What was the longest period you've ever waited to buy the coin you want?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by JayAg47, Oct 10, 2020.

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  1. JayAg47

    JayAg47 Well-Known Member

    I usually don't care about the condition since I'm a bottom feeder, but I want a coin of Julius Caesar so bad that I'm saving money so much as I've paused buying other ancients. I hope I can resist myself to save enough to buy a nice looking coin rather than settling for a cheap/ragged coin.
    So far, this MA's Legionary is the closest I got to JC! LEG XX.png
     
    JayAg47, Oct 10, 2020
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  3. FitzNigel

    FitzNigel Medievalist

    My problem is more that I will find a coin I like, save it on v-coins or MA-shops to buy later, then get distracted by other coins.
     
    FitzNigel, Oct 10, 2020
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  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Maybe a day or two. When I see one that I've gotta have I usually just pull the trigger. If expensive I may ruminate for 24 hours or so...
     
    ancient coin hunter, Oct 10, 2020
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  5. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    5 years and still looking for the right coin. I just need 2 to complete my collection but they haven't shown up yet and I've been looking without fail.
     
    Collecting Nut, Oct 10, 2020
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  6. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    44 years and counting, for the right Owl tetradrachm to come along, with just the right intersection on the graph between my taste, and ... my budget.

    Those lines haven't intersected yet. I expect they will, someday.

    Still haven't owned one. Owls, yes. An Athenian one, no. Not yet.
     
    lordmarcovan, Oct 10, 2020
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  7. AncientJoe

    AncientJoe Well-Known Member

    Next month will be the 11th anniversary of me waiting for four types which were on wantlists I emailed out that year. I've almost crossed a couple off of the list but have passed because the coin was either not nice enough or too nice (fake).

    I'm not looking forward to my wantlist becoming a teenager soon...
     
    AncientJoe, Oct 10, 2020
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  8. Limes

    Limes Well-Known Member

    What was the longest period you've ever waited to buy the coin you want?

    To give a unhelpful answer: depends. For the JC below, I "waited" over a year or so, I guess. I had tried several bids that failed, before this one popped up.

    For a Lucius Verus sestertius and denarius, I waited over half a year, but that was because I was waiting for the right types at the right price. For a denarius of Caligula, it just happened to appear in a shop and I got it, for a okay price. I was not 'waiting' for it, but ofcourse, I did have a Caligula denarius on my wishlist. Does that count as waiting?

    For now, I'm taking it a bit more easy on the spenditure, because I'm looking for a Sextus and a Brutus (not an EIDMAR, lol!). It's difficult to restrain myself...

    0.4.png
     
    Limes, Oct 10, 2020
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  9. Cucumbor

    Cucumbor Well-Known Member

    Two years and a half.

    A rare and desirable coin I had identified on a forum, then the owner told me they might sell it if....

    We had a lot of discussions via PM and by phone. The owner wasn't sure, and didn't want to be ripped off (legitimately as they didn't know me). I did a huge job finding every similar coin that had been auctioned the previous years, gave them addresses of coin dealers they might ask how much they would buy it (I knew that would plead my cause :D).

    In the meantime I was saving for a future good conclusion of the transaction, and after two and a half years I eventually got a phone call telling me it would be now OK.

    Did someone mention sought after coin ?

    Q
     
    Cucumbor, Oct 10, 2020
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  10. pprp

    pprp Well-Known Member

    Do you look for a mass coinage type and which is your budget range if I may ask?
     
    pprp, Oct 10, 2020
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  11. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    Really I haven't looked very hard, or formulated how much I want to spend, though $500 or less seems a given.

    I don't know much about the styles and varieties but seem to like the transitional ones. I like the archaic looking owl, but not so much the archaic looking Athena with the almond eyes. She looks insectile and alien to me. I prefer the later, transitional Athenas, like on the pi-style coins such as this.

    (Pic borrowed from FORVM- see link above)

    [​IMG]

    I'm not saying that's the coin for me, above. I'd have other criteria. A rounder flan, for example. And really nice surfaces and toning. And so on. Since I have waited so long, I have a sort of an idealized Owl tet in my mind. One that might not even exist.

    Maybe one day I'll come down to earth a bit and find one that I both like and can afford. Maybe in six years, for my 50th anniversary as a collector, eh? ;)
     
    lordmarcovan, Oct 10, 2020
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  12. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    My longest period was a pretty common one, a portrait JC coin. As others have mentioned, it was having the money & the right coin to come along.

