Today after one year and eight months, my female head series denarius finally arrived from Italy after getting export papers. I got very pleasantly surprised when looking at the coin in hand as it had far better surfaces than what was visible on the Bolaffi photos. It is insanely lustrous and a marvelous specimen of this type, accompanied by a good 1980s provenance. Anonymous. 206-200 BC. AR Denarius (3.65 g). Uncertain mint. Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) to left. Reverse: The Dioscuri, each holding spear, on horseback right; below horses, female head right; ROMA in exergue. Reference: Crawford 127/1. Provenance: Bolaffi Spa, Auction 35 (28 November 2019), lot 34, Ex Sternberg Auction XVII (9-10 May 1986), lot 478. Video of the coin: https://www.youtube.com/embed/6T-Zj-znqFQ
Almost 2 years for export permits?! Wow that sucks. You get an award for patience with that. Congrats on the new coin! The May 1986 Sternberg sale had some great coins. I own this aes grave semis which appeared in that sale.
Thank you! The wait got so long at times I almost forgot about the coin, Bolaffi were very bad at updating on the situation as well. I think they only sent out one email during the entire period. I had to contact them for updates all the other times after not getting news for months. That is one beautiful AES Grave, great surfaces and patina. I have the Sternberg catalogue from later the same year, it has a great Republican and Bellum Sociale section, with a signatum bar as icing on the cake. I'm sure you've seen it. Do you know if the two sales are linked, same collection being split or something like that?
That must be near the record for a wait time through customs... your Saint-like patience paid off as it's a wonderful coin!
@Michael Stolt - a lovely example. It took me some time to find mine, but it is less pleasing than yours.
Unfortunately, I don't know. Sternberg never seemed to disclose anything about the collectors who consigned to him.
Thank you Joe! My longest wait I had prior to this for an export license was around 4 months, so this is by far a record for me. I haven't heard of anyone having to wait this long during my time collecting.
@Michael Stolt This is a rare issue in high grade and quite scarce in any grade. Schaefer captures all known dies in one page. How nice to see two exceptional examples of this classic early symboled denarius.
