Finn Johannessen Collection Win

It occurred to me when photographing this recent arrival that it shared some interesting similarities with the ex Staffieri Collection coin I posted yesterday.

The similarities are not so much in the coins themselves, or the incongruity of the fact that yesterday's came from an exclusive glossy-paged catalog where the top coin hammered for $47,500 before fees (for the sake of clarity, not my coin, which cost much less than 1% of that), while this one was part of a group lot of Claudius II ants with an all-in average price of $19 per coin.

Where I thought they had a kind of kinship was that both came from specialist collections, their former owners passionate collectors with a deep knowledge of their respective areas of interest. At some time in the past (and I'll put a date on that just because I can - April 1972 for the MA and December 2001 for the Claudius II) both had been looked at by the discerning eye of a coinnoisseur and had been deemed worthy of purchase. If there are coins you want to bring into your collection, even if you're a generalist like me, or perhaps especially if you're a generalist like me, wouldn't it be those from collections like these?

Another thing my two new coins share is that they've both been published by their former owners, the Marcus Aurelius tetradrachm in Staffieri's book Alexandria in Nummis, and the Claudius II ant below by Finn Johannessen in an article for a 2002 edition of The Celator entitled, "Just my Claudius II Ant’s worth".

I hadn't looked at the article when I bid on the lot, but I tracked down a digital copy yesterday and gave it a quick read. In a nutshell, it's a short but engaging story of the collector's journey from starting out with stamps and modern coins, to discovering the incredible world of ancients, then growing disillusioned with being a one-per-ruler collector of ancients, and finally, becoming a committed long-term collector of the coinage of Claudius II. I had an especially good laugh when he described the portrait of Claudius on one of his coins as looking like a "constipated baboon in a straitjacket".

Ten coins were used to illustrate various passages of the article, with mine used as an example of a typical Rome mint product of the time. It is that, and probably not the most exciting coin even in my lot of ten, but IMHO it's a very nice example and much better than average. Not bad at all for $19, I think.


CLAUDIUS II GOTHICUS
AE/Billon Antoninianus. 3.61g, 21mm. Rome mint, circa Sep AD 268 - end AD 269. New RIC V/1 Online temp #194 (this coin cited). O: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from rear. R: ANNONA AVG, Annona standing left, holding corn-ears and cornucopiae; prow of ship at her feet.
Ex Finn Johannessen Collection, illustrated in the article “Just my Claudius II Ant’s worth", written by the collector and published in The Celator vol. 16, no. 10 (October 2002), pl. 30, fig. 10.

I suppose I'd be remiss if I didn't mention here that this 15-year old article brings up the name of one of our CoinTalk members, in the role of the person who inspired the collector to become an ardent specialist no less. Here's the relevant passage:

"Douglas Smith opened my eyes with force when he, in an Internet discussion group, told the tale of how he, after years of dreaming and hoping, at last had found a coin that he knew could exist! This was a person who not only knew every catalogued coin within his area of interest, but also those not catalogued, and as if that was not enough: he could see which coins that logically should/could exist, and was patiently waiting for them! What a feeling it must have been to finally find that Julia Domna."

I invite everyone to share their Claudius II coins, but out of curiosity, invite @dougsmit to share his Julia Domna that's mentioned in the article .

 

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What a great story! Thanks for another wonderful post, Z!

 

Does that mean you don't like the coin?

Nevermind, I won't insist that you answer that.

 

Excellent write up and great coin!

 

Nothing wrong with the coin, but with the pedigree and story, the value of the coin is markedly enhanced

 

Now, if only I could make a dollar every time I wrote up a story about a coin .

 

You can-- sell the coin for a dollar more than you paid .

I'll help you out and buy it. Then the story will have another interesting chapter

 

A couple of my favorite Claudius II coins.

I like this one because it's from his very first issue and the Siscia mint portrait is particularly attractive. It has a fair amount of original silvering, too:


Claudius II, AD 268-270
Roman billon antoninianus, 3.66 g, 19.1 mm, 5:00
Siscia, issue 1, AD 268
Obv: IMP CLAVDIVS CAES AVG, bust right, radiate, cuirassed and draped with paludamentum, seen from rear
Rev: RESTITVTOR ORBIS, Emperor in military dress standing left, holding patera in right hand over small altar and spear pointing down in left hand
Refs: RIC 189; Cohen 247; Markl, Numism. Zeitschr. 26, p. 427; Alfoldi 1936, 1.2; MER/RIC temp 562
Notes: RIC V incorrectly reports IMP CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG as obverse inscription, which has been corrected in MER/RIC.

