Ides of March Aureus for Sale

Roma Auction XX is offering the Ides of March aureus, lot 463, one of only 3 known examples, starting bid of 500,000 pounds ! The coin has been slabbed by NGC.

 

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I don't know, man. Its surface is only 3/5.

 

I wonder how many Gordy III Ants I can trade in for it?

 

It must be freed from that slab at all costs! Haha

Given its provenance I’m honestly shocked (and saddened) it never made its way inside one of the museums in Vienna. Their Kunsthistorisches Museum has quite a nice collection of Roman coins; visiting here is likely what sparked my own interests.

 

You know, I have nothing against early Christmas gifts, if anyone is ambushed by the Spirit of Giving ahead of time...ho(pe) ho(pe) ho(pe)!

 

I thought I have read how many people think the gold Ides of March coins are fakes. Any experts here with an opinion?

If it is real, I would understand why this would auction for the highest amount ever for an ancient coin, rarity, popular knowledge, and condition.

 

Is it the highest amount ever for an ancient coin? £500,000 is a lot of money but not that much. Mike Trout's rookie baseball card recently sold for $3.6 million. That said, I'm sure the hammer price will be higher than £500,000...

 

NGC Ancients ( @Barry Murphy and David Vagi) think it's genuine. What CT expert's opinion would you value over theirs? They have also seen the coin in hand.

 

I find it interesting that it was slabbed with the Eid Mar side under the label, rather than the obverse. Perhaps I just assumed NGC always slabbed the obverse as under the label (or I am simply ignorant of which side is the obverse - this is entirely possible).

 

I am cracking it out. No worries.

 

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/eid-mar-chronicles.344603/page-2
See here for the mentioning of the aureus by mr. Barry Murphy.

I thinks its fake though, but am willing to buy it for 5 pounds nevertheless ;-)

 

In that case, $100 is the best I can do.

 

With all due respect to Mr Trout and the sports card collecting hobby... you’re right it seems pretty distorted.

One of these items is timeless and of enormous cultural significance. It’ll be incredibly valuable even a thousand years from now, with global appeal.
I can’t say that for the other.

If purely for investment purposes I know which one I would want in my portfolio.. or museum

Fwiw, the highest hammer price for an ancient has been around $3 million..

 

See https://ancientcoins.market/most-expensive-ancient-coins-sold/ (from September 2019):

"The Record-Holder
The record holder for an ancient Greek coin is the facing portrait gold stater of Pantikapaion, which brought $3,250,000 in a 2012 New York auction.

Pantikapaion (or Panticapaeum) on the Black Sea coast of Crimea grew wealthy shipping grain from the Ukraine’s fertile fields to feed Greek cities. Weighing 9.12 grams (about a third of an ounce), the coin was struck between 350 and 300 BCE. On the reverse a griffin stands over an ear of wheat, surrounded by the first three letters of the town’s name. The obverse shows the bearded head of a satyr. . . .

Syracuse Tetradrachm of Kimon
In Greek cities of Sicily during the fifth century BCE, the art of coin die engraving reached a standard of technical and creative excellence that would not be seen again until the eighteenth century CE. Cities like Syracuse, Akragas (see below), Leontinoi and Naxos competed to celebrate their patron deities and their athletic and military victories on large silver ancient coins.

In a 2014 European auction, a beautifully toned tetradrachm of Syracuse brought 2,737,000 Swiss francs (CHF), which is equivalent to $3,052,750 USD–a record for a Greek silver coin . . . . " [The article lists one other ancient Greek coin, an Akragas Dekadrachm, sold for more than $2 million, and two more sold for between $750,000 and $900,000.]

From the same article, the most expensive Roman coin was another example of the Eid Mar sureus:

"Brutus Aureus

The most famous Roman coin, by far, is the EID MAR denarius of Brutus (85 – 42 BCE) celebrating Caesar’s assassination; but no example of this rare type (about 80 known) has sold for close to a million dollars. The gold aureus struck by a military mint moving with the army of Brutus and fellow-assassin Casca (43-42 BCE), however, comes close. In a 2015 European auction, an example brought 900,000 Swiss francs (about $930,714 USD), against an estimate of 500,000."

According to Wikipedia, the highest price paid for any coin is the following: $10,016,875, 1794 Flowing Hair dollar. United States, Stack's Bowers Galleries, January 2013.

 

While I'm no fan of slabs, I wouldn't recommend cracking-out this coin. Putting aside the risk of damaging the coin whilst freeing it (gold being much softer and easier to damage than silver or bronze), many auction houses that sell slabbed coins will not take-back "broken-out" coins for any reason. Also, this slab has monetary value as evidence of third-party expert opinion of the coin's genuineness. It would likely cost a considerable sum to have the coin re-slabbed. I'd be inclined to leave it - not that I'll ever have the chance to decide.

 

Aw, BUMMER, my Friend. Due to those onerous conditions, I reckon I will pass on scooping this up.

 

NGC will slab a coin anyway you want it as long as you make it clear to them which side gets the label. I had them slab the coin below with the reverse side up since it's so much more attractive.



I'll bet Panzerman is licking his chops for the Ides of March aureus . The estimate on this coin is absurdly low , it should be a record setter .

 

So what would you guess it's going to sell for? And do you mean record setter for a Roman coin? That would mean it would have to go for > $930,000.

 

Knowing how shaky the stock markets look & all the money flowing into fine art & collectibles I think it will sell north of 5 million $ .

 

12.5 antoninanii to an aureus so I can trade in 13 roaches for this bad boy, right. Here is my initial down payment.