Freebie thrown in from recent bug trade...

The guy was so happy with the butterflies from last weeks swap/ he gave me this Denarius as a bonus

Here she is.....Roman Republic AR Denarius 132BC M. Alburnius/M. Geminus 20mm. 3.99g.

obv. Head of Roma Right
rev. Radiant Sol driving Quadriga

 

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Neat. It even says "GEM" right on it. No need to get it graded!

 

Thanks, I am not an expert like Bing on Republican coinage/ however I really like the reverse design.

 

Wow, it must be quite a trade when an $800 coin is thrown in as a freebie. Even as I think you probably ended up with the better deal, clearly your friend liked what he got out of it too. Congrats!

 

Great coin, Sol is positively magnificent!

Lol!

 

Thanks zumbly! Yeah, he was at my house for 8 hours, you could tell he was like, "A kid in a candy store" It is really hard to find really perfect butterfly/moth collections/ and this man loves high quality/ as I can tell by his coins....they are all flawless. This works out great both both parties.

 

Wow! Great freebie! Is it really an $800 freebie?

If so I those butterflies must have been worth $$$$$$

 

Beautiful strike, and detail. Does this person you trade with collect ancients as well?

 

Thanks John, looks even nicer in hand. I can hardly wait for next trade in December!

 

That is a gorgeous denarius! Though I must say I was hoping you would never discover the beauty of Roman Republican coins (my favorite, so stay away!)

 

Thanks Ancient Aussie!
Actually he used to collect Roman gold/ also has some AR denarii. When I started telling the insect collecting community about my decision to sell my vast collection/ this gentlemen was already buying rare butterlies. Basically he wrote me a letter asking for a pricelist of specimens. I replied that since he lived only 100 miles away, to come in person and see what he needed. Long story short/ he came over last yr/ fell in love with my coll./ saw I had a whack of coin auction catalogues in my book shelves. Once he found out I collected coins, he asked instead of giving me wads of cash, if I wanted coins. I was hesitant, I had no idea of what he had. Anyway, he said he had Roman aurei, and they were FDC quality, most ex: Ars Classica/ CNG/ Nomos.....I was hooked.
He drove back home, next day he brought over a couple of samples/ and made a long term deal to trade his small aurei coll. 12 coins for the bulk of my remaining collection. I asked him why he decided to get rid of his coll./ he found it boring, since he could only afford one coin a year. I guess with FDC aurei/ your kinda lucky to afford one a year

 

hahaha! you're so witty Paul><

 

Thanks for sharing that, I was a bit confused at hearing a lot about butterflies and gold coins in the same sentence and now it is clear you scratch his back and he yours, also some great tax advantages there no doubt. Do you buy your butterflies or catch them yourself?

 

Its always interesting to see and hear about other hobbies. I do get confused about trading collectibles that are not in the same field. Like, I would not trade my comic book collection for coins no matter how much I like coins. Asides from value, there are many that I hold very close to me. Its a part of me and part of the reason why I like to go broke... I mean collect coins and other things.

 

Great coin, I especially like the radiant head of Sol!

 

Beautiful reverse strike. I don't believe I have any this nice. Congrats.

 

My thoughts at the second I saw the coin, before reading this

Q

 

Very nice

 

That is a beautiful Republican Denarius, but something about this trade bugs me.

 

I bought them all from dealers/ auctions. I might have caught one of them/ papilio polyxenes asterius (blackswallowtail) which flies in my neck of the woods. I am off to work... FIRST DAY, yard cleanups. I did mine yesterday.