Ancient and Medieval Coins Canada - First Auction

Ha, that's great, Erin!! I'm starting to feel embarrassed... Both of those were mine as well haha. I consigned ~130 coins to the AMCC this round... Roughly 1/4 of the 492. Or as my 11yo son pointed out, a "quarter"! The puns are strong with this one!

I feel grateful that she's headed across the ocean into your collection. Je parle farncais un pue. I didn't teach her any though.

 

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Wow, everyone! Super congrats on all the exciting wins, and thanks so much for your enthusiastic participation! I feel like I've just run a marathon, and I'm so grateful for all the support of my friends here on CT. I couldn't have done it without you, in a very real sense. Thank you!!!

As many noted, quite a few of the coins went for a steal. I think that's inevitable in the early days of any auction house, when growing the bidder base. That said, I'm very happy with some of the good prices I got for my consignors on the higher quality coins. And for the coins that went cheaply, my 120% guarantee and low consignment terms should mean that my consignors are just as well off having gone with AMCC rather than a bigger, more established auction house who would have taken a big cut.

So everybody wins! Um, except... did I make any money? Maybe not, but that's how it goes when you're starting a business, right?

@Pavlos, @Bing, and @lordmarcovan: Sorry you got skunked, guys.

I thought both of those coins were in particularly lovely style... I'm glad some of Justin's faves went to CoinTalk family.

Well, if anybody needed evidence that there were bargains to be had...

I think Justin's experience was repeated a number of times in the pick-bin section, but not as many times as I expected. The prices were very low, yet many went unsold. Maybe C_A is right and the lower value coins should go in the main section? I tend to think not, as the bidders at higher levels are more likely to stay away from the auction entirely. I'll have to think about what might make the pick-bin section more popular. Make it smaller & be more selective, perhaps.

Fantastic coin, that one! I'm jealous.

Congratulations again!!!

My sentiments mirror Erin's exactly, directed to my bidders and consignors. Thank you, all! It was a huge amount of work but also an enormous amount of fun putting this thing together. Next time will be a lot easier because much of the work was one-time-setup kinds of things.

I am planning the next auction for the spring. Let me know if you're interested in consigning... CT friends get a great deal. (But do let your non-CT friends know about AMCC too so I can actually make some moolah to support my coin habit! )

 

Just so you know:

 

I didn't know about this auction until today, and much of my budget is being saved for upcoming auctions ending in the next couple of weeks. However, I couldn't resist putting in a few last minute bids when I saw it... the only one I managed to get was this Septimius Severus Hercules denarius. Fairly modest, but a pretty good depiction, and certainly a bargain (not to gloat, @Severus Alexander):



EDIT: And before I forget, congratulations to @Severus Alexander for putting this together. It was a very painless and enjoyable experience, especially when compared to other auction houses I've dealt with. Good luck with your next one!

 

Thank you so much @Severus Alexander that experience was just awesome, congrats !! Impossible to describe - more than impressive, I am still amazed !! and the software for live bidding is incredible, not one glitch!

I won the two most wanted of my list and lost two others because I got distracted, one really has to close the door and leave everything else in stand by.

Lots of kudos for you and your team ! Bravissimo !!!

 

Outstanding wins guys. I put in two bids on two lots (opening bids actually) thinking I can come around and watch the auction live. Alas, my wife had other plans (as usual ). Surprisingly, I won! Here are my two beauties:

KUSHAN: Vasudeva II (c. 267-300), Copper unit. 5.70g, 18mm. Rare.
Obv: Crowned, diademed king enthroned facing, nimbate, holding standard and diadem, Brahmi Vasu at right, ga under arm.
Rev: Goddess of plenty Ardoksho enthroned facing, holding diadem and cornucopia, Bactrian legend right: APΔOXþO, tamgha at left.
Göbl 1024, Cribb 50.
From the Severus Alexander collection; Ex William Spengler collection.
Excellent detail on a ragged flan.
Bill Spengler was a specialist in Asian numismatics and made many scholarly contributions, including co-authoring the standard work on Turkoman bronzes with Wayne Sayles.




KUSHAN: Imitation of Vasudeva II (c. 270-310 or later), 3.81g, 17mm.
Obv: Abstract Kushan-style king standing left, sacrificing over altar and holding standard.
Rev: Abstract Siva standing facing, holding a garland or diadem and trident; behind, abstract bull Nandi standing left.
Cf. ANS Kushan 1978 (for type); cf. MACW 3761 (Jammu-Kashmir; same). cf. CNG E-Auction 369, 24.02.2016, lot 335.
From the Severus Alexander collection; Ex William Spengler collection.
Bill Spengler was a specialist in Asian numismatics and made many scholarly contributions, including co-authoring the standard work on Turkoman bronzes with Wayne Sayles.

 

What translator are you using?

You had me worried that my 2 years of high school French was pranking me... Threw what I wrote in Google and happily got this back:

I hadn't thought I was that bad lol

 

Random insert: I liked @justin Lee’s Augustus.

 

So this is the 1 coin that I put my chips all in and just won out... A great Augustus denarius!

I feel really lucky to have won it, and I think 200 CAD was literally a steal!

Thank you SA for everything!!!

 

^^^^ you referring to this one? (post above?)

Or one in the auction? (I had half a dozen in there but I bet you're referring to the Philippi?)

 

I like his new one too, but from what I’m aware the one I liked sold for 20 CAD. It was the as from his last coinage at Rome. I showed that to my Latin teacher and we both thought his intentional idealization was rather interesting.

 

The screen shot is from google, but the initial translator was moi. You just had a typo: "pue" for "peu."

You are most welcome! Thanks also to you for playing a big part in the auction's success!!

 

Yep, it is an interesting coin! I wish it was a bigger flan and better centered.

 

Haha! Oops!

 

That is a reason I wasn’t that into bidding for it. I wonder what his actual final coinage was? Are there any coins of Augustus known from 14 AD?

 

It does look nice in hand.

 

That’s so cool! Thanks Justin! I was hoping that the coins I bid on would be fron a CoinTalker.

I’ve always wanted a coin of Alexander and now I do, yay!!

Erin

 

I love that denarius. 200.00 CAD for an Augustus denarius? Yeah, I would say you got a bargain. Congrats on this fabulous pickup.

 

Eh... that would have been me! I needed a London mint issue for my set of Constantine Sol mints, like yours. Turns out, I bid only a little higher than your max bid, otherwise it would have been yours. Congrats on the Jamiscus coins though!

 

That's exactly how I feel about this coin from the AMCC auction (lot 39):



I've been actively looking for a lifetime tetradrachm for quite a while, and I wanted it to be the highlight of my Macedonian subcollection. This made the search quite hard. Since I was looking for a distinctively special coin, the usual "see one and know them all" tets were out of the game. By browsing through their Macedonian inventory without buying anything, I might even have slightly annoyed a dealer or two (hopefully not too much).

Yet, with this one, I finally found what I had been looking for. Not only does it have a beautiful portrait and a nice rooster on the reverse (fun animals are always a bonus) – most importantly, the banker's mark on Heracles' chin makes it, at least in my eyes, desirably unique. The coin looks as though Heracles was wearing war paint.

Mainly because of this coin, I decided to alot all of my coin budget for a couple of months to @Severus Alexander 's auction. The tetradrachm didn't go for a song, but I'm happy with what I paid for it. Also, I wonder why @iamtiberius decided to part with it?