Once again, going through inherited coins set aside 2 years ago...lifted up a 1937 German deutche mark and found a AR Hadrian. Obverse: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANUS AVG bust facing right Reverse: P MT RP COS III Deity: AEQUITAS, standing, facing left, holding scales and cornucopia. I searched online with no joy. Went to OCRE site and confirmed the above info, but nothing more. There is a reference on the holder label card, #6a ...but I can't find out what it means. I tried Spinks but got nothing but a price for a book. I finally confirmed that this is RIC II, part 3, I believe this refers to the new RIC update long awaited from Spink & Son. Where can I go to find a ballpark value for this? And any additional info will be gratefully appreciated. Here are the pics... Here is a close up showing the obverse wear level... And follows is 2 close ups of the reverse wear level... It doesn't appear to be very scarce or valuable...$115 on Etsy that I was able to find a match for (picture only). But I rather trust info from CoinTalk more than them...enjoy! And let me know what you think...jmho...Spark
From OCRE RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 385-391 objects: 122 Date A.D. 120 - A.D. 121 Denomination Denarius Mint Rome Obverse IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG: Head of Hadrian, laureate, right | Head of Hadrian, laureate, left | Bust of Hadrian, laureate, bare chest, traces of drapery on far shoulder usually visible, right | Bust of Hadrian, laureate, cuirassed, cropped of pteryges, right, viewed from front | Bust of Hadrian, laureate, draped, right, viewed from front | Bust of Hadrian, laureate, draped, right, viewed from rear or side | Bust of Hadrian, laureate, draped and cuirassed, right, viewed from front Reverse P M TR P COS III: Aequitas-Moneta standing left, holding scales and cornucopia See http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_3(2).hdn.385-391 for details. I think it's the third obverse variety, the one I boldfaced. I imagine that it would sell at auction for $50-$75, assuming that the variety isn't rare.
Generally, many here on the board will avoid doing appraisal confirmation, as value can be quite subjective. Additionally, in recent times, ancients' prices @auction have noticeably inflated. Around $100 +/-$25 would seem like a fair retail price for your coin. Hadrian is one of the more popular/familiar emperors. Hard to state @auction what it might command with certainty. I would be a buyer at around $60, but someone else might want it more and be willing to offer $100+. It's possible that someone with too much money and not enough knowledge; being bitten by the panic-buying bug might bid much more than that. Your coin has an attractive portrait and is starting to develop some toning that some may find appealing. Here is a link to some recent hammer prices of similar types as yours if you would like to do recent comparison sales. Keep in mind that these hammer prices don't include the buyers' (often around 20%, or any other incidental) fees. One must also take into account currency exchange(EUR to USD, GBP to USD, etc.). https://www.sixbid-coin-archive.com/#/en/search?text=Hadrian denarius aequitas
The denarius is still attractive (for my tastes). Good addition. I am in the ancient coins world for a short while (October 2020) but I can confirm what Herodotus mentioned about prices. I was lucky enough to get some good coins when I was an absolute beginner because apparently I was almost alone in some auctions. One of them being a Hadrian denarius that I like very much. So the prices I thought to be correct were apparently extremely low compared to reality. What I would advise - when trying to determine a correct price for a coin, usually you can't find a clear answer - the correct one is "the price that was last paid in an auction because someone was willing to pay that sum". What is the correct price for this coin? I honestly can't tell but it was part of a lot of 4 (similar quality) coins with hammer price 70 EUR. With taxes - 82.25 EUR. For me it was more than OK. I was expecting similar prices in other auctions, but ... Just as a personal advice, you can't rely too much on a single price. It can be extremely low because there weren't too many bidders or it can go abnormally high because there was a bidding war there. And for fixed prices, again, I don't take them too much into consideration. If a coin is listed at 100 EUR price and stays there for 6 months, this usually means that who wants a similar coin can get it cheaper from auctions or other places. I have coins in my albums won with 20-25 EUR in auctions. Saw same coins in similar qualities with a fixed price of 150 EUR. In the best case scenario, a "real" price is somewhere in between. I saw a Julia Titi denarius (good VF) in an auction, from August 2020. Hammer 650 EUR (plus taxes, shipping....). The same coin appeared in March 2021 (exact same coin) and the hammer was 1100 + taxes and shipping. What is the correct price for it?
