I posted yesterday about my trip to the Whitman show in Baltimore and posted a quick picture of the stuff I bought. I was pretty happy with my purchases since they presented some challenging identifications and averaged out to be $7.5 per coin. Not bad at all. Then @ancientone pointed out the fact that one of the coins was pretty rare: My reverse picture isn't great but it is clearer in hand than what is in the picture. Laconia, Gythium Septimius Severus 193-211 AD, Struck AD 202-205 Assarion Æ 21mm, 6.50g Obverse: CЄ-OYHPOC, laureate head of Severus to right Reverse: ΓVΘ-Є-ATΩN, the Dioscouri standing to left and right of serpent entwined altar, each holding parazonium and spear I started looking and looking and found 2 examples that have sold at auctions in the last few years and one that sold in 2006: One from Nomos, sold in 2018 and described as "Only the second, and definitively the best preserved example of this very rare type known." https://nomosag.com/default.aspx?page=ucAuctionDetails&auctionid=10&id=286&type=webauction And the other from Savoca, sold in December 2020 and described as "The Best Known Example". https://www.biddr.com/auctions/savocalondon/browse?a=899&l=949796 The 2006 example was in a lot of 6 assarions from Gytheion that was sold by LHS Numismatik AG, Auction 96 but that's all I can find on it. The website for the auction house is now defunct. I haven't been able to find any other examples of this coin in my available resources. Both coins are attributed as BCD Peloponnesos 969.1. I can't find anything with that name besides there being an auction called "The Coins of Peloponnesos The BCD Collection" that was the same auction that the coin from 2006 was sold in. Does anyone have any references to this coin besides what I have found? So far, I am considering mine to be the 4th known example...wishful thinking, I know haha... The prices that the 2 most recent coins sold for is insane and would make this the rarest and most expensive coin that I have purchased (though I got it for a pittance). I'm not sure what I should do with it. Any suggestions? Tagging @dougsmit since as far as I'm concerned, he is the resident Septimius Severus expert Thanks for looking everyone!
WTG Furryfrog Im guessing now I'm not the only picker at Maryland shows...lol You got to love it when things like this come together and, the thrill one knows when all the stars line up...and you just picked a great coin. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy....
You know it was completely by chance haha. I just bought a coin I liked and thought would be fun to identify It is really cool to know that it is relatively rare, even if it isn't the 4th known example....though I'm gonna plug it that way until someone proves me otherwise! The best part was learning about a place that I've never heard of before. The wiki page for Gythium has quite a bit of information and it was really interesting to read. That's my favorite part about collecting ancients, so much to learn! Now, if it turns out that this coin is worth a pretty penny (or assarion as the case may be) it gives me a bit of a dilemma. On one hand, it is amazing to have such a rare piece of history in my hands. On the other, I have 4 kids and am in need of a bigger house, which you know haha. Obviously, I won't get house money or realistically that much for it, but the money would definitely be helpful. Do I keep or sell? I don't know.
Yeah been there ....keep it or sell it ? You will know when the time comes...for now enjoy the find,and dont worrie about the house... it will all come together.
Great Furry, I am happy for you. Please keep us informed of the coins value. Enjoy it, photograph it and sell it.As a matter of fact I will give you 15.00 for it……Have fun with it…
I do not recall seeing that one. You are far beyond me in research abilities. That means rather little considering the vast number of SS Provincial coins. Have you noted that the 'in progress' volume of RPC to cover Pertinax through Macrinus is slated to be in three volumes. I assume that is to prevent books so large they would be impossible to use. Just guessing, there are probably a thousand types of Septimius that are both very rare and not available in good condition. The fellow who said that there is nothing more common than a rare coin was talking about the last century of Provincials. Congratulations on your find.
BCD Peloponnesos 969.1 is the final auction record you've linked. LHS 96 was the BCD Collection of Peloponnesos. So the other auctions were citing that listing (most or all of the 10 primary named sales of BCD are important catalogs treated as references in their own right; you can see a list on Numiswiki and links where available and W.W.Esty has a valuable page annotating even more of the important BCD catalogs). Whenever a BCD # has a decimal, then it was a group lot. For LHS 96 / BCD Pelo, ACSearch only showed the first coin not the whole lot (unlike NAC 55 = BCD lokris-phokis) but they're all illustrated in the print catalog. Unfortunately I think that's one of the expensive ones (an not available anywhere online as a pdf). In this case, there were six coins in the lot. Luckily the one you're interested in (969.1) is the one illustrated on ACSearch. The provenance notes say it was acquired from Lindgren in 1976, so it probably wouldn't have been in the Lindgren Collection books. All 6 of the BCD 969 coins (including your type, 969.1) reference NCP, which I believe would be Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer & Percy Gardner, 1887, Numismatic Commentary on Pausanias. Chapters are reprinted from articles in Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1885-7. You can read it online from Google books.
BCD is the most comprehensive reference for Peloponnesos. It is the catalogue for the auction you mention. Most provincials from here are rare but that does not make them valuable. I just won a coin from Tegea, Arcadia (probably a one of a kind and in a similar condition to yours) for what you could take the family out to dinner for. Congrats on the find!
That's a supercool find, ff. I can understand the temptation to want to sell this for a profit considering you bought it for next to nothing. While it's true as others have stated that very rare provincials are are a dime a dozen and also true that not all will fetch high prices at auction, the sale records you've dug up for your coin type suggest that it's a desirable enough type that even examples in slightly lower grade might still fetch a nice price. Here's a one of a kind Severan provincial... or at least it was the last time I checked. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AE29. 11.18g, 28.8mm. BITHYNIA, Prusias ad Hypium, circa AD 197/8. RecGen -; BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Cop -; ISEGRIM -. O: ΑΥΤ Κ Λ ΣΕΠΤΙ ΣΕΟΥΗΡΟΣ Π, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: ΕΙΣ ΕΩΝΑ ΤΟΥ-Σ Κ-ΥΡ-ΙΟΣ / ΠΡΟΥΣΙΕΩΝ, Septimius Severus, in military attire, standing front, head to left, holding scepter in his left hand and clasping his right hand with Caracalla, on the left, standing right in miltary attire and holding scepter in his left; on the right, Geta, togate, standing front, head to left, holding patera in his right hand and scroll (?) in his left. Notes: Unpublished in the standard references and possibly unique.
Well, my wife said to keep it, so keep it I will I noticed that wildwinds doesn't have an example. Do you think they would want an example for the site?
I'm sure they'll be happy to add it to the site. Often our happiest decisions will be the ones our wives make for us.
