A silly reason for buying a coin?

MARSIC CONFEDERATION:


Marsic denarius 89 BCE Bovianum-Asernia-Samnia HN Italy 407 Sear 230 SCARCE


Marsic Confederation denarius 89 BCE Italia-Italia seated shields vict Corfinium Campana retro B 105 HN Italy 412a Sear 228 RARE


Marsic Confederation denarius 90-88 BCE Italia-Corfinium Oath Ceremony over pig Sear 227 SCARCE

 

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Nice ghost swan @zumbly . Symbols can be a deciding factor, mine was a Roman Level -
I think the reverse has a sylphium seed, but that is not suggested by others.


My weight that might have been in a level -

Most coin books call my reverse mark an ivy leaf or unknown. I think it looks a bit like the following Cyrene coin (not mine) from Nomos 8.

 

On the contrary, it perhaps demonstrates the technological limitations and practicality of the times, getting the most out of the hard work and artistry that went into creating the precious dies in the first place, therefore maximizing their use. An historical lesson AND selling point.
SilverWilliesCoins.com
Bill

 

I bought this Basil I debased semissis as an unsold lot, just to "save on shipping" for the single coin I had won in the auction. Surely this counts as a genuinely silly reason...

I also liked the eyebrows, which is surely NOT a silly reason. Right?

My Piso Frugi (I liked the cuirass, and the big number):

 

Every time I see this coin of @Alegandron's, it screams "imitation" to me. I know the hair is sometimes pretty messy, but that seems pretty extreme... what do you think? As an imitation, it may actually be more interesting, see here and here.

 

I know...it is such an oddball. Would love some comments or thoughts on it.

I also have this little guy that I recently got from John Anthony:

Imitating Octavian-M. Porcius Cato AR quinarius 13.89 mm 1.29g imitating Octavian r blundered legend - Victory seated r patera Cr 343-462 RARE

 

I just bought a RR denarius based solely on its prior ownership. I will post about it when I have the coin in hand. He was quite an interesting man who was important to two of my primary interests.

 

That's one of the ones I linked! Looks like you have almost cornered the market.

 

..to pay over a $100 for an old dime one can't spend.. non-collector logic i like the swan and snake choker also..

 

I bid on this coin



and on this coin



because both ladies are looking like my old aunt Constance, who died 99 years old twenty years ago. But I won neither the first (Aelia Eudoxia) or the second (Aelia Flaccilla). However, the third one I bought alright, it is in the post and at the end of the week I can look at her braided hair and pearl necklace myself: Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great.

 

That pretty well sums up my feelings on the matter as well. I might add that weird extends to wanting an MS67 for twice the price of an MS66, wanting a coin because the 'relative nobody' that issued it made some list of rulers, paying a hundred times as much for one flyspeck but not another --- in short any reason that is not my reason. I like the swan and would buy a coin like that. I love that hand on snake and hope each of us here finds one in the stock of a dealer who does not see it as anything special so he was selling it for half price. There may not be another in existence. I don't know. There may be a mint sack with a thousand.

Three of my five most silly coin purchases are technical oddities.

5. Magnentius - Flip over restruck brockage (one obverse, two normal reverses, one incuse reverse). This probably would not be the choice of a collector who wanted just one Magnentius. Silly old me would buy another coin just like this one.


4. Constantius Gallus overstruck on Constatius II but aligned well enough that it almost looks like the Caesar has a diadem on the portrait. This was a $5 coin because of its low grade. I would love to have this coin in a nice smooth VF. The chances on such a good alignment is small, very small.


3. I did not buy this coin because I wanted a Tranquillina from Tomis. I liked the fact that the mint dug out the denomination mark on the reverse die (not on the coin but on the die). I would love to find this same reverse die before it was modified. Buying THAT coin would not be silly at all, IMHO. Most people would not notice or would call it a damaged coin.


2. My second silliest purchase was buying a lot of 34 junk denarii because I wanted this Julia Domna. I was aware of the coin because it was listed in all of the standard books from one that still resides in the French National Collection. 'My Favorite Coin' is a Septimius Severus with this reverse legend but, on his, Victory is walking. I wanted the Domna with VICTOR IVST AVG seated.


1. My #1 silliest purchase was buying a lot of 32 oddball denarii mostly because I wanted this Julia Domna.

Yes, as a matter of fact, it is a die duplicate of #2 but has better surfaces and much worse centering losing the most important letters of the reverse legend. When it comes to silly, is it sillier to buy a duplicate that is not even a certain upgrade? In this case I got several coins I wanted to keep but several others have appeared in JA's sales and some were not sold the first time around. I paid nearly $1000 for 32 coins (including fees and postage) and may end up with more in this one than I thought. That is OK. Sometimes, when you can't have the only specimen, you have to go for 2 of 3. Will I buy the next one I see? Will I buy the whole bag some dealer has in his back room? Now that really would be silly! We all buy what we must. I consider this the Rodney Dangerfield of ancient coins. The catalogers who write the standard references consider this a mule with reverse of Septimius Severus or Pescennius Niger because their precious theories won't accept a woman on a coin with a military (victory) reverse or a man with Venus (the lot included one of those, too). The fact that neither of those gentlemen issued VICTOR IVST AVG with the seated victory means nothing. Maybe theirs were all lost to time and Julia's survived. Meanwhile, I consider it appropriate that they should spend time with someone who believes in them.

Is there a prize for being the silliest collector? Would I beat the person who paid that 3750 CHF price for the snake in hand? This is a hobby to me. It is supposed to be fun.

 

I would think the provenance would override the weak strike. Not a silly pick-up at all!

 

I think it's Greyhound or starving horse..

 

I buy all sorts of goofy coins that I like for inexplicable reasons - I'd certainly go for the creepy "Ghost Swan" Piso.

For reasons I can neither explain nor defend, I really like off-center ancients. Here is a Social War-era RR denarius I recently picked up. I love this type, and yeah, I'd like to get one where the mask of Silenus is actually visible. But I really like this one...



Roman Republic, D. Iunius L. f. Silanus. Ca. 90 BC. AR denarius. Mask of bearded Silenus right, plough right below, all within torque / Victory in biga right, brandishing whip and holding palm-branch, carnyx beneath horses, D SILANVS L F in exergue. Cr. 337/1a; Junia 19; Sear 222.

 

Thanks for sharing your coins and stories, folks. I really enjoyed them. @rrdenarius and @Severus Alexander, those examples are great. @dougsmit, I really like your Rodney Dangerfield and can't agree the lot was a silly purchase. Buying a bunch of the cast-off crumbs from that lot as I've been doing on the other hand... .

 

Heh... now that is a rather odd penchant! All I'll say is power to you .

 

I actually think that Basil I is beautiful!

 

i haven't seen one silly reason for buying a coin on this thread really ....lol!


i purchased this at a coin show just because, by gosh...i wasn't leaving without a coin. that's a silly reason to buy a coin really, the coin didn't really "speak to me" to take it home....and it's kind of a turd.




oh well, it's a 4.00 turd. i did want a phoenix on globe coin, but i'm just not happy with this ugly little thing.


i purchased this coin because it said "dong".




but i'm actually happy with this one!!

 

double post...sorry.