Auction Win: Rare Vespasian denarius

Just won this at auction.

0 examples on acsearch
0 examples on coin archives
0 examples in CNG archives

I saw this bare headed left facing Vespasian and knew I had to have it. It will take a position of importance in my 12 Caesars set.

David, I hope you can tell me more about this coin. I have searched online and it seems to be quite elusive.


Vespasian (69-79). AR Denarius (16mm, 3.24g, 6h). Rome, AD 75.

Obv: Bare head l. R IMP CEASAR VESPASIANUS AUG

Rev: Pax seated l., resting l. elbow on throne and holding branch.

PON MAX TRP COS VI

RIC II 773 (this coin); RSC –. Extremely Rare variety, near VF.

Ex Vecchi sale 13, 1998, 757.

Ex: St Paul Antiques auction 7 Lot 285 June 10, 2017

 

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Look forward to Davids reply too. Nice find. I like the portrait on it.

 

Calling @David Atherton!

 

I think David will indeed be very interested . He mentioned wanting to see a picture of the RIC II 773 coin to compare the reverse legend to his bare-head-left/Pax seated example: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-120879

 

Not another!

Really nice @Orfew. You've been picking up some nice coins.

 

Wow! That is quite an impressive catch!

TIF is correct, in my write-up on my V853 I mentioned your new coin. Curtis seemed to have thought it read COS VII, perhaps due to a poor auction photo? Now, we can clearly see it is indeed COS VI. To my knowledge, no other specimen has surfaced and the RIC II.1 Addenda has the type still listed as R3.

You have taught me a valuable lesson - always check out email listings of EVERY auction that arrives in my mail box. This one I did not. At any rate, I'm glad the coin found a new home where it will be appreciated. Congrats!

 

Thanks David for the kind words. I had hoped it was not you I was bidding against. I will not bid against my coin talk friends. Whoever it was also knew what the coin was because they drove up the price considerably.

I feel very lucky to have added this one to my collection.

 

No, it wasn't me. I totally missed the auction.

Enjoy the coin!

 

Very impressive! I'm glad the coin found a good home!

Here's my (considerably more common) Vespasian with the Pax reverse:


Vespasian, AD 69-79
Roman AR Denarius; 2.73 gm; 17.7 mm
Rome, AD 70
Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head, r.
Rev: COS ITER TR POT, Pax seated l., holding branch and caduceus.
Refs: RIC 10D; BMCRE 26; RCV 2285

 

Wow, that's a very nice score. Congrats!

 

Something about this coin looks familiar...

 

it do don't it

 

Sweet find!

 

WOW!!

What a super find !! Huge congrats to you @Orfew ---I love it in more ways than I can say!!

 

I missed this one too and would have been a strong bidder for it as well. This is a really outstanding piece! I'm glad I didn't bid you up!

 

Thanks for the kind words @Nemo

I am very glad I did not have to bid against you or David for this one.

 

Really excellent coin. Like David, I received a few emails about this auctioneer as well recently but having never heard of them I didn't follow up. Sounds like they could be a new source for excellent material.

 

A couple of months ago I stumbled upon this auction house on Biddr. I bid for and won a nice lifetime tet of Alexander for a very good price. In my opinion, most of their offerings are not high end. However, I think this coin proves that there are a few gems amongst the other not so spectacular coins.

Since I did not know the auction house, I was reluctant to bid on the Alexander. However, the shipping was fast and the service good.

 

The coin arrived today and I am very very happy. The attribution from the auction house was wrong in 2 ways. First the diameter was not 16 mm but a considerably larger 18.08 mm. the weight was not 3.24 g, it is 3.50 g.

Just one more thing to note. The coin was in a small plastic bag between two pieces of flimsy cardboard. When I carefully cut open the taped cardboard I accidentally cut through the plastic bag. The coin fell onto my countertop.It only fell about 1 inch so it is fine, but i was worried for a second or two.

Here is a photo of the coin in its new home, my Abafil case.

 

That is a wonderful catch and a great new picture, well done!