Possibly one of the finest known RRC 26/4?

What a nice looking coin! Looking forward to seeing a nice pic of that coin cracked out of the slab!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Hmm. This coin from Triton I looks awfully familiar doesn't it?

 

@red_spork solved the provenance issue. Thanks a lot

 

Excellent, Spork!!

Virgil Brand was one of the most prolific collectors of all time and an outstanding provenance. He lived from 1862-1926 so Michael's half-litra is certainly obtained in early 20th century and quit possibly from the 19th century.

Well done. Bravo!

 

This is wonderful news and a terrific provenance. Not just Virgil Brand, but also Goodman! Both wonderful provenances for a Roman Republican bronze. Congratulations, Michael! Well done @red_spork .

 

Thanks for the info. I know about the Goodman collection very well but hadn't thought about checking for a specimen of the type there, so I'm really glad @red_spork did, but must admit I was less informed on Virgil brand. This truly is excellent news. Glad they missed it, I already consider to have gotten away on the cheap side when winning it at Heritage, this adds another dimension to it

 

The type itself holds no big historical significance to my knowledge, but it is the smallest Roman Republican denomination ever made I believe and they are extremely rare in this condition. Here are for example a link to all the specimens on acsearch and on numismatics.org :

https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=

http://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-26.4

As you can see they almost always come off center or with poor surfaces, thus specimens like this will most likely always attract the eyes of big collectors.

I'm very very happy this one seems to have slipped by most unnoticed

 

Thank you. Wonderful indeed. I'm super happy right now. This is the first time I have a coin that turns out to have a really nice provenance like this. I'm still very surprised provenance was lost and missed on this one. This will be virtually impossible to upgrade.

 

This is what I'm upgrading from by the way.

 

Good. You needed a head on that puppy.

 

Goodman Collection is always worth checking for RR bronzes. To make it easier, I created a dedicated Goodman volume by filleting all the CNG cataogues in which Goodman coins were sold, and binding only the Goodman lot texts and plates. The resulting volume takes about 1.5 inches of shelf space, vs 6+ inches for the full CNG catalogues.

 

I have a few of the printed catalogs myself(including one ex RBW library with a lot of great notations) but mostly use my digital copies. They can be found online at CNG's ISSUU page and downloaded as PDFs. They have all been professionally OCR'd as well so they're searchable. Here are the links:
CNG 43
Triton I
CNG 45
CNG 46
CNG 47

If anyone wants a PDF of the RBW copy with notations let me know. Some time ago I photographed all the pages. It's not perfect but all is legible.

 

Super long shot as we will never know for sure but it is possible this is where Brand bought the half-Litra, From the Adolph Hess 11 Mar 1912 cataloge. Sadly no weight or image. But the same diameter, and given EF grade an mentions of the great patina. Its perfectly within the time when Brand collected, the coins in the sale are described like this on McCabes homepage "RR 111 illustrated on 6 plates. c.1200 RR listed. No weights. Mostly FDC perfect strikes on large flans." No other specimen I found has that provenance, so mine makes a good candidate here, sadly hard to prove for sure.

 

I believe Brand's detailed collecting records are in a library - maybe the ANS or ANA? I believe they are in the form of ledgers. You might try contacting library staff to ask. The catalogue page above is from the famous Tolstoi collection. Without a named catalogue (recording buyer's names - those catalogues do exist but are rare) there would be no other proof besides Brand's personal ledgers. Even a named catalogue might only name a purchasing agent, if Brand didn't attend personally. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the tip, need to check it out.
Found this, at least proving Brand was active at that sale.

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1486612

 

Another possibility is this Hess sale the same year with part of the Theodore Prowe collection. Brand was active in that sale too. Here the dark patina and high preservation is mentioned. Diameter fits as well.

 

There's just no way to make a link with your coin without a photo, accurate drawing with defining unique characteristics, or reference to this sale from subsequent owners/sales. If you have a named copy of sales such as Tolstoi or Prowe, you can sometimes search for provenances forward and perhaps find a sale of your coin that then can link it back to the text only source.

The coin below was pictured in Haeberlin with a note in the description that said "bought from Hirsch 1901". Hirsch Auction 5 in May 1901 has an unillustrated example of the type with the same :L control mark as Haeberlin's (now mine) and I'm pretty sure it's my coin but can't be 100% certain.



Then you have old line drawings, some of which are pretty accurate. Dardel was a famous numismatic illustrator in the 19th century and often would capture coins accurately enough that they can be identified in real life. This coin from my collection is, I believe, illustrated by Dardel in Cohen from 1857. It was sold as part of the Bourgey sale of Quadras y Ramon in 1913 so I know this coin was acquired in at least the 19th century and fits the potential narrative that it is indeed the Cohen illustration. It sure has a remarkably same huge flan and strike pattern.