. 140, 2 and pl. 16, 10 (same dies); McCabe Anonymous A1.Sm.2; Crawford 41/6e. Ex. Andrew McCabe.

One more image that might help you see the details(from FORVM):

 

Love the ankylosaur! How much would that coin go for?

My dad has a devil's face $1. That's about as rare as we get .

I don't think my brother or I have anything rare.

Erin

 

Wow Carthago => great symbols (both are very cool)

Ummm, Carthago (or anybody actually) => I'm a bit curious what one of my L. Roscius Fabatus symbols is? ...



I know that the one behind Juno's head is a "rhyton" ... I had to look it up

... pretty cool, eh?

=> curious though => what is that crescent shaped thingy? (merely a crescent?)

 

I believe it is a plate. The symbols were related so you have household/eating/drinking symbols on your coin. Mine were lizards and dinosaurs. Romans didn't realize they were related to birds back then.