I recently bought these 10 coins. Some are pretty worn, but one looks AU, maybe even unc (I'm don't know anything about grading ancients, so I'm probably wrong). Do any of these any value? I'm probably going to sell all but one or two. I think these are 1. Trajan 2. Clodius Albinus 3. Vespian 4. Sept. Severus 5. Caracalla
5 is Antoninus Pius and 7 is Caracalla. The first two are rare but the condition makes them less than high demand items. A few years ago #2 would have brought a good premium but enough of the Alexandria mint coins have shown up in recent hoards, I suspect it would sell as well as a regular Rome mint Albinus of its grade which is still more than the others. I bought four of them before I figured out that they were not as rare as I thought. A few are VF but not great strikes or surfaces. I suspect they were sorted by value since the more desirable ones are low grade and the better grade ones are more common. 90% of ancients were not struck well enough to be graded Unc when they left the mint. It makes little difference whether detail was lost to poor strike or to wear. Risking a guess: perhaps $200-250.
I agree with Doug. The Clodius Albinus is by far the best in your group. The first, the Trajan, is actually a provincial drachm of Caesaria in Cappadocia, not a denarius like the rest.
Thanks for the info. Do you mean the whole lot is worth $200? Or is that the price of an individual coin?
Lot. You will get more if you find collectors who want the specific ones and less if you sell to a dealer who has all the common denarii he wants. I wish I knew what to tell you the Albinus is worth. I paid over $100 for mine in similar condition but they have been bringing less as more turned up unless they are decent looking. Nice Albinus are worth considerably more but this one has very weak reverse legends so I don't know. I would average the others at $20 each making the question whether you can find someone that wants them and is willing to pay more for the Albinus.
Ok. I paid $20 each, so I didn't do bad, but not good either. I think I'll keep the one in the best shape. Where's the best place to sell ancients on the internet? Or should I take them to a show?
I'd take them to a show leaving the Clodius Albinus in the group. If someone wants to buy them see if they point out to you that the Albinus is worth more. If they don't know or are not honest about that, you will have learned something. Buyers of ancients on eBay often mistrust sellers they don't know so you might not get bids you want to accept. These coins have every appearance of being genuine but not every one will see that when offered online. The question is what to expect in return. If you sell 9 and keep one, I'd hold out to get your $200 back. Most dealers want to make a 100% mark up so they would have to think they could sell them for $400. I think that would be difficult but they know their customers and I don't. These are not bad coins and should not be hard to resell.
I think $200 is a good price for these. Silver denari are getting pricier. The Albinus is not great, but it should bring over $40 I would hope, and there are a few pretty nice VF's in there, (flat style but nice coins). There are a couple of really nice reverses, which are harder to find, (though fewer collectors collect them). Yeah, when grading if you are used to US coins, lower your grade at least a full grade, forget about AU and BU, and you will be in the ballpark. You do have a start of a nice little collection. Are you sure you do not want to come over to our side?
I passively collect them. I have about a dozen bronzes and a greek hemidrachm with a nymph on it. Am I correct in saying the prices of denari are increasing rapidly? My dad says they were were much cheaper a few years ago. Should I just hang on to these until I graduate college (about 4 years)?
