Gold aureus

General question: where is the place where you can get the cheapest gold Aureus' or Solidius. I tries MAShops, Numisma, cng, and heritage. Any info can help im looking to spend under $1200

 

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Aurei cost more than solidi. Arsantiqva has a number of solidi for less than $1000 US.

 

You can get Byzantine solidi (i.e. Anastasius and after) easily for under $1200. Vcoins, MAShops, CNG, Heritage should all have something. You should be able to obtain a very nice example.

Late Roman solidi (Constantine the Great to before Anastasius) are tricky. Solidi of Constantine the Great are unobtainable at that price. But you may be able to get solidi of Constantius II, his brothers or their successors for less than $1200 at the same venues.

Aurei under $1200 are difficult if not impossible to obtain, unless they have major problems like heavy clipping, worn smooth, extensive damage.

Sorry and to address your point of the cheapest source: there is no cheapest source. Auctions are generally your best bet for a bargain.

 

Its possible, but they will be fairly worn. There was a small group recently, all just about under $1,000. One has to be patient.

 

You CAN get a genuine aureus for less than $1,200 but it will look like crap. Worn to the nubbins, holed, etc.

ebay is the best place. When you find one that looks amazing and the bids are at $500 with only hours before ending.... keep looking. It's fake. When you find one that is terrible and nobody wants it, that's your coin!

To be sure you're not getting a fake that is so fake that even people who normally bid on fakes go "maaaan, even I wouldn't bid on that fakey McFake" just post a question here. After all, nobody wants it.

Rasiel ;-)

 

Well, don't misunderstand me: what you collect is your own decision. But if I were you, I'd rather spend some years collecting and learning about much less expensive coins. $1.200 is a lot of money. If you are really determined to spend it on ancient coins, it will build you a legitimately respectable collection, provided you have some patience and do a lot of reading and searching around. In the process, you will learn a great deal about history, develop an eye for coins, and discover areas of knowledge you hadn't had the slightest idea of before. Would you rather do this or buy the cheapest (and probably either crappy or fake) Roman gold coin available right now?

Below is a small selection of, at least in my eyes, beautiful and historically significant ancient and medieval coins. All were under $50, some even under $20. If I stood in your shoes, I'd look out for such coins instead:


Alexander the Great, Macedonia, drachm, 334–323 BC, Sardes mint. Obv: Head of Heracles right, wearing lion skin headdress. Rev: AΛEXANΔΡOY, Zeus seated left, holding eagle and sceptre, monogram left, club right. 16.5mm, 4.02g. Ref: Price 2550.


Carthage, AE 18 (Shekel?), ca. 300–264 BC, mint on Sicily or Sardinia (?). Obv: head of Tanit l. Rev: head of horse r.; Punic letter (crescent-shaped) before. 18mm, 4.43g. Ref: SNG Copenhagen 151.


Euboia, Histiaia, AR tetrobol, ca. 196–146 BC. Obv: head of Maenad wearing wreath of grapes r.; Rev: [IΣTI]-AIEΩN; nymph Histiaia seated right on prow decorated with wing, holding stylis; below, labrys and unclear monogram. 16mm, 2.34g. Ref: BMC 59–64.


Pontos, Amisos (Kingdom of Pontos under Mithridates VI Eupator), AE 21, ca. 105–85 BC. Obv: Gorgoneion in aegis. Rev: [A]MI-ΣΟ[Υ]; Nike advancing r. with palm branch; in fields, monograms. 21mm, 7.40g. Ref: SNG BM Black Sea 1177–1191.


Roman Republic, moneyer: T. Cloelius, AR quinarius, 98 BC, Rome mint. Obv: head of Jupiter, laureate, r., control mark .C. before. Rev: T.CLOVLI; Victory standing r. crowns trophy with seated captive and carnyx; in exergue, Q. 16mm, 1.9g. Ref: RRC 332/1c.


Claudius, Roman Empire, as, 41–54 AD, Rome mint. Obv: [TI] CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP, bareheaded head of Claudius left. Rev; S–C, Minerva walking left, brandishing javelin and holding shield. 29mm, 10.35g. Ref: RIC I, 100.


Julia Domna, Roman Empire, denarius, 193–196 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IVLIA DOMNA AVG; bust of Julia Domna, draped, r. Rev: VENERI VICTR, Venus standing with back turned, head r., holding apple in r. hand and palm in l., resting l. elbow on column. 18mm, 4.13g. Ref: RIC IV Septimius Severus 536.


Gordian III, Roman Empire, Ar antoninianus, 240 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG; bust of Gordian III, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: ROMAE AETERNAE; Roma, helmeted, seated l. on shield, holding Victory in extended r. hand and spear in l. hand. 22.5mm, 4.65g. Ref: RIC IV Gordian III 70.


