Got a message from VB that they're rolling out another edition, going back to ancients again. Looks like it will be primarily Roman coinage but I don't think the full details have been released yet. Kind of short notice since they're dropping March 26th. A little more affordable($235) this go around. One per package. Top hit is a MS $20k gold Tiberius Aureus AD 14-37. I'm more interested in this one this time since I don't have many ancients and I do like the slabs and the labels. Household limit TBD.
I do hope to get in on this one as well. All these series sell out super fast, so you have to be on the ball.
Here's what one of the most influential ancient coin youtube channels said about the original ancients release: I've been collecting ancients since the 1980's. Most ancient collectors don't like slabs (and don't value grades). That can be fixed with a hammer, but it's not a very good deal. The video also pointed out how most of the fillers were fun, but fairly worthless. Come to think of it, I can't recall anyone on Numisforums mentioning they've ever bought one of these. The only gamble I liked were things like Allen Berman's 4/$20 junk box, back in the day, and Dr. Fishman's $25 tetrarchic folles (those were great) or his various fixed-price pick boxes. I, like most ancient collectors, don't collect them for the value, but rather for the enjoyment and learning. Ancients, generally speaking, are a terrible investment. I also got far more enjoyment out of Zurqieh's uncleaned Sasanian silver drachms (Sasanian drachms are really neat, but also generally inexpensive) than I would have from a shiny one in a slab. *I also forgot. Many collectors of ancients also value toned silver. The NGC stuff is mostly blast white. If you seek an entrance to the wonderful world of ancients, then fine, then that'll be worth the cost, but be warned. For $235, I could find myself a very enjoyable coin. Also watch the youtube unboxing videos of the U.S. series. Most of them aren't happy campers with the results. A free (official) first edition of the Roman coin book ERIC used to be available at www.dirtyoldbooks.com. I'm not sure if it still is. Forum ancient coins sells a paper copy of David Van Meter's 1990's book at $35. Still a good beginner's book. If one wants to go further than that, the Sear books are available for something like 35 dollars each (pdf) from Spink.
I can't find a master list, but you'll probably end up with something like a Fine Hadrian denarius, an XF Antoninianus, or XF Khrusru II, all of which are wah-wah (sound effect) for $235. There's examples of where I got a lot better bang for my buck than this, but here's an example of what one can get for $235 (this was about $50 under that). I wanted a bona fide monster toner for my birthday, and with ancients, this is the closest that one will get (with real toning). It looks really regal in hand, and the scratches aren't nearly as apparent. Roman Republic. P. Servilius Rullus. AR Denarius (21mm, 3.86 gram) Rome 100 BC Bust of Minerva l., wearing Corinthian helmet; RVLLI upwards behind Victory in biga r., holding palm branch; P below; P SERVILI M F in ex. Crawford 328/1; minor scratches, otherwise good very fine and nicely toned with a touch of iridescence From an old (Eastern European) collection, purchased May 1963. Sasanian coins are pretty neat, especially those of Khrusru II, and these are very common in the vaultboxes. 32mm., 4.06g. I'm not very good at deciphering pahlavi script, even with a cheat sheet. I have to rely on Sasanian experts for mint/year attribution. I prefer this uncleaned one. Depending upon the dealer, a really nice one will be $40-100. And that's not even getting into the massive amount of history behind this coin. With a slab, one will be lucky to get a weight, generally no size measurements, no reference number (kind of important), and mention of a real pedigree, fughettaboutit.
