Collectors of ancient coins are elated to discover coins they own are pictured in a well known reference books or auction catalogs. After 45 years of collecting I made a few such discoveries I'd like to post here. The 1st coin was purchased from Harlan Berk about 15 years ago. After buying David Sear's book "ROMAN COINS AND THEIR VALUES, Volume IV", I discovered the exact coin pictured on page 111. Yippee! The 2nd coin is a course Parthian billon tetradrachm of Volagases VI, that I bought at a coin show in Rochester, NY about 20 years ago. After futilely trying to find some info on the coin a friend suggested getting Fred Shore's book "PARTHIAN COINS & HISTORY, Ten Dragons Against Rome". To my horror new copies of the book were selling as high as $1,000.00! I did manage to secure a copy of the book on inter-library loan & discovered the exact coin #452, in Shore's book. Yippee! Ironically used copies of Shore's book are worth more than my coin was. I ended up selling the coin thru a Heritage auction this year for a little over $200.00. The last coin is a handsome billon tetradrachm of Hadrian, purchased from a "bid- buy sale" from Harlan Berk, about 25 years ago. When David Vagi's books "COINAGE AND HISTORY of the ROMAN EMPIRE" were released in 1999, I bought them. While casually browsing thru the 2nd volume I discovered my coin on page 351. Yippee! Has anyone else made a happy discovery like these?
Three great coins and congrats on their provenance. I don't have any that I am aware of, but this recent acquisition represents a coin with less than 10 published examples. Type: AE Drachm, 33mm, 22.95 grams - EGYPT Obverse: Bare headed and draped bust of Aurelius right M AVPHLIOC KAICAP Reverse: Elpis Standing left holding flower and hitching skirt LEND EKATOV Reference: BMC 1238 listed as "rare" by R.A. Numismatics
Wonderful! I love that Hadrian tet. I have many plate coins-- Dattari, Dattari-Savio, Lindgren-- but the only "discovery" was that this awesome Domitian diobol's pedigree wasn't fully listed by CNG. That is remarkable and although the coin wasn't inexpensive, I wonder if competition for it might have been even greater had the pedigree also noted that the coin is illustrated twice in Emmett's "Alexandrian Coins": the obverse for the Domitian section heading, and both obverse and reverse in a highlight about this unusual reverse type. Emmett doesn't have a ton of coins images, making the inclusion even more special. (I've posted this coin several times in the last few days ) EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian. Regnal year 10, CE 90/91. Æ diobol (25mm, 10.86 g, 12h). AVT KAICAP ΔΟ ΜΙΤ CEB ΓΕΡΜ, laureate head right / Agathodaemon serpent, wearing the skhent crown (emblematic of upper and lower Egypt), on horseback galloping left; L I (date) below. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) –; K&G 24.109; RPC II 2585; SNG Copenhagen 214; Emmett 277.10 (R5). Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection Ex West Coast/Lloyd Beauchaine Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 41, 19 March 1997), lot 1110 Ex Classical Numismatic Review Vol. XVI, No. 1 (January 1991), lot 31 Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Fall Mail Bid Sale (18 October 1990), lot 2365 Appearances: Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 39 (this coin) Obverse illustrated in Emmett as the header for the Domitian section, p. 24 (this coin) Fully illustrated in Emmett, p. 26 (this coin, discussing the unusual reverse). https://www.cointalk.com/threads/so-these-exist-snake-cowboys.314032/
The Domitian coin was a nice score! It's artistic & has a lovely patina. Sometimes you can make a great score on CNG electronic auctions but very rarely with the printed auctions. About 5 years ago I won 6 bronze coins from the Richard McAlee collection, & all were pictured in his book "The Coins of Roman Antioch", & they all came from a CNG electronic auction. I kept only 2 of those coin, 1 is attached below.
Nice score! There is something special about owning a very rare coin, even if it doesn't translate into a lot of money.
@Al Kowsky... am I correct in assuming you bought these (or many of these) coins raw and then sent them for slabbing?. May I ask why you felt the need to slab them? Are all of your coins slabbed?
That Parthian is being destroyed by bronze disease, might want to take care of it. Aren't slabs wonderful! *sarcasim*
Not certain it's BD. Looks more like mineral deposits. However, it would be better to remove it from the slab to make certain.
The next owner will have to take care of the Parthian coin. I sold the coin at a Heritage auction on January 17th of this year for $204.00, & was happy to get rid of it. I originally bought the coin for it's degraded abstract style. Slabbed coins lose a lot of charm but they're much easier to sell than raw coins, especially to novice collectors. I generally don't slab ancients until I'm ready to sell them unless they are in pristine condition & shouldn't be handled by sweaty hands.
That Parthian coin makes me sad. I hope whomever bought it cracks it open and deals with the BD, otherwise that plate coin will be a pile of dust in 2 or 3 years.
Dr. Spock, the coin didn't change visually in the 20 years that I owned it. So I don't think it will change into a pile of dust in 2 to 3 years. The coin had spots of green corrosion, as many billon coins do, that hadn't changed in the period of time I owned it. Attached are blow-up photos of both sides of the coin. AK
Nice AP Antioch!!!! Here's my new one that arrived yesterday. And I bet that red sandy patina is natural, and not a "zurqieh special".
Justin Lee, what an interesting coincidence! Your coin looks well above the average examples I've seen. McAlee makes some interesting comments in his book regarding these AS coins from Antioch. He states they were heavily counterfeited in ancient times & many pictured in his book could well be contemporary fakes.
A contemporary fake Roman coin is still a Roman coin. Frankly, I would not be surprised to learn some of my Gallic Empire coins are contemporary fakes, given the disorganization and the poor quality coinage of the mid-3rd century mints.
