I purchased these two lots of roman denarii at a recent auction. I have never bid on multiple lots before, only single coins, and certainly not w/o first looking in detail at them. Given the excellent quality of the lots at this auction, however, I went ahead and bid on these two based only on the catalogue description and picture, and won them. They should get here in the next few days. I wonder exactly what is in them. These are the catalogue pictures:
Thes are a long way from the quality of denarii that usually get sold in lots. There are some great coins in the stack. We will wait for individual photos for details but I see the Titus sow and piglets (very anti-Jewish type issued during the Judean war), Commodus with Apollo Moneta and the Antony legionary. All but four (?) seem to be 2nd Century and in good shape. Most importantly, they do not appear to be recent hoard material that have been harshly cleaned as often is the case with large lot coins. Post individual photos and I'm sure we will have nice things to say.
well done. from the pics looks like some good strikes on them. looking forward to your own pics. :hammer:
Well, the package arrived already ia few days ago, but just now do I get around to taking a few pictures. I am very pleased with the coins - some scarce and well preserved denarii, and one quinarius were included in this lot. Here are a few pictures (sorry for the poor quality of the pics).
oh wow! very cool, thanks for posting that quinarius of Octavian looks cool, and I like the portraits of Sabina and one of the Hadrains alot, but they all look good!
What I see here is a nicely selected mix of coins that are either common and nice or interesting and slightly flawed. The Titus and Commodus are premium types that could be in better shape while the group of women are nice examples of the common female coins of the second century. It is not a random mix but a ready made beginning collection of the period. The two Hadrians span the range of his portrait styles as well as two coins could. One Pius is posthumous. One almost has to wonder were are the Trajan and Marcus Aurelius coins that would fill out the set.
Thank you all for your comments. As mentioned, I am please with what I got. No rarities, but a nice, well composed group, with an Octavian quinarius as bonus. (One slight dissappointment, if at all, was the Legionary Denarius which is nice but turned out to be a Legio VI - now I have 2 of these.) As mentioned, this was a very unusual auction due to the large quantity of lots, and the quality of the coins in those lots. There were for example 4 lots of Julius Caesar portrait denarii, with 6 coins per lot, and 10 lots of Octavian/Augustus denarii with 10 coins in each. I was aiming for a 13-coin lot of Marcus Antonius legionary denarii - (I have a faible for these) - which included 2 x Chortivm Praetoriarvm, and 2 x Chortis Specvlatorvm; but no chance. Eduard