Anyone watch the Oslo Myntgalleri of Oslo Norway? It had some interesting coins. For me the highlights were cast bronze. An aes grave decussis hammered for kr2,050,000 ($216M) and a 20 Kg cast bronze cake hammered for kr500,000 (only $53M). I saw all of that cast bronze and had to bid (twice). I won the lowest priced cast bronze piece in the auction, a 56 gram corner fragment of aes signatum for kr1,000.
@rrdenarius Congratulations on your win. That was quite an auction. I had never heard of this auction. Here is a link to the decussis. 708 grams! 10 asses! Crawford 41/1. It seems to have sold for 2,050,000 NOK, which is currently equal to $225,500. https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=5643&lot=245 Here is a link to the bronze cake (aes formatum). 20,500 grams! 80 asses! It seems to have sold for 500,000 NOK, which is currently equal to $55,000. https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=5643&lot=227 Here is a link to your aes signatum corner fragment. It seems to have sold for 1,000 NOK, which is currently equal to $110. That seems like a pretty good deal, for an aes signatum fragment. https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=5643&lot=234 Here's a link, to the auction results. https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=sale&sid=5643
Wow, stunning coin! And also ironic that the heaviest coin I've ever seen was cast on a reduced standard... Now,imagine what it would have looked like on the full libral standard. Three kilos of bronze, some pocket change...
Well, "M" is 1000 in Roman numerals, so it makes (old-fashioned) sense. I think the concept of a large number like "a million" is far more common now than 40 years ago; "m" for million is seen fairly frequently. I can remember when "a millionaire" was an extremely rich person. Now, for the language impact, we would probably think "billionaire." Articles in the paper might mention a small bridge being replaced for 4 million dollars. If abbreviated it would be $4m. "$4,000" is so short it hardly needs abbreviation. I have seen "b" for billion: "$22b" would be $22 billion.
I was born in MCMLIII. I think most here would translate that to 1953. Descriptions of two of the lots. @sand gave links above 10X - Lot 245. LATIUM, Rome. Circa 215-211 BC. Æ aes grave decussis (708 g). Head of Roma left, wearing Phrygian helmet, X behind / Prow of galley left, X above. Green patina with darker and lighter tones. An extremely rare and intriguing piece. ICC 100, Crawford 41/1, Sydenham 98, Ex Monnaies et Medallies, auction 52, 1975, lot 296; Ex S. Weintraub Collection; Ex Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection; Ex Sotheby's, New York, Sale 19.06.1990, lot 117 Grade: 1+. kr2,050,000.00, 19 bids Bronze cake - Lot 227. CENTRAL ITALY, uncertain mint. 6th - 4th century BC. Æ aes formatum = 80 asses (20500 g). Complete circular lump, shaped as trucated cone. Attractive light green patina. Some patches with active corrosion. The reverse has an inscription with permanent marker done by the previous owner. Extremely rare and of great historical importance. ICC p. 84, Cf. Haeberlin pl. 3, 8, Münzen und Medallien, Basel, and Classical Numismatic Group, Pennsylvania, 1990 - private sales; Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, auction 10, 09.04.1997, lot 266. kr500,000.00, 2 bids the RR section of the auction had - 9 aes grave, all sold, second highest hammer was 36000 NOK for an As 13 aes rude & bar pieces, hammered at 1000 to 100000 NOK, 4 went unsold A video of the 10X coin is impressive!!! The white glove person was not familiar enough with cast bronze coins to know they are medal turn (12 H). Lot 245, The Schøyen Collection 6th of May 2022 - YouTube The catalog on this sale had an interesting introduction of the seller. Part is copied below: I decided ... to study and collect Roman coins at the age of 15. None were for sale in Norway at the time, but when traveling with my parents through Germany in July 1956, we stayed overnight in Hamburg, and I got my first chance..... The next year my parents did not travel so I went on a two weeks bicycle tour through Denmark to Copenhagen where I obtained from Johan Chr. Holm, my first Greek coin. This was a tetradrachm from Athens, the famous «Owl» with Athena on the obverse, familiar to everyone collecting ancient coins.
I followed this INSANE auction. I was salivating mostly at the two Aes Signatum. Anyway, I purchased this... object, which I believe has all the defining characteristics of an aes signatum (a quadrangular piece of bronze with a symbol cast on both sides), and a unique one at that. I don't know really why it is not classified as such.
Fun, @rrdenarius ... AE Decussis = 10 As = earliest Denarius. And, I thought this would be a Heavy Denarius, according to Kenneth Harl... RR Anonymous AR Didrachm / Heavy Denarius. Rome, circa 265-242 BCE. Head of Roma right, wearing Phrygian helmet, cornucopiae behind / ROMANO, Victory standing right, attaching wreath to long palm, YY in right field. Sear 25; Crawford 22/1; RSC 7. 6.55g, 18mm, 6h. Very Fine. From the Eucharius Collection Considered Rare
Congratulations, nice catch! I attended the auction. Martin Schøyen was really an advanced collector of ancient coins. What a selection! I got one coin, lot 144, one of his many tetradrachms of 69/70 AD: And I was also fortunate to be the only bidder on 5 volumes of «Coins of the Roman empire in the British Museum».