And I like this one because the emperor looks like Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies:


Claudius II, AD 268-270
Roman billon antoninianus, 19mm, 3.6g, 12h
Rome, issue 1, officina 3, c. September 268 – end 269
Obv: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate head right
Rev: GENIVS AVG, Genius standing left, holding patera over small altar in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand; –/Γ//–
Refs: RIC 45; Cohen 110; MER/RIC temp 192; RCV 11339; Normanby 634; Hunter 13.

 

Excellent coin with an excellent write up. For the benefit of everyone, the article is posted in Vol. 16, no. 10 of the Celator which can be viewed here:

https://community.vcoins.com/celator-vol-16-no-10/

I, too, would like to see Doug's coin that is mentioned in the article. Here is one of several coins I obtained from CNG that are from the Finn Johannessen Collection. I picked up several lots as well, but haven't had the time to photograph them yet...

Roman Imperial: Claudius II Gothicus (268-270 CE) Æ Antoniniani, Rome (RIC Online 106)

Obv: IMP C M AVR CLAVDIVS P F AVG; Bust right, radiate, cuirassed and draped with paludamentum, seen from rear
Rev: PROVIDENT AVG; Providentia standing left, holding baton in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand, with left elbow leaning on column; at feet to left globe

 

Great portrait on that one!

I didn’t do a precise count, but I reckon there must have been well over 600 coins from the collection sold over the course of a few auctions (including over 40 group lots). Hopefully we’ll see others share any ex Finn Johannessen Collection coins they managed to pick up.

 

Thanks! I really like your coin as well. Kudos for the fact that it was mentioned in that article.

I reckon that is the case. What a collector he must have been to focus on just one emperor! Talk about dedication...

 

Thanks for the great write-up @zumbly I really enjoyed the read. And for $19 I'd say you got a great coin.

I have one coin of Claudius II that was a gift from my wife.

Claudius II Gothicus Billon Antoninianus end 268 - early 269; Cyzicus (Kapu Dagh, Turkey) mint, 3.196g, 25.3mm,
Obv: IMP C M AVR CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: SALVS AVG (the health of the Emperor), Salus standing right feeding snake held in both hands, S P Q R in exergue.
RIC V-I 242

 

Very nice piece & history for the price.


Claudius II (268 - 270 A.D.)
Æ Antoninianus
O: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind.
R: SALVS AVG, Isis Faria standing facing, head left, holding sistrum and basket; Є
Antioch mint
22mm
3.37g
RIC 217


Claudius II (268 - 270 A.D.)
Egypt, Alexandria
Billon Tetradrachm
O: AVT K KLA-VDIOC CEB, laureate cuirassed bust right.
R: , eagle standing left, head right, with wreath in its beak.L-B = Year 2.
8.18g
13.7mm
Alexandria Milne 4248

 

That’s a great gift and really nice coin, thanks for sharing it!

 

Very cool

 

NICE @zumbly ! Cool story and wonderful collecting passion!

I have a couple pedestrian Claudius II Gothics being well circulated:


RI Claudius II Gothicus 268-270 BI Ant Fortuna
( I think this one was going back into the Play-Doh rolling machine before they stopped and said "Naw, we can keep this coin")


RI Claudius II Gothicus 268-270 CE BI Ant Neptune Stndg dolphin trident

 

Ole Claudius ll Gothicus..a must have for the Roman collection. I have a couple, one i had mis- IDed as a Gallenius for a time (thanks @TIF)

 

I have posted the coin so many times that I doubt anyone wants to see it again. In fact, I'm not absolutely sure that this was the one but I got it in 1999 and was very hyped about it then. I liked it so much I bought a die duplicate in 2017.

 

Great write up Z


Claudius II Gothicus. AD 268-270.
Æ Antoninianus, 20mm, 3.0g, 6h; Rome mint.
Obv.: IMP CLAVDIVS AVG; Radiate head right
Rev.: SECVRIT AVG; Securitas standing facing, head left, legs crossed, leaning on short column, holding scepter // XI
Reference: RIC Va 100, p. 218
From the YOC Collection
Ex JAZ

 

Thanks. That’s the one I had guessed that it was .