As most of you know, I tend to dredge the bottom in terms of ancient coins. Sometimes I find treasure though and I wanted to share my recent treasures with you. Ladies first. She was part of a 5 coin lot and was actually only $5 but the alliteration for the title wasn't as nice Helena AE follis Cyzicus 324-325 AD Obverse: FL HELENA-AVGVSTA, draped bust right with double-row pearl diadem, and necklace Reverse: SECVRITAS-REIPVBLICE, Securitas standing left holding branch and hem of robe. Mintmark SMKB Next is a group of 4 coins that were just listed as "Ancient Roman Coins". I looked closer and was pretty excited to see what I saw. I won this lot of 4 coins for $32.01...or $8 a piece. I think I did pretty alright. In alphabetical order: Aurelian AE Antoninianus Siscia 274-275 AD Obverse: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right Reverse: CONCORDIA MILITVM, Aurelian and Concordia facing and clasping hands, S between. Mintmark: XXI This was incorrectly attributed as Galerius. From what I see on vcoins, this is worth much more than $8. Maximinus II AE Follis 312 AD Obverse: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMINVS P F AVG, laureate head right Reverse: GENIO AVGVSTI, Genius standing left, holding head of Sol and cornucopiae; star left, H right. Mintmark: ANT A Numerian for $8?? And from what I can tell, the MARS VICTOR reverse is fairly uncommon. Win/win. Numerian AE Antoninianus Lyons 284 AD Obverse: IMP C M AVR NVMERIANVS AVG, radiate draped bust right Reverse: MARS VICTOR, Mars walking right, holding spear and trophy, C in right field Another fairly uncommon emperor. This is, I believe, a quarter follis as the weight is 1.84g and it is 19mm diameter. Severus II Quarter Follis 305-306 AD Obverse: SEVERVS NOB C, laureate head right Reverse: GENIO POPVLI ROMANI, Genius standing left, modius on head, with chlamys over left shoulder, holding patera and cornucopiae Mintmark: SIS Thanks for looking! Any comments are welcome - especially if I got attributions wrong. Let's see some of your cheap treasures!
I've got some excellent coins for 8 bucks. Claudius with nearly full silvering: High silver Gallienus with an awesome reverse: Incredibly gorgeous Quintillus with toning. This is worth 10x that, easy. Strong silver on an uncommon FIDES Victorinus.
I was really happy to get this one. My daughter has complained at the severe lack of girls in our coin collection. She was glad to have a nice one to add
that's just a good deal FF2...i love a good buy/deal.....i bought this Tacitus silvered covered still in the dirt it was found in for 10 bucks (its so good to be able to post pics again^^)
Wow, @furryfrog02! You made out like a bandit! Numerian and Sev Deuce, even! All of them have lovely patinas, too. What a score!
Have you thought of cleaning it up? I like it with the dirt but I think it would probably clean up beautifully.
Right?? I am still a bit in shock. I can't find any examples of my coins that sold for less than 4x-5x what I paid.
Got this Elagabalus for a bit more than $8 - it was in a lot of 11 pcs, each for $15. The reverse is really of the color shown which I like every much Æ Pentassarion, Moesia Inferior, Markianopolis, 218 - 222 AD, Legate Sergius Titianus There are more coins of Elagabalus issued by Julius Antonius Seleucus than by Sergius Titianus, possibly just due to the longer period of time that Seleucus was Legate. 11.232 g, 25 x 25 mm Ref.: Varbanov 1470 (?) not sure if this attribution is right Ob.: AVT K M AVP C ANTΩΝEΙΝΟC laureate and draped bust right Rev.: VΠ CEPΓ TITIANOY ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ Nemesis-Dikaiosyne standing left holding scales and cornucopia, wheel at her feet
I bought a group of 18 mostly lower grade coins found metal detecting for $63; but only wanted this coin. Averaged out it was about $3.50, but many of the others were in pretty sad condition. Constantine I A.D. 314 20mm 2.8gm IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG; laureate and cuirassed bust right. ADVENTVS AVG N; Emperor mounted l., raising r. hand and holding spear; S-F across fields. in ex. PLN RIC VII London 1; LMCC 8.02.001
That's an interesting reverse, @Victor_Clark . The other 4 coins that came with the Helena were not the best, but this was the other one that made the purchase worth it for me: The obverse is kind of cruddy but the Victory reverse is pretty nice Cyzicus, AE follis. 2.49 g. CONSTANTINOPOLI, laureate, helmeted bust of Constantinopolis left, wearing imperial cloak, holding reversed spear / Victory standing left, foot on prow, holding sceptre and resting left hand on shield. Mintmark dot SMKΓ.
Your coin is from Heraclea. Note how the right side of the H is straight up and down and the center line is completely straight. If it was a K, the right side would be slanted up to the right at top and down to right at bottom and no straight center line. I have attached a Heraclea and Cyzicus for comparison.
Overall, I'd say you did well but my experience reselling lower grade coins suggests to me you should plan on passing those on to the young collectors in your house. VCoins is not a very good place to check values, IMO, and I have seen coins listed there for more than a year suggesting that the market agrees with me. In any business there are multiple ways of making a profit. One is to sell thousands making a few cents on each; the other is to make a giant killing selling one item. In all honesty, listing high and selling a few is easier since you don't have to replenish your stock as often. I recall a dealer who had a very good day at a show who was concerned that he had to buy something at that show or it would not be worth setting up at the show he contracted for the next weekend. Your coins are fully identifiable and interesting which make them worth every bit of their cost. The Helena is nice. What women would your daughter like to see added to her collection? There are rather few 'daughters' available compared to the wives and mothers. How many can you name that were not also, perhaps later, also a wife or mother. Didia Clara for $8 may be a problem. Keep looking. Point out to her that there are many females on the reverses of the coins. I'm fond of all the Minerva coins I have.
The most interesting cheap ancient coin I bought individually, for an entire 7 EUR+ premium is CILICIA, Kelenderis (ca 425-400) AR Obol Horse prancing right Rev: KE Goat crouching left, looking backwards. SNG von Aulock 5643; Göktürk 9; SNG France 116; Demeester 143. 0,55 g, 9 mm But in my first lot of 34 ancient coins, that costed 130 EUR including fees and shipping, I found interesting things such as
I've caught a few bargains - mostly on eBay. Here are a few of my favourites 2 Aurelian DACIA FELIX antoniniani with almost full silvering. Bought in a lot of 100 other ants for about £3.50 each. I didn't know these were in there before I bought it (I have also since removed most of the blue stuff) Rare Carausius antoninianus with his bust left holding eagle tipped sceptre. Horrible condition, but it cam with about 8 other coins, and cost me £20ish total Another Carausius antoninianus, this time overstruck on an antoninianus of Victorinus (you can just see his bust facing right on the reverse). £25 on eBay Another Carausius antoninianus, this one barbarous, but with wolf & twins reverse. £12 on eBay Another coin I made a post about recently. A rare antoninianus of Gallienus, VICT GAL AVG reverse. I think this came in a lot of about 20 coins, and cost me about £20 in total An interesting barbarous antoninianus of Tetricus II, giving him the full title of "CESAR" in the obverse legend. Came with 2 other barbarous coins on eBay for £5 each One of my better scores is this antoninianus of Vabalathus for his sole reign. £30 on eBay, described as unresearched My biggest score is probably this follis of Decentius. It had horrible eBay pictures, so I got it (and 2 other okay coins) for £12. I don't collect these, so I consigned it to Roma. It sold for £480