An upgraded labyrinth

Here is a coin I'd like to upgrade (but I am not ready to do so):


Crete, Knossos, 200-67 BC, AE14, 2.18g
Obv: Zeus
Rev: [Κ]ΝΩ[/Σ−Ι/ΩΝ]; Maze
Ref: Sear 3230v

It is not beautiful, but I still feel lucky to have it. There are few coins in VG that still turn heads and this one does.

 

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The upgraded coin is the prettiest coin that I've seen in a lng time.

 

That's a fantastic upgrade @AncientJoe. Beautiful coin!

 

I upgraded this sestertius of Etruscilla with the FECVNDITAS AVG reverse:




Herennia Etruscilla, AD 249-251
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 14.04 gm, 28.3 mm
Rome, AD 250-251
Obv: HERENNIA ETRVSCILLA AVG, diademed and draped bust, right
Rev: FECVNDITAS AVG SC, Fecunditas standing left, right hand extended to child standing at her feet; holding cornucopiae
Refs: RIC 134a; Sear 9504; Cohen 9; Hunter 12.

 

I'm speechless !
I can just WOW again after others have. Well done

Q

 

Phenomenal coins, both of them. But also a marked upgrade. Well done AJ.

One of my first serious upgrades was a Vespasian bronze for my 12 Caesars collection.

Vespasian: AD 69-79
AE As; 26mm/9.1g, Rome mint.
OBV; IMP CAESAR VESP AVG COS V CENS, laureate head right/
REV; S-C, Spes advancing left, holding flower & raising hem of robe.
(Cohen 452)




Vespasian: AD 69-79
AE As; 28mm/10.1g
OBV; IMP CAESAR VESP AVG COS V CENS, laureate head right/
REV; S-C, Spes advancing left, holding flower & raising hem of robe. Rome mint.
(Cohen 452, RIC I 360a)

 

@AncientJoe you certainly know how to give a girl wobbly knees

 

Both look great to me! (Qualifier: I do not currently collect or have any ancients, although I am always perusing the ancient threads because you guys & gals are incredibly knowledgeable & have great stories & subject focus!)

I am often "adjusting" my collecting criteria, so could you tell me why you can't keep both? They are not the same coin. As eclectic as I am, I have many multiples of the same coins because there are multiple beautiful examples. I would think more so of ancients.

Thanks for posting these!
Steve

 

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I think you may have replied to the wrong thread. Excellent coins though!

 

Thanks everyone!

It is really a matter of "minimalism" to some extent. I anticipate having a collection of no more than ~150-200 coins in its entirety and have almost all of antiquity to cover with that small of a set. Now, that range can be considered somewhat arbitrary, and I'm not as rigorous as some people who only want a "box of 20", but a limited overall quantity means there isn't as much room for iconographic duplicates.

Similarly, I now only have an Alexander the Great gold distater rather than also having a stater. They're almost indistinguishable unless you weigh them but once you have the distater, the stater isn't really "essential".

I could end up kicking myself for taking this approach, and indeed, I've sold some coins after upgrading them and later found that I missed some aspect of the earlier example but it forces me to look for coins that add something to my collection, whether historic or aesthetic, rather than it just being a nice coin.

Many people end up going the opposite direction and collecting one of each denomination of a particular type, or even down to die varieties in US coinage, all of which is a perfectly valid and enjoyable collecting style: it just is counter to what I'm currently aiming for... although in the fullness of time, I certainly won't rule it out

 

For me, if there are aspects I like about both coins and I can afford to keep both, then I keep both. That is my recommendation in this case. Both are stellar coins, and when are you going to get another Ex. British Museum rarity?

I upgraded this coin just this weekend while I was visiting @AnYangMan. The new coin is provenanced back to the 1930’s if the information I received is correct. I will be keeping both.

Before: Broken 3-character Qi knife.



