Sestertius - Coins from the Safety Deposit Box

In the early 2000's I became and still am friends with an eastern European dealer, since forced into retirement - another story - who sold me coins which I sold on ebay for about 10 years. It was like a second job - at one time I was selling 25 coins a week - all auctions - there were reserves back then and "buy it now" was a rarity.

People today forget how important ebay was as a place to sell ancient coins up until about 2010 - even CNG sold coins on ebay at one time. And it was ALL auctions. As a result I was able to afford to buy my passion- large bronzes - sestertius - which have held my interest for over 26 years. I bought these at a time when almost all of the newer sestertii on coinarchives were high grade - not the low grade stuff now being sold in huge numbers by mostly European auction houses. Higher grade can still be found - for a price.

In about 2012 I put these sestertii in a safe deposit box and after that focused on the family of Septimius Severus and Hadrian travel series but mostly Septimius and sort of forgot the coins in the box - focused on other things. Although I didn't really forget about the earlier coins - how could I? each is like an old friend now - I didn't have easy access since the box is in New York City and I live in Jersey.

However, two weeks ago the Capital One branch where the box is at told me the branch is closing, so I was forced to take the coins home. I picked out some of the more interesting ones, made some not so great but not too poor photographs - and here they are:

1. Titus sestertius - Mars - when I purchased this on ebay, it was one of maybe five known but it seems like a dozen have appeared for sale since then. The coin is far nicer than the photograph, and is high relief:



2. Nero sestertius - Temple of Janus - I believe this was purchased on ebay from Dianacoins and cleaned by a good friend in the UK - this is much nicer in hand, as is the Titus. The patina is simply perfect.



3. Drusus Germanicus - Pax? - purchased on ebay from an Eastern European seller in the UK for $400. Yes in 2004 it was possible to find many coins like this for prices that would seem incredible today. Was it the war in Serbia? The fall of communism - or one person who told the gypsies in Bulgaria to stop tossing the coins with construction debris in the river, and sell these. Next thing you know two tons of coins are moving through Germany - one story I heard. I got into ancient coins from an interest in history - shame on me for not knowing who this is.

4. Domitian sestertius - on horseback with shield going after foe - I purchased this coin from a woman in Italy - I think on ebay in about 2006 - who was selling other gorgeous coins at an incredible price. She would have sold one other to me but some ruthless Italian dealer told her she had to sell all of the coins to him as a group or no deal. So I missed out on another one which was far nicer than this extremely nice coin - this type always has a medallic flan and must be a special issue - perhaps not Rome mint?



5. Trajan - eastern conquest platform - The last one is from a CNG ebay sale I think ca. 2003 - I know it is CNG, not 100% certain about ebay. This was my first really nice sestertius - I love the history behind it and I really like the perfect medallic flan which were struck during this period - the last common use of the really large perfect flans - after this smaller became the norm, although there were exceptions. I will post some more but 10 pix is the limit - I will also post the size - the price was $700 and no buyers fee - the buyers fee is a pernicious aspect of online auctions.


The coin above has a beautiful green patina that I bolloxed in the photograph. None of the coins are perfect - but most are honest VF which was what I was always trying for.

I have many more coming - Claudius, Caligula, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus even Gordian as Caesar. But 10 photographs is the limit so the rest will be replies.
Blake

 

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Hopefully, I can put up some more:

6. Sabina sestertius - Eagle Divvus type - I saw this (I think) on VCOINS and could not believe it - I thought these were never offered for sale. But it was affordable at the time. I am still waiting for other divus (divvus?) especially Julia Domna.



7. Nerva sestertius - Libertas - I purchased this coin from a young German collector who sold me several other coins, including a Thracian Titus sestertius that I foolishly later sold. One of many I regret selling. I have been able to buy several beautiful coins from overseas collectors but the hard part if making these connections. What a schnoz!


8. Gordian as Caesar Sestertius - Priestly Objects - I love these rare examples - still waiting to find a Severus Alexander as Caesar sestertius. This one was also cleaned by my British friend Anthony Holmes who has passed on at a way too young age.



9. Vespasian sestertius - Fortuna - this was also from Dianacoins. There was a time when Dianacoins was selling incredible examples for prices that were about a third under the rest of the market. I recall example after example of Caligula as's - if only I had not sold the one I purchased! But I could not afford to add another catagory of coins to sestertii - as one sage wrote - "you cannot collect them all." But Dianacoins sold quite a few Vespasian sestertii - I bet I paid less than $125 for this one. Harlan Berk was selling a die match to this and I recall the description indicated there was something special about it but I do not recall what.



10. Aelius sestertius - Spes: The last one for today is an Aelius that was one of a few purchased from Richard Beale of the "Four Bad Years" website and collection. Before he focused on sestertii of Trebonianus Gallus and family Richard was trying to put together a collection of sestertii of all of the emperors - and I joined in and tried to do the same. I recall searching high and low for a Valerian II or Saloninus sestertius. Valerian II did made an appearance on a CNG auction and other places I think but too expensive, I missed the Saloninus that was offered and stopped actively looking - until now. When he switched to putting together the greatest collection of T. Gallus and family and documenting it in a fantastic web-site Richard sold off his sestertii of earlier emperors on ebay - I picked up a Caracalla/Mars, a REALLY nice Julia Maesa and this one, a beautiful sestertius of Aelius. I am now back to looking for sestertii of Valerian II and Saloninus!

Let me add again that what I looked for was not perfection since I could not afford it but through scouring the listings I looked and sometimes found higher grade coins that had small imperfections that resulted in a lower price - these were acceptable. I did not buy tooled coins, but smoothed was ok and maybe barely noticeable strengthening of inscription. Also I looked for anywhere I could find affordable, examples - it was quite a task - still is, although I do not have the time I had then.

Buying bronze coins is hard sometimes but with persistence you can find examples that are far better than photographs. However, I think if I were starting out I would focus on provincial bronzes - the last area where you can find quality coins for relatively reasonable prices and an enormous selection - but tough to resell - that's of course not a problem.

In fact, I am looking more and more at Alexandrian drachms - but darn these are not cheap in mid and higher grades if you can find any at all! So maybe not.

The search is never ending isn't it?.....

 

Awesome Sestertii! Really enjoy the Nero, Gordian and Vespasian.

 

beautiful sestertii!

 

Coincidentally, I got mine from eBay as well!


Titus as Caesar [Vespasian]
Æ Sestertius, 25.56g
Rome mint, 73 AD
Obv: T CAESAR VESPASIAN IMP IIII PON TR POT III COS II; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: S C in field; Mars adv. r., with spear and trophy
RIC 563 (R2). BMC -. BNC -.
Acquired from Charles Euston, eBay, February 2025.

FWIW, I still consider it a fairly rare variety.

 

Fabulous collection of sestertii!