FSR Auction Results

I've been following FSR auctions for a number of years and have won a few terrific coins at reasonable prices. However, I haven't bid for awhile for the same reason others have mentioned - high hammer prices. I'm pretty sure it was in the announcement for this most recent sale that he mentioned that he may not continue to hold auctions due to the lack of good material at anywhere near reasonable prices.

Besides appreciating his auctions, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I'd be sad to see them end because I really enjoy the wry humor he often posts in the coin descriptions!

 

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I am currently participating in the Leu auction set to close on the 27th of February, that is their policy as well.

 

They arrived! A Maximinus I sestercius and A Justinian I follis, the first sestercius and first Byzantine bronze I've ever owned.

 

I shudder to think how expensive those coins ended up being haha

but they do look lovely

 

Nice additions!!

 

Still waiting on my win. Hopefully tomorrow

 

Lovely! Nice and CHUNKY!

 

My one coin arrived today as well. Not ancient. As I mentioned before, nostalgia ruled for a day:




If you cover William III's hair with your hand, it could almost be the profile of someone like Nerva!

 

I really hope that Frank stays - it is a pleasure participating at his auctions.

Mine arrived with the invoice on Saturday .
The first one is a really small coin, not larger than my pinky nail.. and I have small hands.

I just hope my two are not the ones IMP Shogun was bidding on.
Will show now the first one, a little later the second one. Just want to see if someone curses me:

Æ 12, Ionia, Teos, 210-190 BC
1.839 g, 10.5 x 11 mm
SNG Copenhagen 1460; Kinns 142

Ob.: Griffin seated on haunches right, left paw raised.
Rev.: THIΩN (“of the people of Teos”), lyre; leg of animal to left; all within square linear frame.
quoting from: Griffins by Peter Lewis at https://cccrh.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/2018-11-griffins-web.pdf

"Being a fiercely independent beast, the griffin was symbolic of these proudly independent Greek cities, but such a symbol might have been perceived by the Romans as defiance. So, it is not surprising that the griffin disappeared and the Roman eagle became the dominant symbol on coins of the Roman Empire. The griffin reappears during the Middle Ages, not on coins but in heraldry. In the feudal societies of Europe, the idea of a powerful guardian appealed to the nobles in their castles, and griffins appear on their flags and as the badges of cities.

The people of Europe in the Middle Ages were very religious and began to look at griffins in the light of their Christian faith. Some saw them as evil with their sharp beaks and powerful claws and thought they represented the persecutors of Christians, but most looked beyond these features and realized that essentially a griffin was the combination of two animals: an eagle and a lion. For them the significance of this was the duality that was seen in Jesus Christ. The lion represented Christ as a king, while the eagle represented his resurrection and ascension to heaven. Some saw the duality as Christ being both human and divine. In the iconography of the Bible a winged lion (the back part of a griffin) symbolizes the Gospel of Mark while an eagle (the front part of a griffin) symbolizes the more spiritual Gospel of John.

Griffins appear as Christian symbols in stone panels in the cathedral at Aquileia in Italy. So, unless you have evil intent in your heart and are about to steal something guarded by a griffin, you should not be afraid of it. On the contrary the griffin will be good for you: it might even take you to Paradise"

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Nostalgia or not, it is a beautiful exemplar. Maybe the lyre on the reverse is a symbol for Apollo
Can't read very well the legend, does it say something about BRitain and FRAnce?

 

Yes, it says he's the king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, even though the last French possession of the British (Calais) was relinquished more than a century earlier, in 1558. I don't believe the British Crown dropped its claim to France until George III did so around 1800.

I suspect that the lyre is not for Apollo, sadly, but is an Irish harp.

 

Thanks for the info @DonnaML; I am always learning something new & interesting, That was then in the 1800 a first Brexit ...

Maybe the Irish got the lyre from the Romans? LOL - Who knows

 

I have one coin from the Roman Republic, many of Imperial, and a Groat. After that grouping my next oldest coin is from 1968! I'm not sure our collections cross based on what you posted - and I can't say I chased anything; even one interested party can drive up the hammer in Frank's pseudo-Dutch auction. At the risk of repeating myself, I think he does have the best process. I've never been compelled by the a dwindling clock to overpay - even though I know I've arguably overpaid for some !

I managed to get these at what I think are reasonable prices 165, 119 and 161 (save everyone the trouble of looking it up if anyone cares).

The sestertius struck with Pius matches wonderfully to a dupondius I have with similar patina, RIC III 855:



Bonus Eventus denarius that makes a nice pair with one I have from his Pop Pop, RIC III 180:


Valens Siliqua, a very nice votive example from Rome RIC 10c:


My pictures aren't great, I was experimenting with different diffusion (yay another project!) with Frank's pics not doing them justice. I'm also having problems uploading my files so these are screen snips of my files until I can figure out how to make them smaller

 

Great coins! I'm afraid that Frank isn't known for the high quality of his photography -- it's almost an inside joke at this point. I don't know what he does wrong, but I can hardly enlarge his photos at all without their becoming blurry. The photos I just posted of the William III crown I bought from him are not Frank's, but come from an earlier auction in Italy where he may have bought the coin -- I found those photos online based on the information in the tag that came with the coin.

 

And this is the second one.

Thank you @DonnaML for showing and describing your Republican Denarii 43 & 44. I owe this one to your post
What sparked my interest is that this was the first Roman coin on which the name CAESAR appeared. And then I saw that Frank had one in his auction. Could almost hear my dad say "You should try to win this one", and I did.

Since all about this denarius has already been said here
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/fi...21-roman-republican-denarii-nos-43-44.372929/

Will just show it.

I think that the control mark is "R"; on the reverse it isn't as clear as on the obverse. @DonnaML, as you have an extensive knowledge about these denarii, can you please confirm it is the letter "R"?

Picture is by Frank, which surely is much better than nine (you all, and I too, know already that my pictures are bad):

Rome, 103 BC
17 x 16 mm, 3.957 g
Crawford 320/1; Sydenham 593; Sear RCV I 198;

Ob.: Head of Mars left wearing helmet with long crest, feather on side, and peaked visor; behind, CAESAR upwards; control-mark R above visor

Rev.: Venus Genetrix driving biga drawn by two cupids to l., holding scepter and reins; above reins, control-mark R; beneath cupids to l., lyre; in ex. L•IVLI•L•F

​

 

That's a lovely example, @cmezner. The problem with studying the control marks is that I don't seem to be able to zoom in on the photo on my desktop, and when I enlarge the photo on my phone it immediately gets blurry. But as far as I can tell, the marks do look like R's on both sides. There seems to be a dot in front of the R on the obverse, so there should also be one on the reverse, but I can't see it.

 

Thank you so much @DonnaML for your input, I appreciate it very much.
Will use a magnifying glass and also try to make a clearer picture, maybe it will show what is there.

 

New pictures, maybe these can be enlarged without getting blurry; on the obverse I see the dot, not so on the reverse, as the R is crooked:

 

I still can't enlarge it much, but I agree that I don't see a dot with the R on the reverse. Perhaps it's worn off.