After: Intact 4-character Qi knife. (I apologize for the crappy picture)

 

@TypeCoin971793 Hmmmmm, now where did I see that knife before? . As I have already said a thousand times: that is one stellar example! I am incredibly jealous of you right now. Genuine, intact, old provenance (30’s-40’s) and overall just one of the most aesthetically pleasing examples I have seen in quite some time. The pictures really don’t do it justice if I may say so . What more could you ever want? Seriously, for that price you practically stole it! So jealous of it, but then again, I also didn’t leave with empty hands….

When will the rest of the purchases be shown by the way?

 

We all must realize that there are almost as many ways of collecting coins as there are collectors. Personally I can not imagine a US collector refusing a Seated Liberty quarter just because they had a Seated Liberty half but that is what we are being told here. These are not the same coin.

I am getting to the point now where I want to cut back on the number of coins but that means trimming the weight so I am strong enough to lift them all at once. I value the minor differences: mints, workshops, style variations and a host of other things that are of no interest whatsoever to those of us that place first value on no having two coins that are even slightly similar. There is nothing 'wrong' with you collecting your way. I do note that many very high value coins that appear on the market very frequently and some lower end rarities that show up one a generation. I agree the new labyrinth is better looking than the old one and that would seem likely since larger dies are easier to cut than smaller ones. I'm sure the little fellow will bring a high price and bring satisfaction to its new owner. It is good that we move along our unwanted coins especially when there are a hundred people who want one like this for every one that exists.

 

Thanks for the response, and of course I am not being critical, just interested, because they are both great coins IMO. Yes, Lord Marcovian drives me crazy with his box of 20, but I really think he's holding back on us. And, my collection is so eclectic (albeit no ancients....yet) I doubt anyone could look at it & make any sense of it (my ideas & tastes have changed many times over 50+ yrs).

I've seen that we all have particular preferences and ways to collect, & that's one of the things that keep it so interesting, & one of the reasons this hobby will outlive us all!

Thanks again, Steve

 

I get it, I'm just interested in what motivates certain collectors.

Love your comment about being "strong enough to lift them all at once"! Personally, I have never, ever sold a coin (have given some away) which has resulted in considerable tonnage. I guess I'm afraid of "seller's remorse"!

Steve

 

That's a bit combative. I value the minor differences as well: it is only after studying and understanding as much as I can about the minor differences in known examples that I end up choosing the one which I want to represent the type. It's just the opposite mentality that you take as I know that I can't possibly own dekadrachms by die variety so I either will end up with a small number of iconographic duplicates or none, and I'm more of a "type set" collector than a "date set".

The PCGS Type Set registry for US coinage has 137 coins needed to cover 1792-1964. Constructing a comparable set in ancients very roughly approximates what I'm doing. Being that there are thousands upon thousands of types to choose from even before getting into the minutiae, it means ultimately needing to pick one of either a Standing Liberty half dollar or a quarter.

Now, the question becomes: do you try to pick a 1916 SLQ, or look at thousands of examples to find one which has the shield and hand particularly well struck, or one in an early die state, or maybe an overdate... the same collecting mentality applies to both approaches.

It is very true that there are some common coins that still happen to be expensive (presumably due to supply/demand still falling in favor of demand, although sometimes it is due to artificially inflated asking prices). But that also doesn't mean that there aren't high value coins which are also rare enough to only appear once a generation. Case in point: this Knossos has been off the market since the 1980s and I'm not aware of any comparable examples in the interim. The drachm, on the other hand, comes up in decently nice condition at least once a year. I'd say mine is one of the nicer ones but it isn't nearly as rare as the stater.

However, I'd argue that, regardless of price-point, it isn't difficult to combine a set of attributes to make any given type excessively rare to where it appears only once per generation. A friend of mine has an adage: "there's nothing as common as a rare coin".

Now, that said, there are obviously a large number of excessively rare types, but we all pick our poison. I just hope no one is masochistic enough to try to assemble a set of the coinage of Probus by die variety.

 

@AncientJoe I love both coins, and REALLY understand your cool upgrade! GORGEOUS!