    Thankfully one of my main Vcoins dealers listed one at the period I was really saving a long time to get one. The paths crossed and I finally got one.

    It may not be up to most CT people's standards/CNG quality, but I think it's pretty nice & the portrait is strong enough.

    Some JC coins look much worse then what I acquired.

    [​IMG]
    Julius Caesar (February-March 44 B.C)
    AR Denarius
    O: Wreathed head of Caesar right; CAESAR downward to right, DICT PERPETVO upward to left.
    R:Venus Victrix standing left, holding Victory in outstretched right hand and vertical scepter in left; L • BVC[A] downwards to right. L. Aemilius Buca, moneyer.
    Rome Mint
    3.92g
    17mm
    Crawford 480/8; Alföldi Type XIV, 62–3, 67, and 69 (A13/R22); CRI 105; Sydenham 1061; RSC 23; RBW 1683.

    Now for the next "long period", a pleasing to me but budget Fulvia, Plotina, Paulina, & Magnia Urbica & William I.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2020
    Mat, Oct 10, 2020
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  13. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    It took 19 years for me to convince @Aethelred to sell me this, his namesake Aethelred II penny.

    [​IMG]

    In 2013, I caught him at a time when he was focusing exclusively on ancients and selling some of his British collection. I couldn't believe he would sell me this one, but one day, he did.

    I cherished it for several years as one of my Top Three coins, but in the end, he saw sense, and regretted his decision. Also, I owed him money, and so I relented and eventually sold it back to him to clear the books. It was his namesake coin, after all.

    Nowadays he's an established dealer with his own brick and mortar shop, and he moves five-figure coins occasionally (he bought a nice Pine Tree shilling the other day). So this is no longer all that big a coin for his collection (except sentimentally). But back in 1994 when he first got this piece, it was a real trophy by our (younger, more impoverished) standards. So much so that he chose "Aethelred" as his internet name.

    I'm the one who got it into the PCGS MS63 slab. During his first ownership of the coin, he submitted it to ICG (why? the reason is lost to time), and they gave it an AU55 grade. Me later getting the 63 on it was vindication, since we had both always believed it was a Mint State coin.

    A hoard coin, almost certainly, but alas, all prior provenance is unknown. I like to colorfully imagine it having been excavated from a Viking-era ship burial.
     
    lordmarcovan, Oct 10, 2020
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  14. ValiantKnight

    ValiantKnight Well-Known Member

    Waited almost 7 years, from almost a year after I started collecting ancients to when I found it, for my nummus of Odoacer. It was mostly simply a matter of finding one for the right price, plus the fact that Odoacer is difficult to find in general.

    Odoacer, Kingdom of Italy
    AE nummus
    Obv: OD[O-VAC], bare-headed, draped bust right
    Rev: Odoacer's monogram (letters ODOVA: “Odovacar”) within wreath
    Mint: Ravenna
    Date: 476-493 AD
    Ref: RIC X 3502

    [​IMG]
     
    ValiantKnight, Oct 10, 2020
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  15. Limes

    Limes Well-Known Member

    This got me curious! Do you already have it? Which coin is it?

    The portrait is very nice indeed. It's a great coin!
     
    Limes, Oct 10, 2020
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  16. +VGO.DVCKS

    +VGO.DVCKS Well-Known Member

    @FitzNigel, been there (literally, i.e., virtually), done that.
     
    +VGO.DVCKS, Oct 10, 2020
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  17. Cucumbor

    Cucumbor Well-Known Member

    Sure, that happened 6 years ago. It's a gold pistole (double ecu) for Gaston d'Orleans, 5th known example that year, 3 being in public collections.

    [​IMG]

    Q
     
    Cucumbor, Oct 11, 2020
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  18. Limes

    Limes Well-Known Member

    Limes, Oct 11, 2020
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  19. Mr.Q

    Mr.Q Well-Known Member

    I waited twenty-five years before I bought my first slabbed 1909 S-VDB. I now have five complete sets of '09 to '40+ Lincolns. Yes, I have moved on to other exciting coins and currency but Old Abe is one of my favorites.
     
    Mr.Q, Oct 11, 2020
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  20. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    About 15 years for the Athenian tetradrachm. About 25 years for a Edward III gold noble - because I wanted one without any evidence of clipping.
     
    scottishmoney, Oct 11, 2020
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  21. pprp

    pprp Well-Known Member

    pprp, Oct 11, 2020
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