Sorry, but you can pay too much for anything, even a famous rarity. I know that from first hand experience.
@johnmilton Ok I concede that there are a lot of coins for sale out there that are priced pretty high comparatively. I have several coins in my collection that fall in the first 1-3 lines in ACSearch when the search is sorted by hammer price descending. I may not be able to resell these coins for anywhere near what I paid in the near future, but that's less important to me than to have these beautiful treasures in my collection.
That is a very nice Argenteus savitale, and it is a good start to a collection of ancient coins. I have one that is similar. Diocletian Ar argenteus Siscia mint 294-295 AD Obv Head right laureate Rv Four princes sacrificing at an altar in front of a fortified enclosure. RIC 43a 3.46 grms 18 mm Welcome to the club savitale however should make a note. More of a cautionary tale. When I started collecting the tetrarchic argenteus was a very rare and desirable coin. I used to see them in old NFA Auction Catalogues (For some reason even though I was working minimum wage I kept getting these things.) these coins getting real high prices. Now they are much more reasonable. A number of massive hoards brought down those prices.
Yeah, I'm thinking Mint State might be somewhat liberally applied by NGC for ancients. There seems to be some contention between NGC grading and traditional grading. I think the same coin out of the holder would be Choice Extremely Fine on the CNG grading scale.
Definitely no deep pockets here, at least how I would define it. But I do follow the philosophy of "less is more". If I could pickup a handful of these a year I would be happy.
Excellent addition. I wish I had such an eye when I first started to collect ancient Here's my Nicomedia mint example Nicomedia mint, 3rd officina, AD 295-296 DIOCLETI ANVS AVG, Laureate head of Diocletian right VICTORIAE SARMATICAE, The tetrarchs sacrifying before a campgate. SMNΓat exergue 3.3 gr Ref : RCV # 12615 (1000), Cohen #491 var, Q
That is a beautifull coin! A keeper for life I have one from him too... Probably one of the ten best Emperors. John
I think it's a keeper, great version and it's well struck! It's also an intereting and important piece with the new coin reform made by Diocletian and the introduction of the argentum.
Here is my Diocletian Argus. Like I said, not as nice as the OP. And here is Maximinus I who was Diocletian's co-emperor of the western empire. I actually like this coin more, despite the planchet crack, because it's sharper and it's raw. I know I could crack out the Diocletian, but after you have spent the money on the certified coin, you get antsy.
Since all of the tetrarchs issued essentially the same reverse, it would make a fun and interesting quest to find the other three in an equal condition. Good hunting.
A truly beautiful coin. Of course it's a keeper! I would love to have a coin showing all the tetrarchs, or an argenteus. I've been actively collecting ancient coins for the last 3 1/2 years, and own about 240 of them at last count -- a very tiny collection compared to many here! -- but have neither of those.
And expensive. I thought about doing that, but ended up buying the folis instead. It can be done. I ran across the coins, but didn't want to spend the money. Constantius I Follis Galerius Follis Looking at these coins, I must say that the artwork really slipped during this period. These portraits look more caricatures than people.
@savitale Wow! That is a terrific first Roman coin! My first Roman coin was either a ratty as of Caligula, a Constantinian AE or a Gordian III antoninianus...I cannot remember which came first, but I bought all them when I was 10 years old...You're off to a very good start! Unfortunately, I do not have an argenteus to share.