Advice wanted for 2nd individual ancient purchase

"Messed with" meaning smoothed and tooled.

 

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Yeah. Most large coppers coming from the sources nowadays are being doctored. If you do not know what you are doing, its a dangerous game to pay big money for them IMHO, and a really nice sestertius is big money, (at least to my cheap little rear).

I simply believe the as and dupondius to be the nice value copper. A lot of the higher end collectors chase the sestertii, leaving these medium coins alone.

 

OK. I'm sold.

Is there any females rare enough that I should spend my $100 on an as/dupondius now, because she will be hard to find later?

 

That is a question for Mat.

 

I hate to piggyback off of him, but I was at least considering doing the female thing before I even knew he had done that.

 

Don't worry, there's no plagiarism in coin collections.

 

Just find a coin that you like that speaks to you. One that you really want. Be patient and then one will come up for sale. Look on VCoins, Ebay, etc. Feel free to post any coins that you might like within your budget. Have fun browsing around. Coin hunting can be lots of fun!

Here are some Roman Imperial women to look up that have As, Dupondius, Sestertius coins. You can also find Roman Provincial coins with some or all of these women.

Antonia
Lucilla
Crispina
Julia Domna
Faustina I
Faustina II

Doug had some good advice about goddesses. Here are some you could look around for.

Venus
Juno
Athena
ETC....

 

I cant say I know big bronzes of the ladies well, I just recently got a couple added to my collection just within the past month & both were at too good of a deal prices. They're in my gallery link in my sig here.

I would say Julia Domna & Julia Maesa is a tough one to get in sestertii form. They're out there.

Antonia is a scarce one & worth getting at $100, just make sure for $100 there is some meat on it. $50 buys you near slick versions of her & thats why I havent gotten one yet. It may take some time

Tranquillina can be bought for $100 in a provincial form. Mine was in the mid $30s but its only 21mm. She can be cheaper though.

There is alot of options available, just dont be afraid to be patient, shop around, & mostly ask questions.

Sabina is another.

I "think" Herennia Etruscilla would be the last lady of the big bronzes, after that the large bronzes are pretty much no longer made.

 

Excellent! I can't wait to browse some more. Shopping is the best part (kind of). Except sometimes when I filter by price I lose track of where I am, and then it's likek THAT's the coin!

Then I see the price of like $385

 

As an example, here's a highly tooled and smoothed sestertius. To the seller's credit, he's described it as such, but I wouldn't touch it. At what point does an ancient coin become a modern sculpture on an old piece of metal? This one crosses way over the line for me.

 

I've seen a couple just recently on Ebay that were, without a doubt, tooled and smoothed. But the problem with them was that they looked like whoever did the work knew what he/she was doing. I mean, it was very well done. Even then, I don't want it.

 

Just to make a point, here are four sestertii of Julia Domna. I paid under $100 for each but there are dealers out there that would ask $200 and people with money to burn that would pay it. The point here is that most ancient sestertii have faults or have been tooled to fix the faults. The few really perfect ones are big money - really big in some cases.

The first two are the same type (Venus) from the early part of the reign. One is just worn while the other has more detail, a green patina and some big scratches to reduce the price back down to the $100 level. The worn coin has better style and some people pay extra for coins with better artwork.


The last two are from the later part of her life. One has a great obverse and a really messed up, double struck reverse. The other is better balanced but has a chippy patina on the surfaces that adds nothing to the appeal of the coin. It is the sort of coin that would appeal to toolers who could strengthen the reverse detail, smooth the surfaces and repatinate the whole thing to resemble a $500 coin.


Finally I'll show a 100% tooled coin. It 'claims' to be a Greek legend Provincial bronze of the rarest of the rare empresses Zenobia, queen of Palmyra and mother of Vahabalathus. There are no coins like this of hers but that will not stop someone from making one. If genuine, this coin would easily bring $12,000 but, as is, the $12 I paid for it as a curiosity. I believe it started life as a low grade middle bronze of a Flavian emperor. Buy from dealers you can trust.

 

We've had this discussion before, and it always comes down to personal preference. Perhaps someone else would look at the Divus Aurelius and say, "Eh...I'm fine with it."

But I'm more in your camp - if I can see the smoothing/tooling, I don't want it.

The sad thing about the coin I posted is that somebody obviously thought the work would increase the value. It was probably an attractive, honest coin in F before the monkey business. Now it's worthless, at least to me. I wouldn't pay a dollar for it, and if someone gave it to me, I would pull it out whenever an example was needed to demonstrate how a coin is ruined.

 

This is very informative. Feel free to keep it coming

 

Lord Geoff, I recommend clicking on the link in Doug's signature. There's a wealth of information there for the new collector. Also, check out the "stickied" threads here...

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?board=27.0

 

If you've not already been to this site, you could try http://www.rudnik.com/

Just searching out sestertii of the empresses, they have more than a dozen in the $25 - $100 range. Mostly Faustina I and II, but also Julia Mamaea, Otacilia Severa and Herennia Etruscilla.

I didn't do a search for asses or dupondii.

 

OK I am going to try to set up a "comprehensive" list of females on ancient coins, from what has been shown in this thread and what I have found on my own. For now I will exclude goddesses. Please feel free to let me know any I have missed, as I am sure I will overlook some.

Antonia
Lucilla
Crispina
Julia Domna
Faustina I (SR)
Faustina II (JR)
Julia Mamaea
Otacilia Severa
Herennia Etruscilla
Tranquillina
Sabina
Julia Soaemias
Julia Paula
Julia Titi (looks rare!)
Julia Maesa
Domitia

Just discovered the "confronting busts" types too, generally mother and son (I'm guessing?). I like those.

 

Not always. Here is Gordian III and Tranquillina (wife)

GORDIAN III AE26
OBVERSE: ΑΥΤ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡ∆ΙΑΝΟC ΑΥΓ ΤΡΑΝΚΥΛ/ΛΙΝΑ, confronted busts of Gordian III and Tranquillina
REVERSE: ΟΥΛΠΙΑΝΩΝ ΓΧΙΑΛΕ/ΩΝ, Tyche or Homonoia standing left wearing modius, patera in right, cornucopia in left
Struck at Anchialus, 238-244 AD
12.44g, 26mm
AMNG II 675

 

There are many lists of emperors and related figures. Can't put my finger on one of just the women right now, but they're out there. Meanwhile, here's a convenient list I often refer to, showing all of the coin-related figures in chronologic order.
http://www.coinproject.com/roman_imperial2.php

 

I only have one sestertii. Because of the BD it was 1,000,000 0 dollars.