Otho in pieces

No, this is not my fault. Didn't drop the coin. I bought this Otho denarius in this poor condition. Broken but repaired. I paid only about ten percent of the price that I had paid if this coin had never been broken.

For me that's not a problem. I like coins with scratches, holes, etc. For me it means that they have been around
Most of you (my wild guess) would probably never buy a coin in this shape.
Of course I like to know if there are others with broken (and maybe repaired) coins who love them



Otho, denarius
Rome mint.
2,89 g. 19 mm.
Obv. IMP M OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P, bare head right
Rev. SECVRITAS P R, Securitas standing left, holding wreath and sceptre.
RIC 8

 

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It's still an ancient coin, and if the price was right (and it sounds like it was) I think you did well.

My Otho is rather budget friendly, though in one piece...

 

My first, and only, Julius Caesar portrait coin was cut many years ago. I have several that were broken or cut. Some of them use when I let YNs (young numismatists) hold an ancient coin.

 

My Augustus denarius is broken on one little side, but I love it still!

Augustus, Ruled 27 BC-14 AD
AR Denarius, Lugdunum Mint, Struck 2 BC-4 AD
Obverse: CAESAR AV[GVS]TVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE Laureate head of Augustus to right.
Reverse: AVGV[STI F C]OS [DESIG PRINC IVVENT] / [C] L CAESARES•, Gaius and Lucius Caesar standing, each, togate, resting hand on shield and spear, simpulum, left, and lituus, right, flanking, right and left respectively
References: RIC 210, RSC 43c
Size: 19.5mm, 3.6g

 

I have no problem with "not in perfect condition" coins. In fact, I have several. My only requirement is that the devices are not affected.

Here is an Augustus I've shown many times:

AUGUSTUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: AVGVSTUS DIVI F, bare head right
REVERSE: Bull butting right
IMP X in exergue
Lugdunum 15-13 BC
3.7g, 18mm
RIC I 167a, BMC 451. C 137, CBN 1382

And here is a man-bull from Gela

GELA, SICILY
AR Litra
OBV: Naked horseman galloping left holding spear & shield
REV: Forepart of man-headed bull right
Struck at Gela, Sicily, 425BC
0.36g; 13mm
SNG Cop 275, BMC 52, Jenkins 405; HGC 2 374

 

I liked it better when it was whole...

 

Broken or not, that is a dang good looking Otho portrait in the op post.
Here's some busted beauties of mine.

An augmented Augustus/cut coin:



Not quit O shaped Otho/partial provincial:



Busted Balbinus/damaged denarius

 

I don't own any broken coins, something I couldn't stand, no matter how rare or cheap it could be.


Otho (69 A.D.)
Egypt, Alexandria
Billon Tetradrachm
O: ΑΥΤΟΚ ΜΑΡΚ ΟΘΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒ, laureate head right; L A (date) to right.
R:ΡΩΜΗ, helmeted and cuirassed bust of Roma right, holding shield and spear.
13.4g
23mm
Dattari (Savio) 330; K&G 18.9; RPC I 5362; Emmett 186.1

Published on Wildwinds!


Otho (69 A.D.)
Egypt, Alexandria
Billon Tetradrachm
O: AYTOK MAPK OΘΩNOΣ KAIΣ ΣEB, laureate head right, LA (year 1) lower right.
R: EΛEY-ΘEPIA, Eleutheria (Liberty) standing left, wreath in extended right hand, scepter in left hand, leaning with left elbow on column, simpulum (ladle used for tasting and pouring sacrificial libations) left in lower left field.
12.58g
24.4mm
Milne 359; RPC I 5354 (5 spec.); Dattari 327; BMC Alexandria p. 25, 208; Curtis 238; Kampmann 18.6; Emmett 184

Ex. Jyrki Muona Collection

This variety with a simpulum on the reverse is much rarer than the same type without this control symbol. RPC reports only 5 specimens with the simpulum and 17 specimens without it. This variety is missing from the important collections in Cologne, Paris, and Milan, and we know of only one example offered at auction in the past two decades (CNG 76, 12 Sep 2007, lot 3152, VF, $430 plus fees).


Published on Wildwinds!

 

Not too bad

 

Some of my coins from the category "damaged but cherished:"

The chip at 1 o'clock doesn't really bother me. Would it bother you?

