Brushing the dirt of Mr. Vernvs, who was bought by accident.

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Roerbakmix, Dec 23, 2020.

  1. Roerbakmix

    Roerbakmix Well-Known Member

    My threads on sceatta's don't really grab the attention, but this title hopefully will. @Nap suggested this sceatta from a dealer in France: I was looking for a VERNVS type sceatta to fill a hole in my continental sceatta series (discussed here).

    I accidentally bought it. The website was in French, and when I pressed a button which I thought meant something like 'put this item on your wishlist', I actually pressed a button that meant something like 'you've just reserved this item'. Anyway, the photos were somewhat poor, but it seemed a decent example. The price was right. So I went on, and paid.

    Meanwhile, I looked it up in Tony Abrahams Sceatta List (2nd edition). Tony categorizes the VERNVS as a stand-alone group (in contrast to Metcalf and Op de Velde, who categorizes it as a series E, so continental and likely minted in Frisia). It looked as either a 6.10 ("very rare") or 6.20 ("common"). This is obviously a relative scale: all sceatta's are somewhat scarce. I wasn't quite sure whether this coin was in fact very rare or common, so I emailed Tony and he reacted promptly: it was indeed a 6.10 (the main difference being a crown that looks like this VVVV or like this \\\\\\\). So, I accidentally bought a very rare sceatta.

    Today, the coin arrived: a grumpy looking mr. Vernus (more on that later)
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-zY8IFXpggO0XFmJ.jpg
    It came with dirt, and even a really small piece of quartz (?)
    upload_2020-12-23_22-58-24.png
    (and also a few piece on the reverse).

    I then brushed of the dirt, which took me about two minutes, to reveal a crisp, as-minted VERNVS:
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-eIBzNAHt5z.jpg
    EARLY MEDIEVAL, Anonymous. Denomination: AR Sceatta (Serie E, VERNVS), minted: Magna Frisia; 695-710, Frisia
    Obv: Crude diademed head to the right, VER[N]V[S around
    Rev: Standard with central O, two chevrons in upper corner, diagnoal lines in lower; crossess at sides
    Weight: 1.2g; Ø:11mm. Catalogue: Abramson 6-10. Provenance: Ex. iNumis 05-03-2019; acquired 14-12-2020; acq.: 12-2020
    Cleaned; earthen deposits brushed off; weigh decreased from 1.25 to 1.20

    (I really enjoyed it. Also, why didn't the cosigner brush it off? It's a sought-after coin, and of the 17 on ACsearch, the only 6.10. Similar 6.20 ('common') sold for 300USD or higher).

    So, who was mr. Vernus? First, there are few sceatta's with a (readable) legend: we have those with runes, e.g. the rare WIGRAED series R10:
    Series R (R10 type).jpeg

    A super large group of continental and anglo-saxon sceatta's with runic EPA (series R2)
    Series R (R2 type).jpg

    ... that were imitated in Frisia (series D BMC 2c. Ugly and yet captivating) Anonymous - Sceatta (series D, BMC type 2c, 690-715 AD).jpg

    Or Latin and runic combined! The very rare Series D BMC 10, with the reverse legend reading "TILVS" and obverse, again, EPA:
    Anonymous - Sceatta (series D, BMC type 10, c.700-715 AD).jpg

    And some others, which I yet have to acquire (by accident?).

    The point is: nobody really knows what these legend mean. EPA may have been a moneyer, a local lord, or just something else (and the meaning lost in time). The same for this coin: nobody knows who or what VERNVS was. Bit of an anticlimax.

    Please show coins you bought by accident!
     
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  3. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    kool coin & story..i bought one of my Neros early on by accident(glad it worked out that way now)..i was bidding on a couple of coins, As's, i believe, altho it might have been the dupondius, which i wasnt even aware of what it was till years later, courtesy education @dougsmit of Titus & Nero, both were fixing to expire and someone raised the bid on Nero so i 'thought' i'd mess with them and bid back, which did happen several times but the other bidder quit..and i was really wanting the Titus but couldn't swing buying them both...haha....fun times:D:rolleyes: Nero ASSES 001.JPG Nero ASSES 004.JPG Nero ASSES 005.JPG
     
  4. otlichnik

    otlichnik Well-Known Member

    Interesting story about a very interesting coin. I know nothing about sceatta's but your brief write up shows how interesting they are.

    I am curious, did the small bit of quartz come off with your brushing too? Small rock bits like that are usually bonded fairly strongly to the coin surface and don't come off even if the dirt does.

    Attached is not a coin, but a third century Roman phalera from a sword baldric (shoulder belt). It was part of a lot of about 20 small Roman military items that I bought nearly 20 years ago on German Ebay. The mistake was that I thought I put down a bid of 27.50 Euro (assuming no real chance of winning the lot). Turns out I put down a bid of 275.00 Euro. Oops!!! And won for 260 Euro. Oops!!! I took a deep breath and paid. I was lucky to later learn that the 20 items were worth way more than that and I had a good deal. But it Baldric 3.jpg wasn't budgeted for at the time.

    SC
     
  5. Nap

    Nap Well-Known Member

    Cleaned up quite nicely! I think it's a fine coin you got. Fairly uncommon type as well.

    Here is mine:
    vernus-1c.jpg

    I have suspected "VERNVS" has something to do with the Spring (vernal) equinox, though more than that I couldn't speculate.
     
    Alegandron, ominus1, thejewk and 5 others like this.
  6. Roerbakmix

    Roerbakmix Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the comments!

    It really came off super easy. Still surprised the consigner didn't clean it him/herself; it would have raised the price substantially.

    Yours is very nice as well. I like the radiate crown, more 'porcupine-y'. Abramson considers the VERNVS Anglo-Saxon; Metcalf & Op den Velde groups them as Series E. What are your thoughts?
     
  7. thejewk

    thejewk Well-Known Member

    An excellent score, and it cleaned up nicely too.
     
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