Künker Auction surpise

I have this Antoninian of Salonina:

SALONINA AVG // DEAE SEGETIAE

The coin is better than the picture, but nevertheless wenn a very nice exemplar came up for sale in the last Künker auction I thought I might try to upgrade mine.







This is the coin from the latest Künker Auction.




The estimate was a very moderate EUR 75 and I thought I may have a chance with a "high" bid of EUR 375. I was kind of shocked to see that the coin sold vor EUR 3800 !!!!

Clearly this is a great Antoninian of Salonina, but 3800? I paid EUR 55 for mine.

 

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Good grief I can't believe the coin sold for that much. It isn't that rare & I have seen better examples on eBay over the years.

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

 

Here's my example. There's an interesting story behind this type, too.

According to Seth W. Stevenson's A Dictionary of Roman Coins, Salonina had taken it upon herself, in a time of great public calamity, to procure a plentiful supply of provisions for the population of Rome. Because of this, she built in that city a temple to the rural divinity, Segetia, whose duty it was to protect the crops of corn and other grain after they had sprouted above ground. Before the crop sprouted, the goddess Seia provided its protection.

Prior to the erection of this temple to Segetia by Empress Salonina, the goddess had only an altar in the Circus Maximus.

St. Augustine, in City of God, discusses the worship of this goddess:

"Do you think they dared trust one god with their lands? No, Rusina must look to the country, Jugatinus to the hilltops, Collatina to the rest of the hills, and Vallonia to the valleys. Nor could Segetia alone protect the grain: when it was in the ground Seia most look to it; when it was up and ready to mow, Segetia."


Cornelia Salonina, AD 253-268.
Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 2.66 g, 20.6 mm.
Cologne, AD 259-260 (Joint reign).
Obv: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust, right.
Rev: DEAE SEGETIAE, Dea Segetia, nimbate, standing facing in tetrastyle temple.
Refs: RIC 5; Cohen 36; RCV 10631; Göbl 902c; Elmer 96; Hunter 21.
Notes: Some attribute to Lyons mint, AD 258.

 

That's... quite expensive...

I have one. It isn't without its flaws, but it was only 1/300th of the price of the Kunker coin - £11 on eBay

 

Doesn't make any sense. A quick search indicates that CNG had a copy with an estimate of 100 USD that didn't sell. Roma sold one for 45 GBP. Sure, this copy is nicer, but not dramatically IMHO.

Either it's a case of two people knowing something we don't, or two people not knowing much at all.

 

Okay, something does not seem right. I purchased this one for under $10 from Matt.

SALONINA
Antoninianus
OBVERSE: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right, resting on crescent
REVERSE: DEAE SEGETIAE, statue of Segetiae or Ceres, nimbate, standing facing in four-columned temple, both hands raised
Struck at Lugdunum, 258 AD
3.1g, 22mm
RIC 5
Ex. Matt Baca, Coin Talk

 

It's from the collection of Napoleon who slept with it under his pillow the night before the battle of Waterloo. A coin elf witnessed it and told me last evening in my dream.

 

I sell mine at half that price any day



I paid 58 € for mine, thinking it was a bit too much : you never know what can happen....

Q

 

And how about the following stater of Aegina which sold for 65000 EUR on 3000 estimate?! That’s about 90000 USD with fees.

 

Yeah, but that's par for the course on beautiful Greek silver in the current state of the ancient market. But not for a schwaggy common Roman Empress:

 

This is probably the most surreal example of auction mayhem I've ever seen. I genuinely thought you were making a joke.

 

Here's my Salonina. Even has some nice toning and is also an ex Künker!


Salonina (wife of Gallienus) AR Antoninianus. Colonia Agrippinensis, circa AD 257-258. SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust to right, set on crescent / FELICITAS PVBLICA, Felicitas seated to left, holding caduceus and cornucopiae. RIC V.1 6 (joint reign); MIR 903c; RSC 50. 1.97g, 23mm, 12h.
Near Extremely Fine; flan crack at 2h/9h.
Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, October 2008.
Ex Roma.