I don't have the world's greatest budget, and less in the old days, so my coins generally aren't world-beaters. However, I'm down to only missing a teeny handful of the affordable emperors. I did get 'burned' recently. I quickly hopped on a worn coin attributed as Manlia Scantilla. The women of Rome had never been my specialty. It turned out to be a (still scarce) very similar issue of Julia Domna. However, it was very cheap for the type, was from a reputable dealer (so I'll probably come out ok), and I can't really remember getting burned before. Not too bad for a 30 year span. Like Aaron Berk or Joe Sermarini said, Know your coin or know your dealer. I didn't know my coin. Fakes are getting to be more of a problem, especially with coins from (mental block) I think from Olbia - the silver ones with the gorgon face, Julius Caesar silver, Caligula sestertii, and Marc Antony legionary denarii. Many fakes are becoming quite good. There was a recent Numisforums article about higher quality fakes of lion staters proliferating throughout the market, even fooling reputable dealers. Getting to know the history makes collecting a lot more interesting. For instance, Khrusru II, King of Kings of Iran and Non-Iran, briefly reoccupied 90% of the old Persian empire, writing to Heraclius (probably Heraclian propaganda), referring to Heraclius as his 'vile, imbecile slave.' When the 20 year war turned against him, he was overthrown and tossed into the Castle of Oblivion. Less than a decade later, there was the rise of Islam. The Romans survived as a rump state. Persia (they referred to themselves as Iran) did not. Even with inflation, one can still find nice coins for under $200. (Though my two week grocery bill was $150). Sticking to dealers from vcoins is generally a safe route. Most are quite reputable, and there's protections. Tooling (re-engraving) or smoothing is a big problem in ancient AE's, even more so than fakes. I generally avoid toolies and overly smoothed coins. Virtually all ancient coins come out of the ground, so some mechanical cleaning is unavoidable. Fake patinas are relatively common, as well as faux sand patinas (really common with late Roman coins, nowadays). I purchased this amusing clownshow for its comic value. Presumably they were trying to get rid of corrosion, but the reverse is a poopshow, as you can see. The obverse is less clownish, but verges on too much. My ideal AE's are nicely patinated and tastefully cleaned. Those are the ones I go after. This color is one of the rarer patinas. The brown crud often goes hand-in-hand with this type of patina. May I suggest listening to the Totalus Rankium podcasts, ranking every Roman and Byzantine emperor? My parents have been doing so, and really enjoy it (hint, listen to Justin II and Justinian II first). It's a fun way to learn. Justinian II won TR's Top Emperor prize, for his amazing, Game of Thrones-type story. If you can easily spare the $235 then yeah, go ahead. I'd also suggest going to vcoins and looking at coins. Find what you like. I'm just saying, there's a 75% chance that you'll receive something from Vaultbox which one can buy for $100. One also can learn much about economics by collecting coins. The Romans didn't understand what caused inflation and their non-gold money collapsed into hyperinflation, for different reason than ours. There were many failed monetary reforms. By the fifth century, AE coins were little 10mm. scraps, which then disappeared altogether in the West.
The series info dropped today for what is offered. I don't know the numbers for Series VI but there will be 302 red cores and 1200 black cores. So 20% of the release will be red cores for Vaultbox Odyssey. If it's totally random, 1 in 5 chance at a red. Household order limit of 3.
A fine Galba Alexandria tetradrachm is a red core? And some common Elagabalus denarii, in nice condition? LOL: ROMAN EMPIRE NERVA, AD 96-98 AR DENARIUS NGC CH F FLAN FLAW Wow, and I looked at some of the black cores. Some of these things are real dogs. A VG anonymous follis, a $15-30 coin.
I think the red core just means a coin that is more valuable than the original cost for the series. The odds are similar to scratch offs. It’s an expensive raffle. There are quite a few early Greek Tetradrachms in this one that would be nice to win.
Well, that was fun. Had website up and in the waiting line que 30 min early. The release kicked off. Progress bar showed up as I got my random place in line. Five minutes later, progress bar is full and I'm let in to the website. Had an option to purchase in front of me. Went up and logged in on my 1 GB fiber connection. When the page instantly popped back up the purchase field was gone. That was a total of six minutes in to it. All 1500 sold out in 5 minutes. I was too deep in the que to participate. Oh well.
I had a similar experience this time, though I didn't even get the option to purchase in front of me. My queue line ran it's course, it told me I was being redirected to the order page, and then it took me to the series page with nothing but the "buy" button, which didn't take me to buy anything. A few clicks later and got the "sold out" image.
I wouldn't be too sad. I had mentioned the distro on Numisforums, which specializes in ancient coins, but there seemed to be very little interest. For the about the same price, (a while back), I bought a beautiful (semi-uncleaned, with the original golden hoard patina) example of the murdered boy-king, Ardashir III, who was one of the unlucky short-lived kings (and queens!) during the implosion of the Sasanian kingdom (Iran), which directly led to the rise of Islam. If you're interested in the wonderful world of ancient numsimatics, perhaps check out the youtube videos of Classical Numismatics and Aaron Berk, respectively, and/or join Numisforums and ask questions. There's also podcasts; The History of Rome w. Mike Duncan, Totalus Rankium, the History of Byzantium, So You Think You Can Rule Persia?, etc.
