Sorry for the click bait, but come on. The pun was just begging to be made. I was really excited about the last CNG auction as they had a wonderful Roman republic reverse die. I've wanted an ancient die for some time, they don't come up for sale often and being RR just made it too sweet to pass up! (NOT MY DIE. My apologies if a coin talk pal won this) L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus and Q. Servilius Caepio. Circa 100 BC. Æ Denarius Reverse Die (27x25x10mm, 35.93 g). Blank / Incuse design for reverse: Two quaestors seated left between two stalks of grain. Cf. Crawford 330/1a; cf. Sydenham 603; cf. Calpurnia 5 (all references for denarius). Dark brown and green patina, verdigris on edge, corrosion. Fair. Possible contemporary counterfeit die, circa 1st century BC to 1st century AD. Extremely rare. I was ready to push things to the limit and even surpass the $300 estimate if needed. Day before the auction I was out bid and things went from bad to nuts when it sold for $1,300! $1,000 over the estimate!!! Does anyone collect dies? And if so, do they usually go for that much over estimate or is this just due to the COVID spending spree so many folks are on? Oh, and if you have any dies to share I would LOVE to see them!
..dies are a lot less abundant than coins...methinks i've only seen one or two for sale in 15 years...
If I owned these I'd have a field day making restrikes (Would make sure they get counterstamped to tell though) Imagine seeing an unc red roman coin!
Sorry. I've had the same issue when others have copied and pasted images versus uploading. I just uploaded it and so you can enjoy it's splendor I'll upload here: L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus and Q. Servilius Caepio. Circa 100 BC. Æ Denarius Reverse Die (27x25x10mm, 35.93 g). Blank / Incuse design for reverse: Two quaestors seated left between two stalks of grain. Cf. Crawford 330/1a; cf. Sydenham 603; cf. Calpurnia 5 (all references for denarius). Dark brown and green patina, verdigris on edge, corrosion. Fair. Possible contemporary counterfeit die, circa 1st century BC to 1st century AD. Extremely rare. I can certainly see why they hypothesize it being a contemporary imitation.
Exactly why I was ready to go to battle for it... but the battle turned into a massacre! (I'm the fella who full on has dropped his gear and is fleeing) Here's what the coin type of the die looks like... sneak peak: Did Ryro actually bank on winning this die and buy a cherry example of the type in the last Nomos auction?...
Not Roman, but a die for a silver rupee of the East India Company, Bengal Presidency, mint of Murshidabad, 1818-1819 (Mitchiner 774a). SC
While I don't have a die - I do have this RR oddity that was listed as an "AE squeeze" - perhaps made for jewelry. Shown with a denarius of the type that it squeezed. Squeezed on an official die?
Not mine but maybe yours after the next Roma auction: Description: A Counterfeiter's Reverse Die for a Vespasian Denarius. Circa 1st century AD. Negative impression: AVGVR TRI POT, augural and pontifical emblems: simpulum, aspergillum, guttus and lituus. For prototypes, cf. RIC II.2 43, 356, 698 and 1553. 22.11g, 23mm. Condition as seen. A well-preserved die face. From a private European collection
These dies, were they all about the same dimensions besides the coin measurements? I am courious, I seen a video of a guy making hand made ancient roman coins and the die was molded on the end of a chisele like bar So I wonder if the dies that come up for sale are cut off a metal bar or if that's their normal size they used to pound out the coins?
MY CHINESE POUR-CAST MOLD: China Wu Zhu coin clay mold unearthed in SanMenXia City in HeNan Province full obverse impression partial second impression probly H-8.6 110-90 BCE Ex: @TypeCoin971793
That seems cheap for an official ancient coin die. I’d have paid that if official. A counterfeiter’s die would be worth far, far less
I suspect it too may be some sort of press rather than a proper die. It is rather small. This is a reverse and as someone else noted they were apparently long bar-like items as they needed to be held above the blank an lower die while struck and as they too the brunt of the force. Can't see that small item fulfilling either role. Maybe it was tucked into some sort of chuck but given stresses that would be much worse than a one-piece item. The Indian one I posted above is from an early milling device introduced by the British East India Company. Not for a hand striking process. And it is still quite hefty and solid. SC