I purchased this for a very rich price of 35 GBP, but I'm willing to let it go for 3500 Euros.

 

$30 & still one of my favorites.


Salonina (254 - 268 A.D.)
AR Antoninianus
O: CORN SALONINA AVG, Draped bust right, wearing stephane, set on crescent.
R: VESTA, Vesta standing left, holding patera and scepter.
3.4g
23mm
RIC V 39A ; RSC 137

 

A Salonina Provincial with temple:

Salonina. Augusta, 254-268 AD. Side, Pamphylia. AE (31mm, 18.62 gm, 7h). 10 Assaria. Obv: Draped bust right, wearing stephane, I (mark of value) before. Rev: CIΔHTΩN NEΟKORΩ, N in ex. Hexastyle temple, Apollo Sidetes in short chiton, standing within, holding patera in r. hand and scepter (?) in l. hand (BMC says "rests on laurel branch). "A" in pediment. BMC 124; von Aulock__; SNG Cop__.

 

Maybe the real surprise about this coin's hammer price is the initial estimate of 3000 Euros.

Since Greek coins aren't remotely my area of expertise, I went on ACSEARCH to do a bit of price research. Using the search term "aegina stater" my search turned up over 2200 hits, so it would appear that this type of coin isn't particularly rare, but... I didn't see a single example whose condition was remotely as well struck as this one. The best one I saw is this one that hammered for $30K -- $36K all-in -- at a Triton auction in 2019:



My ignorance about Greek coins in general, and this type in particular, prevents me from writing anything more insightful about the Kunker coin other than to note that it may very well be the best of its type available in the last 20 years or so, so maybe that justifies the bidding war that drove up its price.

If others here can find examples of this type that are as well struck as the Kunker example I'd love to see them posted here.

 

Well this is a totally different type which is earlier than the kunker one. It went that high because of the profile head of the turtle which is rare and because the turtle is fully on the flan. Unlike the kunker which has one cut foot and some severe doubling on the other side. Provenance is good to have but after a point this is getting irrational. The price was that high because adviser 1 told billionaire 1 they must have it and at the same time adviser 2 told the same to billionaire 2.

And to add that the kunker coin is from Leu 61 in 1995. The coin was estimated at 7500 chf with the lockett provenance noted. I don't have the prices realized but I doubt it went above 12000

 

This one is not too shabby....except the head is partially off the flan:

Aegina. c. 380-360 BC. Stater, 12.1 gm., 22mm. Obv: Land tortoise. Rev: Skew pattern incuse with five segments. SNG Munchen 566-7. SNG Copenhagen Suppl. 264. Dewing 1686. SNG Lockett 1995. ex Oslo Mynthandel AS Auction #7, 1981, Lot #226 (this coin)

 

Interesting theory about the hammer price -- any data to support this?

Further research using CNG's search function turned up over 500 results for "aegina stater" with the most expensive being these:

Triton XXIII hammered for $15K:



Nomos 8, 2013, hammered for CHF 11,000:


Nomos 5, 2011, hammered for CHF 17,000:


Triton XIV, 2011, hammered for $6K:


This last coin seems the most comparable to the Kunker example but there's an $80K price difference in just 10 years. The hammer price on the Kunker coin certainly is a head-scratcher.

 

I don't have any basis to say whether 3800 Euro is a fair price for this coin or not. What I do know is that prices increase dramatically for the finest pieces. I don't think it is uncommon for a coin that is "not quite as nice" to sell at 1/100th the price of the finest known.

Maybe one way to look at it is if you are willing to compromise a bit on grade/quality, there are some relative bargains to be had.

 

In my opinion, it's just money supply. Pure money supply. In the last 10 years trillions of dollars have been created out of thin air. That money tends to rise to the top, providing some collectors with very deep-pockets.