Just won this rare Galba denarius

Thanks @IdesOfMarch01 I love your example.
Of the 5 examples on acsearch 2 have a similar portrait. On the others the style is very different. I found the style of the portrait on my coin one of the key features that attracted me to it.

https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&currency=usd&thesaurus=1&order=0&company=

 

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I really like the jaw on that As.

As for my coin you seem to be in agreement with CNGs assessment of the coin.

 

I have one working on showing the reverses.

 

Nice find!

 

awesome Nero

 

My lone Galba is a Spanish mint coin, typically attributed to Tarracco, with very high relief and distinctive style.



Last night, I was perusing a large group of Munzen und Medaillen fixed price lists that I received as a thoughtful gift from a friend last month. I found my lone Galba in List #473 (Jan 1985), Lot 32. In 1985, it was priced a bit higher than what I paid for it 20 years later! Caution to those who think ancient coins are good long-term investments.

 

Great Coin

 

Great coin @Carausius ! Very nice...

 

What a fantastic coin! I love it. Style, rarity, and eye appeal combine together to make this an exceptional acquisition. congrats!

 

That might be a true statement... if this were indeed a "F example," but in fact both NGC and you have mistaken a weak reverse strike and a worn reverse die for wear from circulation.

 

It's an excellent coin Orfew, well worth the price. Your interlocutor has demonstrated before that although he's able to find a grade and a price on an aggregating site like Coin Archives, he has little ability to independently judge a coin's quality or value beyond what he reads there..

Phil Davis

 

I, too, was surprised by the apparent "F" grade on the OP coin. Personally, I would have evaluated it as VF, or at worst, about VF. Possibly I just don't understand NGC grading of ancients.

 

grading maybe yes, value?? value defined by market forces, so please don't feed me this BS in here, OK? Stick to what you know best....

 

Depending on the time of day, the fatigue of my eyes and my cheerfulness/grumpiness ratio, I'd describe it as Fine+ or aVF. That's pretty much two ways of saying the same thing anyway.

 

@Orfew, awesome coin and, not that I could really care less, you got an excellent deal. That is an an outstanding portrait! Since there are some who ignore the coin and admire the slab, perhaps you could put the plastic up for sale after you free this beauty from its tomb?

PS. The nonsense posted above reminds me of the thread suggesting the value of a XF Balbinus is $150-300......

 

Awesome portrait style, Orfew... I love it!

I bought my dupondius for the portrait also, though it is a much more pedestrian realist style.

 

I love the OP coin, and everyone's additions to the thread! There seems to be a lot of variance in the busts. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that Galba only ruled for 7 months. Perhaps the engravers at the various mints simply didn't have enough time and practice to settle into a more-or-less homogeneous style. One sees this sort of thing from time to time, one of the most dramatic examples being the transition from Severus Alexander to Maximinus I Thrax. One sees a hint of Nero in Galba's busts, and I can even imagine the engravers being told, "Well he looks like Nero, but with a smaller head and a larger, aquiline nose."

 

Galba's portraits make it clear he was no nonsense. Of course, that also got him killed.

 

thanks Nero, Balbinus price range was $15-$30 actually