It’s arrival day! Recent Leu wins

Hi CT’ers! After nearly half a year buying nothing due to the craziness of the market, I finally dipped my toe back into the coin world and snagged a few wins in the recent Leu auction! Felt like prices were relatively depressed due to it occurring over Xmas season so a good time to jump back in!

Justinian I, 527-565. Follis (Bronze, 41 mm, 22.32 g, 7 h), Nicomedia, RY 13 = 539/540. D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVI Helmeted and cuirassed bust of Justinian I facing, holding globus cruciger in his right hand and with a shield, decorated with a horseman spearing a fallen foe, over his left shoulder; in field to right, cross. Rev. Large M between A/N/N/O and X/II/I; above, cross; below, A; in exergue, NIK. DOC 117a. MIB 112-115. SB 201.

I’ve always wanted one of these chonky boys and finally snagged one! Really like the green patina and how well detailed the emperor still is.



CAPPADOCIA. Caesaraea-Eusebia. Caracalla, 198-217. Drachm (Silver, 19 mm, 3.23 g, 12 h), RY 13 of Septimius Severus = 204/5. •AY•K•M•AY• - •ANTΩNINO Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla to right, seen from behind. Rev. MHTPO KAICAPI / ЄT IΓ Mount Argaios surmounted by statue of Sol-Helios standing front, holding globe in his right hand and long scepter in his left. Ganschow 539b.

This was an impulse buy… my Aurelian coins wanted another companion with Sol on it



Severus Alexander, 222-235. Denarius (Silver, 20 mm, 3.46 g, 6 h), Rome, 232. IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG Laureate head of Severus Alexander to right, with slight drapery on his left shoulder. Rev.PROVIDENTIA AVG Providentia standing front, head to left, holding grain ears over modius in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left. BMC 875. Cohen 501 var. (bust draped). RIC 250.

Sevs at super high quality are just so relatively cheap it’s hard to pass up!



Faustina Junior, Augusta, 147-175.Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 2.87 g, 7 h), Rome, 161-175. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA Draped bust of Faustina Junior to right. Rev. CERES Ceres, veiled, seated left on chest, holding grain ears in her right hand and torch in her left. BMC 81. Cohen 35. RIC 669.

From the Red Ox Collection and the collection of the Czech musician Adolf Picek (circa 1885-1978), and formerly in the possession of an Italian banker, whose life was saved by Mr. Picek in the Battles of the Piave River on the Italian Front in 1917-1918 and who presented his savior with 'four socks of old coins' in reward.

This coin was the reason I even jumped into this auction in the first place. Immediately fell in love with the provenance perusing other coins and knew I had to get one from this collection. When I saw this Faustina it was a no brainer that this would be the one I go for!



Please feel free to show any recent coins you’ve acquired, ones with fun provenances, or anything else you want to share!

 

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Looks like it was a great auction for you!

Is there a way to make the videos larger? I can't see the coins very well plus for the first few seconds the pause button obscures the coin.

I picked up one of the Red Ox coins, a Roman Republican, primarily because of the "old sock" story . It's due to arrive any day. It suffers from horn silver so I'll be digging through past posts from @Roerbakmix to see how to clean it (sodium thiosulphate, apparently).

 

I’m on mobile and on the bottom right of each video there’s an expand button. Can’t say right now how it is on PC.

 

Thank you! Congrats on your old sock win as well! Hopefully we’ll get to see it on the forum

And it does appear the embedding is different now for videos on this forum, quite odd. The video from Vimeo used to look larger within the post itself without the need to expand to fill screen. I am also on mobile and can second what ValiantKnight said.

 

Hmm. I'm on a laptop and don't see an expand icon even when hovering over the video. Screen shot of how it looks on my screen a couple of seconds after clicking the play arrow:

 

Same here, like videos. but cannot make bigger. I am on a PC.

Congrats on your new acquisitions @Restitutor .

 

Just changed the Justinian Follis to a YouTube link and testing it out on my PC, I think it works now! Must be something w. Vimeo. Will re-upload all the videos to YouTube.

 

Some nice new coins. And if you won these at Leu you probably have a fast hand on the bid button. The only Leu coins I have won have all been last second snipes.

 

Beautiful coins.
I received my Leu wins three days ago too, and just had time to take pics of them. I'll post them here ASAP

Q

 

Restitutor, You did more than "dip your toe", you jumped head first into the numismatic cosmos . Congrats on a great haul ! My favorite should be no surprise, it's the handsome Justinian 40 nummi bronze . The coin has an excellent strike with a lovely patina. The 3 silver coins are a great addition too . My latest Justinian bronze is nothing to write home about , but it's pictured below.

 

Thanks Al! And yes there’s just something about this type of Justinian coin that is wonderful to behold. While I love all my coin children equally it definitely already has a special place in my heart Made all the more special that it’s not even gold!

Your example is lovely! The dark green patina is extra nice. Interesting how on the reverse they fit the XII all in one row but on mine the mint took 3 separate lines!

X
II
I

I must have gotten the lazy worker

 

Great haul, congratulations!

 

Yes, MUCH better! Now I can see those fantastic coins!

 

great coins all!

 

All nice coins, @Restitutor. Thanks for sharing.

I am waiting for my Leu win. Hope to get it soon. Mail is slow in this area.

 

Nice catches!

The video on Youtube can be expanded while you are watching it - just select the full screen option (large square) at the lower right. Esc will return you to normal screen size.

 

I just received my Leu coins a few hours ago. I was stunned at how well I did in this auction - winning all six coins I bid on, with only one at my max. I hope I just didn't overpay...

I'll photograph and catalog them this week, but in summary they are:
- Aspesias obol
- Demetrios (Odrysian) AE
- Nikomedes I AE
- Agathokles (son of Lysimachos) AE
- Azemilkos didrachm
- Menelaus (brother of Ptolemy) tet

 

Restitutor, You raise an interesting point with the date letter layout on the reverse of these coins that I never payed attention to . Different mints & officina did layout these numbers differently. I have a 40 nummi bronze like yours from year 13 & a year 13 from the Constantinople mint with a different numerical layout.


Aesthetically speaking, the Nicomedia reverse looks more balanced than the coins from Constantinople .

 

This Justinian I follis of Antioch, year 13, has a few flaws, but it is still among my favorites of his reform folles.

ex Harlan Berk

22.7 grams

 

By rights I should prefer the SA but I love all four of those... great haul!

I agree this auction was a bit more accessible than Leu auctions earlier in the year. I managed to snag quite a few coins, and although most of them are somewhat off the beaten path (prices haven't been as high outside classical Greek and Roman Imperial) I did manage to win a few Imperials.
The A Pi denarius was purely because of that cool WWI sock provenance. I wonder how many of us now have sock coins?