I may start looking for an entry level Aureus. I am thinking like Gordian 3rd or another starter coin. What are the entry level Aureus coins.
I've also intended on getting an aureus for the collection (mostly just for the sake of having an example of each major denomination ) From what I was able to gather, it seemed as though the most affordable aurei were from the Flavians and 5 Good Emperors. I was expecting to pay $1500 to $3000 for something in the F to VF range. I have since decided that I want my eventual aureus to be of Augustus though, so I'll probably have to cough up a bit more than that
Does it have to be an aureus of can it be a Solidus? I do not own any aureus, but I was able to get the below solidus at what I consider a very good price: VALENS AV Solidus OBVERSE: DN VALENS PER F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right REVERSE: RESTITVTOR REIPUBLICAE, Valens standing right, holding labarum in right hand & Victory on globe in left, cross to left. Mintmark star ANTE star Struck at Antioch, 364 AD 3.6g, 19mm Antioch RIC 2d,xxxvii-5
Go to your favorite auction consolidator. It might be sixbid or numisbids or biddr or some other one. Type into their global search "aureus" and you will see very many are being offered in the next month or so. Many will be from the second century and many more from the first century, especially worn coins of Nero. Then you will have to made decisions about who, what condition, and how high you are willing to go. But, you will at least discover typical offerings and conditions. If you bookmark them, you can come back and see what they sold for to prepare you to bid more knowledgeably. Prices realized at auction are likely to be significantly less than fixed prices. The sophisticated collectors I know who buy expensive coins (such as aurei) only buy at auctions.
Assuming "entry level" refers to relatively cheaper aurei: The cheapest aurei are coins that are heavily worn, AND with major surface issues. These include holed coins, coins with ancient mounts (which are hard to remove without major damage), coins with test cuts, clipped coins, etc. The next cheapest aurei are those that are heavily worn, OR have the major surface issues mentioned above. The abundance of the aurei also plays a part. Difficult to generalise about this, but the post-reform aurei of Nero are particularly common. These aurei weigh 7.2g or less. You can easily find coins with the above issues in the auction consolidators mentioned by Valentinian, and their starting prices are correspondingly lower.
