Ancients => Happy Boxing Day!! (post your poorest 2016 purchase)

Interesting thread!!

During 2015 I acquired 'mass quantities' of candidates LOL... but during 2016 my 'worst' were usually coins I still like but impulsively paid more than I should have for the grade and type. I guess this denarius is a good example; Carisius, 46 BC:

 

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Lycaonia, Iconium. Tyche/Perseus carrying head of Medusa. 3rd known specimen. Looks worse in hand.

 

One of these (reverses) from this city is on my want list. I wouldn't mind a slightly better example .

 

Here's a lot of 40 mid to low end Jannaeus Prutot and Lepta. I'm planning to make some framed "Widow’s Mite" gifts out of them.

 

Good cleaning job on coin in poor condition. What did use to clean it ?

 

I like that one!

 

Can't say I have any regrets on my purchases this year, but I think I would have been happier with a nicer style of this crusader issue (there are apparently two main types, a fine style and a crude style, and this fits in the latter).


Crusader Issue from Lucca
Henry III-V, r. 1035-1125
Crude AR Denier, 15.27mm x 1.1 grams
Obv.: H center, IMPERATOR around
Rev.: LVCA forming cross, ENRICVS around

However, I only paid $10, and it was found in the holy land, which makes it pretty cool all on its own.

 

Bought this coin in early January,15 while I was intoxicated.
Moral of the story : stay the hell away from eBay while drunk!

If anyone is interested in this coin, pm me.

 

Thanks, I used the same mixture you use to treat bronze disease, Bi-carbonate and soda ash, as the coin had no patina it will only affect the deposit.

 

Wouldn't turn that one down!

 

ahahaha, Ed => I shot booze out my snout when I read "Looks worse in hand"



... this is the only thread where that fits right in, eh?

I agree with Z-Bro => that is a very cool reverse-type

 

I have admired M. Plaetorius M.f. Cestianus' coins, but did not have an example. This one was inexpensive, but not the best example you can find on line. Now I wished I had waited for a better example.

M. Plaetorius M.f. Cestianus.
Roman Republican Denarius, 69 BC
3.83 grams; 16.0 X 19.1 mm, oval
Obv - Male head r., with flowing hair; behind, unidentified symbol (vendor said scroll??)
Rev. M·PLAETORI – CEST·EX·S·C Winged caduceus.
Toned. Few banker's marks on obv.
My grade = aVF; vendor’s grade = VF
Babelon Plaetoria 5.
Sydenham 807.
Crawford 405/5, (60/54 dies)
BMCRR 3554
RBW 1453
From the E.E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection
Centering ok
Strike poor strike due to oval shaped flan and too much of the coin's metal was to the right of the obverse
Flan flaws oval flan
Style poor style - the male head on some coins is excellent art work. The one on this coin is high relief, but partly off the flan and the hair details are not filled with metal. Reverse lettering is small and hard to read.
Patination light toning
Damage - The coin has some wear (or it may be the weak strike), no other problems, the bankers marks on obverse are not on design features

 

I am sure many of you remember this turkey, a fake I purchased early in 2016. Definitely my worst coin purchase of 2016.

I did get my money back, returned the coin, which a forum member saw in an European auction a few months later. I never asked Pars Coins, who sold it to me, who they returned it to so we know who tried to pass it on.

I think people learned something about how the (should be) random flaws in the original show up exactly the same in the copies when made with transfer dies. The corrosion hole in the body of the triton shows up on all the copies. The eye of the eagle is rendered completely wrong. This was struck on what looks like a genuine ancient bronze. Comparing this to many other online examples shows the pattern of repeated holes and corrosion that should be random.



Attention forgers: the Internet has many eyes and a long memory.

Here it is again in all its fake glory. There are only 3 real examples of this coin and many, many fake ones, so be safe and don't buy one.

I'll stop beating this dead horse now.