This might seem a very 'obvious' question, and I have my own ideas on why it is, but I want to hear what other people have to say. I have my eye on a silver Alexander the Great coin; lifetime issue. Nothing remarkable, priced around $120... it looks like a good thing. OK... then I go looking for a silver Augustus coin; lifetime issue. And, even though Augustus came along hundreds of years later, and ruled for many, many more years than Alexander... I can barely find something comparable at that price. Then, just to really confuse this idea, I thought about a nice silver French coin from, say, the reign of Naopleon I. Now, this is much, much, much more recent in history (relatively speaking), and you'd expect a lot of coins to be made, but what I found were scarcer and more expensive than the Augustus coins. So I'm left scratching my head about how the most attainable coin for me, right now, is the oldest of the three, from a total legend; the coin is lifetime issue and I just can't see how it's more attainable and affordable than the others which, I thought, would have been the other way around. Thoughts? And cheers in advance.
I am also new to the world of ancients. I'll take a stab at it and guess that it has to do with supply and/or demand. I.e., there are more coins available from Alexander's time.
I'm not sure what you know about Ancients, but, at least in the case of the Romans, there were tens of thousands of coins struck on a regular basis. Early Roman silver coins generally met content requirements. But like modern politics, as needs dictated, silver content fluctuated. I do collect some Greek coins, but I know much less about their minting capacities. I do know, however, in the case of Alexander coins, there are many fakes being sold. Some are very good and can easily fool the untrained eye (and even the trained eye at times). What denomination is the Alexander coin you have in mind? Check the weight and dimensions for that denomination. There will be some minor fluctuation, but generally they do meet certain standards. Same with the Augustus silver (most likely a denarius). If you choose, you can post the potential candidates here where some of the experts can evaluate each coin and their values.
As for Augustus being less expensive than Napoleon, I'm betting that it's because he's so freakn' legendary. I mean, how many people have not heard of Napoleon? If you are looking for a coin of his, I'd recommend going for for one of his issues from Italy. I've got one, it was free!
An drachm of Alexander for $120 is going to be pretty worn and possibly porous, if it's authentic. Higher grade pieces are in the $400-$500 range. Buy from a reputable dealer if you're uncertain of authenticity.
JA. You can often get Drachm of ATG at that price ranfe. Not tets. I agree but you often see decent drachms on the $120-$150 range.
Ahahaha => Martin, I respect your coin-knowledge sooo much, that I actually spent a few minutes trying to find-out what "price ranfe" actually meant!! ... yah, but after a brief moment of embarrassment, I realized that you meant to type "price range" ........ yup, and then there was a brief moment of shame
The reason coins are expensive is that there are more people seeking to buy them than there are coins being offered for sale. The reason Alexander's drachms are lower priced is that more people want his larger tetradrachms. Augustus has fewer coins overall and very few large coins so the demand load falls on his denarii. If he had thousands of big silvers, his small ones would sell for less. The large ones he does have are Provincials and do not excite as many people as do the Roman series coins. I know nothing about Napoleon and have no interest in having his coins so I can't say about that. Perhaps there is a good demand for his coins in France??? You can never win trying to make sense out of prices realized for coins. About the time you figure out what a coin should sell for, there will be two big dogs both go for a specific coin and make it look like the price suddenly went up 10X. Later, a wave a apathy seems to go over a popular issue and you see auctions going with few or no bids. Alexander has a thousand minor variations and there are a few people who are looking for certain items. When one of these hits the market, owners of the ordinary variations all think their coins should sell for more but they soon find out that there was something at play that they failed to understand. Except for the few specialists, most buyers of Alexander are like you and want a lifetime issue or even just a coin of the standard Zeus type and don't really care about details. Augustus has a couple really common types that go cheaply and several better ones that preform well regularly. Because these common/special distinctions are easy to recognize, more people are willing to pay more for the special ones. You can't just say 'Augustus' and know what price range is appropriate.
Thanks for all these great replies, everybody. Re: its authenticity, it's a coin at Forvm Ancient Coins. Am I allowed to mention them? Anyway, I thought they might be pretty reputable, from what I've read. The condition certainly isn't super, but runs: GS68658. Silver drachm, Price 2550, Müller Alexander 140, ThompsonADM I 68b, F, nicely toned, weight 3.729 g, maximum diameter 16.3 mm, die axis 0o, Lydia, Sardes mint, c. 334 - 323 B.C.; obverse Herakles' head right, clad in Nemean lion scalp headdress tied at neck; reverse BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞAN∆POY, Zeus enthroned left, right leg forward, feet on footstool, eagle in extended right, long lotus tipped scepter vertical behind in left, EYE monogram left, vertical club outer right (off flan)
Greek coins are not my area of interest or expertise, but I do have a general suggestion that you can apply whenever you find a coin that appeals to you: SEARCH Specifically, try both of the following: (1) Go to www.vcoins.com and use the following search string: macedonian drachm alexander You'll get a number of coins in a fairly wide price range that will give you an idea of what you could get for more (or less) money. (2) Go to www.acsearch.info and use the same search string. You'll get hundreds of results from auctions during the last few years. Of course, you may not be interested in bidding at an auction for a coin (for a lot of different reasons) but again you'll get an idea of what's available over a wide price range. Spend half an hour or so doing this, then look again at the coin you've mentioned and finalize your decision about whether or not you want that specific coin. Good luck!
Oh, and I forgot to recommend the following: search for coins at UPCOMING auctions by going to www.sixbid.com, and in the upper right corner (where it says "Search upcoming auctions" type the search string drachm alexander to see what you might want to bid on at upcoming auctions.
