book quote sought on Romulus Augustus

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Gallienus, Mar 16, 2019.

  1. Gallienus

    Gallienus coinsandhistory.com

    I'm looking for a book quote from a book I read many years ago about collecting Roman coins. This had to be during the early 1970's when I was starting to collect all coins: US, German, Roman, Canadian, etc. The book discussed the values of common ancient Roman coins but then added something like:

    "But if you want to buy a [small] gold coin of the last emperor, Romulus Augustus, be prepared to pay $1200 for it."

    If anyone recalls the book and the page #, I'd appreciate it.
     
    panzerman likes this.
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  3. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    Romulus Augustulus is the last Emperor. Am I right ?
     
  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Yes last emperor of the west. However the Eastern empire was fine. Odoacer had to pay homage to Zeno.
     
    7Calbrey likes this.
  5. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    If only that were still the case! I believe Aureo & Calico sold one a few months ago... for over $100k!
     
  6. ValiantKnight

    ValiantKnight Well-Known Member

    Unfortunately Romulus Augustus is a little out of my budget right now, but at least I can feel good knowing I have a coin of the guy that dethroned him.

    Odoacer, Kingdom of Italy
    AE nummus
    Obv: OD[O-VAC], bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust right
    Rev: Odoacer's monogram (letters ODOVA) within wreath
    Mint: Ravenna
    Date: 476-493 AD
    Ref: RIC X 3502

    [​IMG]
     
  7. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    I tried doing a Google book search of gold coin of the last emperor, Romulus Augustus, be prepared to pay $1200" but nothing turned up. Sorry.
     
  8. Nicholas Molinari

    Nicholas Molinari Well-Known Member

  9. Aleph

    Aleph Well-Known Member

  10. Aleph

    Aleph Well-Known Member

    Not in sear, vagi, sayles, or klawans as far as I can tell. The only similar source I didn’t check was van meter. The price quoted suggests 70s or earlier?
     
  11. Suarez

    Suarez Well-Known Member

    If that was written in the 70's it must have been a printer's error that dropped a zero. Either that or just a wildly inaccurate guess. Only sale I can find from that era was NFA 5 #579 where a tremissis sold for $8000 (which works out to over $25,000 in 2019 dollars).
     
    Orange Julius likes this.
  12. Gallienus

    Gallienus coinsandhistory.com

    I'm going to be teaching some classes to 6th grade high school students on Ancient History as Shown by Coins. I thought I'd do a comparison on some ancients prices then & now, which is why I'm looking for the quote. I'm aware of the Heritage tremissis of Romulus Augustus which sold just this past January realizing $66K: with commission. It had scratches on both sides.

    The NFA # 5 should be around 1978. Note that rare coins exploded pricewise during the 1970's. My 1st Roman Coins by David Sear, 1974, lists the coin at 1,250 pounds sterling.

    I don't have a Romulus Augustus but make do with a really nice tremissis Julius Nepos (474 - 475 AD, Ed Wadell) so I have to apologize for the substitution.
     
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