Embarrassing large lot from Roma

Ironically, you could probably get all your money back and then some if you turn around and just list it on ebay.

Did that several times, usually pleased with the results.

 

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when I sell garbage on eBay I usually mince no words and try to be brutully honest.

the description for this group of 30



This is a very gross group of coins that should never see the light of day again. They are floor sweepings...culls...the worst of the worst. For the love of everything holy, do not bid thinking you will find treasure, these are garbage plain and simple, However, if you have come looking for garbage then well done, now just bid accordingly...bidding starts at 99 cents with free shipping in the US, so for the love of everthing good and holy do not bid much more. GOOD LUCK?

 

First of all, I think the coating you describe is actually just the residue left over from electrolysis. I have zapped many uncleaned coins back in the day, and I often see this on coins that started out with very thick patinas. No one bothered trying to repatinate them.

Roma said these were from a large German collection. I think they probably belonged to an importer who bought coins from Eastern Europe by the thousands. He or she probably saved the best ones, sold or wholesaled nicer ones to other dealers and collectors, and set the roughest ones aside. Then every now and then (s)he probably subjected these set-asides to electrolysis. The nicer ones were picked out and the culls just tossed into a bin somewhere. When the collector decided to sell, these were dug out and added to the mix.

You can definitely get your money's worth out of these by giving them to kids. I cleaned uncleaned coins for many years when I first started collecting ancients. After 10 years, I had a large collection of coins like these. One year, I put them all in 2 x 2 holders, wrote what little identifying information I could about them on the holders ("Ancient Roman coin, ca. 340 - 350 A.D." or "Constantius II, A.D. 337-361, FEL TEMP REPARATIO - Soldier spearing fallen enemy horseman") and gave them away to trick-or-treaters at Halloween. The expression on the faces of many of these kids, who can't believe that someone would actually give them a real, ancient Roman coin, will more than justify your expense.

@Victor_Clark, although I like most of what you wrote, I strongly disagree with the term "garbage" in your description. Worn, beat up, whatever--they are still 1600-year-old pieces of history. Someone will love them. I used to sell lots like these on eBay under "Educational Materials." I might get $5.00 or $7.00 for 100 of them, but many of them wound up in high school history classrooms where they served honorably. In the future, please consider replacing "garbage" with "culls" or "collector-rejects" or something less weighted and judgemental. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

That's the problem when buying lots.
I bought 3 lots. First was a good decision (34 coins for 100 EUR plus taxes, all of them were easily attributed and most of the coins in the lot were very OK. I don't think that lot was analyzed properly). Second - 13 coins, also 100 EUR (yeah, beginner's wisdom). Meh. 1st and 2nd century bronzes, but ugly. Best ones were a Hadrian As, a Faustina As and a Nerva quadrans.

Last lot, 12 coins for 30 EUR. This was a shot in the dark as nowadays this is the price for a common, worn denarius (in a good day). I don't regret - I have an interesting Septimius Severus fourree, an Elagabalus limes denarius and 2 Antoninianii, Valerian and Gordian III plus a RR denarius. But the conditions ...

I think the auction houses analyze the lots properly and decide the coins simply wouldn't get bidders if they are sold individually or in groups of 5-10 coins.

For me, even if my budget is very limited and I can't afford exceptional coins, it's clear that buying lots to add in my personal collection is not the way.

 

Sorry, but those are the way I describe coins like this. Cull is merely a fancy way of saying garbage...a definition of cull-- something rejected especially as being inferior or worthless...which sounds a lot like garbage. I try to dispel any notion someone might have that they might find "treasure" in these coins.

 

As I recall roman senators were paid 1,900,000 coins per month. There were no banks. They dug a hole for their pay and used it for their expenses. Brokers were
hired to convert these coins into gold but there was a shortage of gold. You are trying to compare these hole finds to the finds of savings of honest merchants.

 

Well, at least you got 6 "collectible" coins. Your experience is similar to mine when buying large lots. I once purchased a kilo of LRB's which was around 300 coins, about 20 of which were identifiable. I can't find it in my heart to throw out the bad ones so they are in a mayonnaise jar.

 

From the photo I would say the 30 is triple the value of the 97. Correctly priced at 99 cents it seems obvious that the only winner here is the Post Office.

 

One way to try to answer this question is with a comparison between the output of coinage between the late Roman Empire and Renaissance and early modern Sicily and Naples. For the obvious reasons, of which the multitude of mints is the most important, the Roman Empire minted enormous amounts of base metal coinage.