Otacilia Severa, Roman Empire, AE sestertius, 244–249 AD, Rome mint. Obv: MARCIA OTACIL SEVERA AVG; bust of Otacilia Severa, diademed, draped, r. Rev: PVDICITIA AVG; Pudicitia, draped, veiled, seated l., r. hand drawing veil and holding sceptre in l. hand; in exergue, SC. 31mm, 17.62g. Ref: RIC IV, Philip I 209. Ex Artemide, eLive auction 7, lot 271.

A holed coin. Generally speaking, I'd prefer an example without the damage. Yet I bought this one partly because it was cheap, and partly since I reckoned that every collection should contain at least one coin with a hole for ilustrative purposes.


Philip III Arrhidaios (in the types of Philip II), Kingdom of Macedonia, AR 1/5 tetradrachm, 323–317 BC, Amphipolis mint. Obv: head of Apollo right, wearing tainia. Rev: [Φ]IΛIΠΠ[OY]; horseman riding right; branch below. 13mm, 1.78g. Ref: Le Rider pl. 46, 28; Troxell, Studies, Group 8, 385.

My favorite damaged coin. Why did someone in antiquity decide to scratch out Antoninus Pius' face?


Antoninus Pius, Roman Empire, denarius, 145–161 AD, Rome mint. Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP, laureate head of Antoninus Pius right. Rev: COS IIII, thunderbolt on altar. 16.5mm, 4.02g. RIC III, 137.

A heavy strike made a piece of the flan chip off. You can see outlines of the legend on the metal below the spalled part. I consider this an interesting trace of the minting process, others might call it damage and shy away from buying such a coin.


Nerva, Roman Empire, denarius, 97 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP NERVA CAES AVG GERM PM TR P II, laureate head of Nerva right. Rev: IMP II COS IIII PP, Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.98g. Ref: RIC II, 40.

 

I just remembered, I do have a coin with a missing chunk. It's not broken, but someone in antiquity was a little too vigorous doing a test cut on it...

 

THESSALY, Pherai
Very Rare. Repaired. AR Hemiobol. 0.27g, 8.3mm. THESSALY, Pherai, circa 360s-350s BC. BCD Thessaly II 694; HGC 4, 563; Imhoof-Blumer 1908, p. 93, 277, pl. VI, 38; cf. Nomos 4, 1306 corr. O: Head of Ennodia right: R: Φ - E, hunting dog sitting right.
Ex BCD Collection

 

Great stuff here - my kind of material. Here is Philip the Arab and an elephant, a big chunk missing, but most of Philip and most of the elephant are still there:

 

MANY of these seem to have striking splits / breaks...

Samnium Aesernia AE21 263-240 BCE HN Italy 430 Vulcan - Biga


Then, I found one not broken...

Samnium Aesernia 263-240 BC AE 20 Vulcan Pilos Tongs Jupiter Biga

 

OOOHH some of those got to hurt. Especially that Nero. A friend of mine one bought a Constantine III siliqua put it into his back pocket, sat on it and broke into three pieces. After that every coin he got from me with a thin flan got "Don't sit on me !!" added to the description. It must have worked no more broken coins ( or he didn't fess up to any further misadventures)

 

I never thought of myself as a condition snob but this thread makes me fess up. I am very forgiving of things that happened in manufacture, rather forgiving of things done in antiquity, slightly forgiving of damage from the centuries in the ground and very hard on coins damaged in the process of recovery and 'processing'. Time heals some ails in my mind. I can tolerate a coin removed from very old jewelry but have less interest in things done in modern times to 'improve' the coin (mounting, tooling, e.g.). Coins cut in half in antiquity to make change are not damaged as much as they are 'small' but still are never worth even a quarter of the whole coin, to me. Test cuts and banker's marks are part of life. Recently broken coins need some special circumstance to make me want them. We each will see these things differently.

My favorite broken coin is a New Style Athenian fourree tetradrachm with all its secrets on full display.

 

That looks like a collector had a really bad day. I doubt it came out of the ground shattered like that.

I’ve already spammed my broken coins too much in this forum, but here is my favorite because I repaired it myself!

 

As someone who loves collecting the rare late emperors (and the era in general), this hurt to read.