My birthday order from Europe came today. It was well-packed, but as some European dealers are wont to do, came with no ID tag/documentation for the 1963 provenance, nor for the other coins, instead being packed in little baggies. The coins are all quite nice and I would buy from said dealer again. I'll have to email to ask about the 1963 mystery provenance. It's nice that he noted in the description that the throw-in coins were from a regular collector, which I'm satisfied with. It will be fun to see what my father picks out for my birthday. Here's the ones I picked out for myself. I had purchased some moderately expensive coins of late, and my budget wasn't that high. I set out to find a monster toner ancient, and I think I did pretty well. It's authentic toning and looks pretty much like the photograph. The dealer description also is pretty close to the mark. There's a couple of unfortunate old scratches (I haven't looked at it closely enough to see if they stand out in person) on the obverse, but one can't have everything. The coin was under $200. Roman Republic. P. Servilius Rullus. AR Denarius (21mm, 3.86 gram) Rome 100 BC Bust of Minerva l., wearing Corinthian helmet; RVLLI upwards behind Victory in biga r., holding palm branch; P below; P SERVILI M F in ex. Crawford 328/1; minor scratches, otherwise good very fine and nicely toned with a touch of iridescence From an old collection, purchased May 1963. I lazily cross-posted most of the the above section. I must add that while the toning is what made me buy the coin, I love the composition. This particular dealer had a small group of similarly toned coins from the same collection. I'm a big patina/toning guy.
I have so few Roman coins of the pre-Marius republic. I used not to like the Roma head series, but now I'd like a few. This one has a neater design than most. The coins are finally out of the baggies, and lived up to the photographs.
I've yet to expand to the Republican era since I don't know where to start other than with the very late figures like Caesar and Mark Antony but this is a lovely coin! Great toning!
Thanks! The dealer replied, and the lack of clear provenance isn't his fault. The auction house was vague. I would definitely buy from this dealer again.
That's a lovely coin alright - the toning is quite striking. I love the republican biga type coins, too.
