I think I had mentioned previously that I wasn't going to be buying any more coins for a bid. Little did I know I had forgotten that I had put on a bid on a lot of L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi denarii. Imagine my surprise when I noticed I had received an e-mail on my phone at work with Congratulations! You won! (not exactly but still). I had a moment of 'what the heck did I bid on?' followed by 'I don't remember bidding on that' and then continued with 'oh well at least they are cool coins'. Each one has a 'flaw' in some way which is why I assume they were being sold as a group lot in the first place. The first has nice details throughout the coin but is slightly bent. You can see the line where the coin is bent on the obverse which takes away design. However, the reverse looks quite nice. The second has a metal flaw on the obverse, is very off centered and worn but has excellent details on the reverse. The third is the most worn but overall I feel is a solid coin. It does, however, have a bankers mark on the obverse. As usual when I buy group lots I will most likely be sending two to new homes. I am curious of the three with their various flaws. Which one would you keep? I know some of you would say 'all three' but if you had to choose one. What would it be? I also tried out a white background for taking pictures. Apparently with a white background my tablet likes to darken the coins slightly and makes them look a bit more toned than they are. Here is the picture of the lot from the auction. While I wouldn't say their pictures are a perfect match for the coin in terms of colour they do show the detail much better than my tablet.
I'd keep the one with the off-center obverse. While all of them have issues, its reverse is the best of the six sides and at least the portrait face is undisturbed.
man...that's close. i guess i would go with two..i suppose i would like a moderately good obverse and reverse over one with one blatantly better than the other. and that's if i HAVE to pic. honestly, i'd be very surprised if you get a consensus answer here
I have thought the same thing. What fun is consensus? I think since I have had them in hand I have been 100% certain that I would be keeping each one for various different reasons. Twenty four hours later is a different story and a new one becomes my favourite.
Consensus? What consensus? I'd sell all three and buy one I liked. To me the interest in this type is the array of minor devices and numbered dies. Yours are all particularly short in this respect. I do find it interesting that I posted a page on these in 2000 showing three different examples. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/acmfrugi.html
Hmmm? ... I think I like the bent one the best? here is my example ... my dude has a "whip" rather than a palm frond
Steve's coin is a different but similar issue of C Piso rather than L Piso. Gaius was the son of Lucius (LF after Piso) and copied his father's type. There are many variations but this one borders on ridiculous: http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=758428 Someone wanted it very badly.
I had considered that as well. No matter which one I keep I will most likely, at some point in time, but one of higher quality. Thanks for the link! I missed that page on your site.