You make me appreciate your strategy of capturing the Cellator's Art... just super. Congrats on this beautiful coin! I sat mesmerized going through the maze several times (LOL).

I understand your collecting strategy. I take an Historical Approach Strategy (generally), that focuses on Critical Juncture in Human History. Either strategy is just. plain. FUN!!!

I really do not have upgrades, as I have a bad habit of KEEPING every coin that I get my hands on! Here is one that I enjoy from the mysterious Etrurians.


Etruria Populonia AR 5 Asses 3rd C BCE 2.0g Young Hd L V behind HN 173 Vecchi Rasna III 52 Vecchi Etruscan 91.6 ex NAC 29 No 9 RARE

 

In due time

 

I have more lateral/duplicates than upgrades. This is one of the differences between a disciplined collector and... me. It's all fun though Several coins will be upgraded someday and some of those were from mixed lots and some were intentional and probably foolish purchases.

Here's one of the foolish purchases, made in my early months of collecting. It was a hasty purchase to fill a spot in the silly but fun Pink Floyd Animals collection.

[shudder]


ROMAN REPUBLIC, L. Rustius
74 BCE
AR denarius, 18 mm, 3.7 gm
Obv: helmeted head of Mars right
Rev: ram standing right; L RVSTI in exergue
Ref: Crawford 389/1, Sydenham 782, Rustia 1

Here's a popular coin type-- Nemausus croc-- which I acquired by surprise when it was included in a small lot of Ptolemy bronzes:


Augustus & Agrippa
Gaul, Nemausus, c. CE 10-14
AE dupondius
Obv: IMP/DIVI F P-P, back-to-back heads of Agrippa, in combined rostral crown & laurel wreath, and Augustus, laureate
Rev: COL-NEM, long, vertical palm with crocodile chained below, wreath to left of palm tip with ties trailing to right
Ref: RIC 160
ex Professor James R. Eaton Collection (1834-1897); this coin was in his family until I purchased it from Stack's.


Augustus & Agrippa
Gaul, Nemausus, c. 10 BCE - CE 10
AE dupondius
Obv: IMP/DIVI; heads of Agrippa to left, wearing combined rostral crown and laurel wreath, and of Augustus to right, wearing oak wreath, back to back
Rev: COL-NEM; long, vertical palm with crocodile chained below, wreath to left of palm tip with ties trailing to right; two palm fronds below
Ref: RIC 158; AMC 425; Cohen 10; RPC 524

I still have the Eaton coin

Another "upgrade", a Sewer Goddess denarius, although I've kept the other one too. Hmm. Is it really an upgrade if I never sell the old one? I guess not.


Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome. L. Mussidius Longus. 42 BC. AR denarius, Rome mint. Diademed and veiled head of Concordia right; CONCORDIA upwards behind / Shrine of Venus Cloacina: Circular platform surmounted by two statues of the goddess, each resting right hand on cippus, the platform inscribed CLOACIN and ornamented with trellis-pattern balustrade, flight of steps and portico on left; L • MVSSIDIVS • LONGVS around above. Crawford 494/42a; CRI 188; Sydenham 1093; Kestner 3753-4; BMCRR Rome 4242-3; Mussidia 6b. Acquired from a dealer at the 2014 ANA World's Fair of Money, Chicago.


Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome
L. Mussidius Longus, 42 BCE
AR denarius, Rome mint.
Obv: Diademed and veiled head of Concordia right; CONCORDIA upwards behind; star in right field below chin
Rev: Shrine of Venus Cloacina: Circular platform surmounted by two statues of the goddess, each resting right hand on cippus, the platform inscribed CLOACIN and ornamented with trellis-pattern balustrade, flight of steps and portico on left; L • MVSSIDIVS • LONGVS around above.
Ref: Crawford 494/42b; Bab. 6; BMC 4244; Crawf. 494/42 b; Syd. 1093 a

I don't remember seeing this coin of yours before. It's fantastic!