What is the most you've ever spent on an ancient coin?

Hello everyone,

Having been a member of this forum for a few months now, I've seen a tremendous amount of variety in the ancient coins posted here - everything from stunning, flawless gold coins and extremely rare coins to inexpensive barely recognizable coins, and everything in between. It's one of the fun things about being a member here.

This got me to thinking, what would the numbers look like if we took a poll showing what the most you've ever spent on a coin was? Would the majority of users top out at $200? $500? $1,000? $5,000? or more?

Or maybe there are more bottom feeders here than all the beautiful coin photos suggest.

For myself, I would probably rank toward the bottom; the most I've ever spent on an ancient coin was $520 for this Tiberius denarius:



(dealer photo)
Tiberius AD 14-37. Denarius (AR; 17-18mm; 3.71g; 12h) Lugdunum AD 16-21. TI CAESAR DIVI - AVGVSTVS Laureate head of Tiberius to right. Rev. PONTIF - MAXIM Female figure seated right, holding long vertical sceptre in right hand and branch in left, on chair with plain legs above double line. Very fine. Corrossion on both sides. Nicely toned. BMCRE I p. 125, 34 and pl. 22.22; C. 16; mt 2008-01 p.135 # 2 (this coin illustrated); RIC I2 p. 95, 26.
From the A.K. coll.

I suspect that there are many here who've spent way more than that, and those for whom $50 is nearing the limit. Cast your vote and let's find out!

Edit to clarify: The intent isn't to create a bragging contest; I just was curious to see where lies the average "max price limit" for the members here. The votes are anonymous, so you don't have to post explicitly what you paid for a coin, although I don't mind a bit if you do.

 

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In my case I cover all depths. Most of my purchases have been mid-grade coins, but in the past I did aim high (at least for me), but those instances are in the definite minority over the past 40 years or so.

Aiming high, at $4,500:



Aiming low, at $65 (recent purchase):



And somewhere in between, at $150 (lots of territory there):



Edit note: The most that I paid for any coin was $25,000, for a modern coin, the Segovia Cincuentin, 1635. I had to sell a portion of the collection at the time to secure the coin, as my wife and I were laid off the month of the Superior auction!

 

$93 for this obol of Alexander III. Just wanted to post before the real money arrives...

 

Max I've ever paid was 180$...But usually hover around 100$ hopefully less.

 

The most I've ever spent on an ancient coin is this Owl tetradrachm from Incitatus Coins.
Still under $300

If I ever were to spend more than $1000, it'll be on a gold coin!

 

Around $3k for my most expensive coin

 

I voted for $1-$50 cuz that is what I wished I paid for each of mine.

 

I have yet to break the $1k mark, although I've gotten close several times.

When I do break $1k, it'll probably either be a late empire solidus, a Nerva-Antonine Aureus, or a Eukratides tet.

 

Love that Claudius cistophorus!

 

Though admittedly, I find the subject:

I must say, I appreciate other posters posting their prices paid, as it helps me find a baseline for honest prices of specific types that I may be interested in... and more importantly, feel better about my own extravagance!
My most expensive coin is my avatar:

Philip V
(221-179 BC). Tetradrachm. Uncertain Macedonian mint.
Obv: Head of Perseus left, wearing winged helmet surmounted by griffin's head; harpa in background; all in the centre of Macedonian shield.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ.
Club right between legend in two lines; all within wreath right.
SNG München 1125; HGC 3.1, 1056.
Condition: Fine.
Weight: 16.91 g.
Diameter: 30 mm. Purchased from Numismatik Naumann November 2021

 

I once spent $90 on a denarius of Nerva.



Nerva
Denarius
Struck 96 AD
Obverse: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P COS II P P, laureate head right
Reverse: AEQVITAS AVGVST, Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae.

 

Until about 6 months ago, I had never spent more than about $1,000 on any one coin, and had approached that level only twice, with my solidi of Arcadius and Honorius. Since then, I'm afraid I've exceeded that level four times, twice by a few hundred dollars (for my new solidus of Valentinian I and for my silver cistophorus of Augustus with the Capricorn reverse), and twice by quite a bit more than that (although I won't specify by how much!), for the aurei of Vespasian and Antoninus Pius. I will be very surprised if I ever again spend as much on one coin as I did on that Vespasian aureus, although I'm happy I bought it, especially given the 1910 provenance I was able to establish. And even then it was only in your third highest category.

 

i've been in the $400.00 range ...bid $600.00 a few times...but i'm more comfortable around the $100.00 price range per coin on all except special ones( for whatever reason)...

 

@DonnaML I remember that cistophorus, it's one of the most beautiful Augustus coins I've ever seen.

 

Mine was $1200 for a Johannes Tremissis, purchased in the late '90s (whatever year Men in Black came out) from HJB' HQ. I was in college at the time and it certainly financially hamstrung me for a while.

I'm not sure what the second one was, but it would be about half that.

 

Where is @panzerman 's million dollar gold coin ? lol jk

 

I have spent 1000 euros +/- a few times, primarily on sestertii, with the exception of the two aureii in my collection which cost a 'little' more.

The most I recall ever spending on a denarius was around 1100 for a Civil Wars denarius.

 

I've always loved how the hobby accommodates almost any budget. It's been awhile since I've looked at the $ numbers on my spreadsheet, but I took the opportunity to sort the price data of the 470ish coins in my core collection into your poll ranges:



I top out with 2 coins in the $3-5k range, but over 80% of my collection falls within the $1-$300 range.

 

234EUR

 

I was interested to see how distribution of responses would look. So far it's forming a pretty nice "normal distribution" (i.e., bell curve) around $600-3k, though I guess the shape of the curve is largely a product of how the intervals are set. Still interesting.

I'd be curious to see a distribution of prices for individual coins purchased, though, of course, that would require massively more data and work.

For the first 6-8 years I collected (age ~6-8 through 12-14), I would save up all year and only buy 1 or 2 coins, then start saving again, so I always ended up spending a roughly similar amount on them. I'm much more varied in my spending now.

EDIT: No sooner do I speak than @zumbly posts the data as I type!!!