Norman Kingdom of Sicily, under William II "the Good," AE trifollaro, 1166–1189 AD, Messina mint. Obv: lion's head facing. Rev: palm tree. 26mm, 10.27g. Ref: Spahr 117; Biaggi 1231.


Bohemond III, Principality of Antioch, BI denier, 1163–1201 AD. Obv: +BOANVIHDVS (slightly blundered for BOAMUNDVS); helmeted head left in chain mail, flanked by crescent and star. Revers: + AHTIOCHIA (slightly blundered for ANTIOCHIA); cross pattée with crescent in upper right angle. 17.5mm, 0,88g. Ref: CCS, 65/66.

 

If you check out the Byzantine section of any CNG e-auction you will see many examples of solidi in very nice condition that usually end up selling for $350-$500.

 

I've been collecting since I was 8 years old. It's time for me to buy my first gold coin. I've worked hard for the money to buy my first Aureus ad I'm not entitled to let someone else push me back. Thanks for the message though, those are cool coins and I have most of them.

 

1200 will not get you an aureus unless it has severe problems, or you are very lucky in an auction.

 

You can probably get a well worn aureus of Nero for that - as someone else has mentioned, auctions may be your best bet. Go to sixbid.com or numisbids.com or biddr.ch and search for aureus and throw in a few bids - bear in mind, that many auctions have starting bids which are well below what coins will fetch. So, it will probably take many auctions and bids before you get one - also, factor in buyer's fees of maybe 20%.

You should also look at new coins listed on ma-shops and vcoins every day - if a bargain comes up, it will be snapped up quickly.

For $1200, whatever you get will be worn and possibly with edges filed to fit into a jewellery bezel.

I have four aurei, all of Nero, and the only one which was less than $1200 was this one:



This was actually less than $300, from a CNG eAuction in 2010 - it's an Indian contemporary copy of a Nero aureus, with garbled legends, so it doesn't match any Nero aureus you'll find in RIC. They had quite a few Nero and Tiberius aurei imitations which sold cheaply - obviously, it's very worn and damaged and the others weren't much better, some with testcuts. I'm not sure you'll get much better today for $1200.

ATB,
Aidan.

 

People who have been collecting for years and have a decent collection of ancient coins in other metals do not have to ask amateurs on Coin Talk where to buy a gold coin. The same dealers whom you trusted to supply $1200 silver or bronze coins can get you gold. The urge hit me after I had been collecting for only 30 years and I bought one Fine Imperial solidus and one Byzantine solidus at about 3x melt that year. I still have them and would like an aureus but the feature to seek out is what coin you want as your one and only rather than the cheapest one you can get. I know what I want and will buy it when I see it as long as it is offered by a dealer I trust and in my price range. I have the rest of my life to find mine. Yours? At $1500 gold and a 7g aureus (~1/4 oz), look for a hole.
https://coinsweekly.com/brutus-at-the-british-museum/

 

These all closed in the last month on just one auction venue, all under $1,200:

 

Some of them are quite nice

 

Ken, that AP for less than $1,200 is a pretty sweet deal. Actually, the Trajan and Vespasians aren't too bad either!

Rasiel

 

For a solidus, you can easily get one of the Theodosian dynasty or later for sometimes well under $1,000.

I nabbed this Justinian solidus for like $350 after fees from a Savoca Silver auction late last year

 

Of course this thread will drive up the price of inexpensive aureii for the next few months at least.

 

To be honest and fair, I think these were fairly anomalous. I think a small collection came up for sale, they were sold on a lesser popular platform and I would not expect to see many more come up any time soon. But it illustrates that one can get deals if they look closely enough. In fact, I had intended to bid strong and buy them all then resell them at those prices. Alas, I was setting up at a coin show during that auction and I missed the whole sale!

 

I was planning to bid on those aurei myself!

But... at least a few aurei in that sale had weights which I felt were far too light for the wear they exhibited. I.e. I suspect they were clipped, but they weren't described as such.

Take for example this pre-reform aureus of Nero. It should weigh about 7.6g but the listed weight was 6.72g. No clipping mentioned in the description.


Or this one which should weigh about 7.2g but has a listed weight of just 5.90g. Also no clipping mentioned.




All in all I had doubts about the seller so I passed on the whole lot.

 

If I bought an Aureus myself, I would only buy a very nice one and not a worner but cheaper one (it is in my opinion a lot of money). The question is namely what the added value of a worn Aureus is compared to an extremely fine Denarius, only the material I think.

 

ANoob has a Nero for sale. It is a nice one & in the proper price range.

Send me a PM if you want to contact ANoob.