Flea-bay special - EUR 50 silvered nummus

We're all used to the current sky-high auction prices and shipping charges, but for those of us still trawling eBay there are still bargains to be had !

I just received this one today for EUR 50 + 6.20 shipping.

A nice, large, fully silvered nummus of Constantius I from Rome 296 AD.



RIC VI Rome 66a. 28mm 11.16g.

This would have been a day's wages for a laborer at the time.

It looks a bit lifeless in the photo, so here's a video of it in the sun.



It honestly feels a bit wrong to be able to buy a 1700 yr old coin like this for EUR 50 !

Show me your eBay bargains !

 

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Worn and corroded but 6EUR, also fleabay:

 

I’m afraid to buy from Ebay, unless this site has sellers.

 

That's a lovely coin and good deal.

Agree there is still bargains but they are less and less since Covid. It's taking extra hunting to find them.

 

Yes - it's slowed down a lot in recent years, but I'm still finding things I want. I've got 8 eBay coins so far this year. The treasure hunt is still fun!

 

I adore eBay! It is where I get most of my coins. Fakes? Overpriced stuff? For sure, but there are interesting things there if you don't mind wasting scads of precious time...

Just in the mail today, this was listed as "Roman Bronze Coin." The seller mostly sells US stuff, mint sets and other things I don't appreciate. He was going with the packaging the coin came in, the usual Littleton Coin Co. flip and vague description they use on their low-end stuff. It was $5.00 opening bid, and I was the only bidder. Here is the seller photo:



From the photos, I couldn't tell what it was, but I was pretty sure the Littleton Coin Co. packaging had been tampered with since it was obviously not a "Small Bronze Coin of Ancient Rome." With little to go on, I guessed it was a Faustina I lifetime sestertius that I would be able to dazzle @Roman Collector with because of its great rarity.

But nope, I was wrong. Here are my photos, including the packaging:




Yep, that's Hadrian's wife Sabina. Worn, for sure, but five bucks and certainly not "small" at 25 grams. This sort of thing keeps me coming back to eBay, again and again - the thrill of the hunt (for junk).

 

..we have several....

 

..besides 7 coins, all my coins came from ebay....way up in the hundreds... and even now im bidding on some...

 

@ominus1 : Isn't that a Jolly N* Piggy Bank in the background

 

..it is....coins aren't the only i collect, but it is coin related....he watches over my coins

 

Outstanding! They are quite rare and I don't know how many have survived...

 

I must confess, if I knew more I would bid on EBay coins

 

Helio., Great buy for the money ! I won a well-silvered nummus of Constantius I from AMCC 2 for 55 CAD, + postage .


Constantius I as Caesar, AD 293-305 (struck AD 296/7). Rome Mint, 3rd Officina. Billon Nummus: 10.57 gm, 27 mm, 12 h. RIC VI Rome 66a. Photo courtesy of Tom Callaway.

 

Here is a Gordianus III, came in a lot of 25 roman coins on ebay, all in very good quality. With shipping costs: 100 euros. (so 4 euros each).

Gordianus III , A.D.241-243, denarius, RIC IV nr112 20.60 mm , 3.04 gr.

 

eBay is just great right now. I cbf'ed with auction houses and the COVID-era inflated market - who knows what you'll be paying after they add the buyer's premium, unfavourable currency conversion rates, taxes and over-inflated shipping costs?
eBay is the best place to find bargains, as long as you know what you're doing!

 

That looks like a great buy for 50 euros. I'm also very tired of auctions, with all their added costs and insane hammer prices.

I just pulled the trigger on a coin on Ebay that I probably should not have bought. The seller is of the type who offers coins at inflated prices with massive discounts. Hence, the coin was on offer at USD 397 - 55%. Since I liked the portrait I saved it in my watchlist and got an offer to buy it for USD 80, which is expensive for this coin. I know, one should not support this type of business model, but again, I like the portrait.

Diocletian, Antoninian
Obv.: IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG
Rev.: IOVI CONSERVATORI AVG G / TR/XXI
Mint: Tripolis

 

I bought this on eBay a couple of days ago, and it arrived today. I paid just over £65 for the lot it came in (which also included a mediocre Allectus antoninianus), and I should be able to make about £80 - £100 selling the coins I don't want back on eBay.



It's a little damaged (and my photo doesn't help), but it's an extremely rare antoninianus of Carausius with the bust facing left.

I buy the majority of my coins on eBay, and I sell a ton there as well. While I might not get a huge amount selling each coin (definitely not as much as at a proper auction), the fees are a bit more reasonable (i.e. a 30p minimum charge + 15% of the sale price, rather than a £15 charge + 20% of the sale price). I find it's especially good for selling lower value coins.

 

Here's another eBay pickup from today. $25 for this one, plus $10 intl. shipping.



RIC VII Thessalonica 129 corrected - bust right.

This Thessalonica vota type for Constantius II is neat because it's the only vota type for him from any mint, issued in 324 AD when he had just been appointed caesar.

There are two variants of this, RIC 130 with legend "IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C", and this much rarer RIC 129 with longer "FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C" legend.

An interesting tidbit about RIC 129 is that it's listed incorrectly in RIC VII, which has it with a left facing bust, R5, only citing the Nagyeteny hoard. We can be sure it's an error in RIC since while the Nagyeteny hoard report has it listed with a left facing bust, it also has a plate picture of it with right facing bust!

Somewhat oddly, while accepting the Nagyeteny hoard report listing at face value without bothering to check the plate, RIC author Bruun relegated a correct description of the type from the Voetter-Gerin catalog (of coins in the Vienna collection) to a footnote, saying that no such coin could be found!

I've grown to strongly distrust any RIC listings based on 2nd hand reports.

 

I need to pay more attention to these.

 

While I agree with the premise that eBay can be a good source for coins, this thread points out to me that there is a great deal of variation in the deals available and that what one would consider great might not thrill others quite so much. Compare the eBay example to the AMCC2 coin:

What we see here is we should have bid more in AMCC2. Some see both as bearing a lot of silver but the big difference in the AE1 folles is often the strike quality and detail shown on the torso of Genius. Not mentioning the difference between CAD and EUR, the AMCC2 coin has abs.