Otho Denarii for discussion

Several great looking denarii of Otho have been up offered the past few months.

Which of the two below do you like best ? Do you prefer a well centered portrait with visible legends over a portrait with greater detail? Post your examples if you have!


Otho. AR. Denarius. 69 AD. Rome. Bare head of Otho facing right. Reverse Securitas standing facing left holding scepter in left, wreath in right. RSC 15. Looks like a choice EF example.



Otho. AR. Denarius. 69 AD. Rome. Otho bare head right. Reverse Pax standing facing left holding caduceus in left, olive branch in right. RSC 4a. I think this is a good VF, reverse slightly holding it back from an EF.

 

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Don't make me choose! They are both beautiful in their own ways. But, if you insist, and all other things equal such as price tag, I suppose I would take the second coin over the first. Of course, the images may not be equal, but the coloring of the second tips the scale for me. Both have nice portraits and good detail on the reverse. For the right price, I'll take one of each.

 

They are certainly both beautiful coins, but if I HAD to choose , I would go with #2, It just has that overall look to it that I find desirable - perhaps the tone. I guess you could call it eye appeal.
My Otho denarius with securitas rev.

 

The second one floats my boat more... I like the portrait style much more plus the great toning.

 

I also prefer the second one -- I like the toning better, the portrait is more appealing, and I like the fact that Otho's name is entirely visible. Again, I would never make the choice based solely on which one might get a higher grade.

 

There is no choice. I will throw this one to further balance the odds...

Wigless Ortho

RI Otho 69 CE BI AR Tet 23mm Egypt Helmeted Roma Emmet 186

 

I'll be the contrarian here and pick the first one because the portrait is the most important feature of a coin to me. Though I do think the second one is "objectively" better meaning most people will like it more so it's a better coin from the financial perspective.

 

Since I've already given my preference, let me join in with another country cousin like @lordmarcovan

 

We all regret Otho issued no sestertii so if you want a larger coin it has to be silver like this Antioch tetradrachm. Unfortunately the guys there never learned that Otho was funny looking and wore a wig so the Antioch portraits are very 'generic'. I only got this one because NGC listed the scratches. People who buy slab labels do not like scratches. The plastic was removed by the previous owner but the scratches remain.

 

You've omitted one very important comparative for ancient coins: style.

 

Here is my Otho.

 

Yes of course. Which of the two styles do you like the best?

 

Like most others, I prefer #2, particularly for its fine style portrait. Portrait #1 strikes me as pretty crude by comparison.

I like mine for its portrait style too:

 

As mentioned above, you need to be taking style into account in the decision. Since every ancient die is different and carved by hand and often by different die cutters, style will vary between dies and sometimes massively.

On the Otho examples you have posted, there is no question about which style is better IMO.

The toned one directly below is by far a better coin due to its superior portrait style. Notice the lifelike proportions of the face, the hair that flows, the neck that actually has muscles in it. Also the old cabinet tone of this will be far more appealing in hand than the other, which looks freshly cleaned and bright. This coin has the look of an old collection coin and the work of a talented die engraver.





The coin directly below, while certainly not a bad coin, has a much more primitive bust style. Not very lifelike.

 

Yes the second one is my favourite, but I would like to exchange my Otho for the first one

 

In the top coin, I find the extraordinarily high detail in Otho's hair to be a bit suspect. If I were to choose this coin I would make its purchase contingent on being inspected and authenticated for non-tooling, in hand, by an expert.

Years ago, when I first started collecting ancients, my dealer told me that denarii and aurei are rarely if ever tooled -- tooling was seen mainly on AEs. But that's not true any more, and there have been documented incidents of tooled denarii and aurei appearing for sale and even in auctions.

Otho's hairpiece is typically somewhat weakly struck on his coins due to its high relief and as long as there is reasonable detail in his hair, my personal preference is for a better-centered coin (both obverse and reverse although obverse is a little more important to me) vs. better hair detail. The bottom coin has better obverse centering with a more complete OTHO, and this is the one I personally would prefer in my collection.

 

Speaking of weird-looking Othos, I'm reminded of a coin that wrinkled my brows a couple months ago:


This looks so wrong to me, but sold for GBP 1350. At best I'd say this is a contemporary imitation; next best, a toolie; at worst, an outright forgery. Obviously the market disagreed with me though. What do y'all think?

 

I'm with the mass, prefering the second one for its better style and eye appeal

I don't like it at all, very intuitive on my part but I wouldn't buy it

Here's mine, despite the name of the emperor being off flan, I like it very much, for its good portrait



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