Hi everyone, Happy New year to all! I’m glad to be back here. I had a great time at this past NY INC coin show. While, the amount of booths was less than it has been in previous years I had some great encounters and I learned a lot. I even completed my Twelve Caesar set! I’m very excited about that! So to start, I found some wonderful well-priced examples of the three caesars I needed to complete my denarius set of lifetime issue portraits of the twelve caesars. I was hunting for Claudius, Vitellius and Titus. And, we all know how Claudius likes to hide (and how rare his denarius is). After much searching I decided and could only afford the examples you see below. There were quite a few in better shape and way more expensive. I paid $900 for the Vitellius which I feel I overpaid for slightly. But, I bought the Claudius for $830 because of a crack in the die. Also, I paid $550 for the Titus which has a nice Patina is you see it in person. I’ll try to get better pics of these and post them later. So, I was really pumped that finished my set. And I was further excited to see another more beautiful set of the Twelve Caesars for sale by one of the dealers there. It was very inspirational and humbling to see this set and compare it to mine. This is the set I saw today below: Quite a hefty price tag.. but I am sure it is justified as each piece is of amazing quality. All of them are centered and have full legends. My humble set on the other hand is less attractive, but, formidable as well! Here is my completed set below: I apologize for the low quality images. I will try to up my game in that department. It took me almost 8 years to complete this set and I’m super proud of it. I think now I will just look to expand on other key figures in the early roman imperial age and maybe even some Greek and Republic. Not sure which way my collection will go next. There was some other exciting stuff that happened too. I was able to meet a cointalk member at the show! His name is Terrance and he gave me this cool pin below! Terrance please drop a comment if you see this. It was so cool to meet another member of this forum. Finally, the icing on the cake was having the amazing luck to see an Eid Mar denarius and hold it in my hands. This coin (shown below) had just sold for $300,000 to a man from Texas! I was holding 300k in the tips of my fingers! And it is an amazing piece of history to boot. I wish I could share the video of my reaction some how. This coin has been all over the internet and Facebook because the owner has so graciously been letting people see and hold it before shipping it to its new owner. Of course, it was in a protective plastic case. But, it was still surreal! I love coins like this with a significant history. Thank you all so much for following my thread. Hope you all have wonderful coin show stories. Please, share your 12 Caesar set if you have one! Or your coin show finds! Lorenzo
Your Twelve Caesar set is a joy to look at. It shows that you have a great eye for quality and a lot of patience. Maybe when you have time you can show them individually in glamour shots.
Great post! You got a really good deal on your Claudius, and your Caligula is quite nice, as well. I’m a little surprised Titus and Vitellius were among your final 3. I only have 3 Caesars as of now: JC, Vitellius, and Tiberius. I’m on year 2, mostly because I’m looking for decent, yet affordable Otho, Caligula, and Claudius. When I’m finished, I plan to have a custom holder made for them. Looking forward to some better pics of those beauties!
I will tag @Terence Cheesman so he will know. I also received a button from him! I was there Saturday. I also saw the $300,000.00 EID MAR coin. Amazing!
Wow! Congratulations on completing your 12-Caesars set! Each of your new denarii is amazing, but I LOVE the Claudius/Agrippina one.
Congratulations on completing your 12-Caesars set! I completed mine a few years ago. Hard to imagine the set you showed priced at $97K. That's hefty. Here is my set:
Thank you for those kind words. I look forward to shooting some higher quality photo graphs. Of my entire collection. It has grown so much in the past years that it has now become a huge undertaking. I am very proud of the price I got on my Claudius. Almost feel that the woman who sold it to me did so out of love for the hobby and not so much for a profit. But it does have a few die crack imperfections. Still it is lovely. I’ve had some trouble finding a titus portrait because I kept buying Titus issues of Vespasian. Lol. Finally I found his portrait. Good luck with your collection. Can’t wait to see it completed! Thanks for tagging him! I know there were quite a few coin talk members there but I was not able to meet any others. That eid mar coin is truly a joy to hold. Thanks so much. I’m very excited to own that one for such a low price. Did not think I would have found it. Got lucky I guess. That’s such an awesome and nicely photographed set! What are your photography secrets? I’m so bad at taking pics.
I think you overpaid for Titus & Vitellius, but Claudius is fair. All three are nice looking coins though and it's a great feeling to complete a set. I would love Claudius Denarius. I completed mine long ago but NOW I seem to improve on it as time go on, many were Denarii & replaced with Tetradrachms. The one on display is something of amazement.
congrats! A 12 Caesars set is a great thing to see, hold and for you own. I am not close, but maybe one day. I did find a few neat pieces.
Thank you for the kind comment. No secret to the images. I'm a terrible photographer. I just keep taking images until I am somewhat happy with them. They can all be improved, but I'm just too lazy to do them again.
Wow @Swervo513 you have a very nice 12 Caesars set. I really like the choices you made for your set. I hope you do in fact get a nice custom case to display them. I think you did very nicely on the Claudius denarius. These are few and far between. There is also a lot of competition for these when they appear. I have shown my own coins from the 12 Caesars a number of times so I will not show them here. Congrats on completing your set it is a very noteworthy achievement.
I really enjoyed meeting you and all the CT ers at this show and pinning them with my buttons. I must have given away about 10 to 15. I really enjoy the NYINC and I hope to do it next year. As for all that got buttons this year. Do wear them at shows and if you have the means create some new ones and pass them along to others.
Show us what you got! I have been thinking about framing them to display in my house. But, I’m not sure I want them to be visible to everyone. Perhaps, a nice display tray would be a good compromise. Would love to see your set.