Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 2489614, member: 44316&quot;]Late Roman bronzes can be attractive and inexpensive. However, if you collect for a long time and go deeply enough into them you find some are hard to come by. Wait a few decades and your willingness to pay for an obscure rarity may increase. Look at this coin:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]526740[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]526739[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>14 mm. 1.25 grams. </p><p>Constantius II as Augustus.</p><p>VICTORIA AVGVSTORV&nbsp; [sic]</p><p>PLG</p><p>Victory left holding wreath and palm.</p><p>RIC VIII Lyons 36 plate 4. Struck 342-3. </p><p>Their example is crowded and might not have the terminal &quot;M&quot; on AVGVSTORVM that they give in the legend. I wonder if John Kent (the author) ever saw a good example? RIC calls it &quot;R&quot;, but I think it is rarer than that. It was issued only at Lugdunum (Lyons).</p><p>&nbsp; It is Failmezger 397A (a book I like and use a lot), not pictured and called &quot;RR&quot; (his highest rarity, because none of the collectors consulted, which included me, had one). It got the &quot;A&quot; on &quot;397&quot; as a late addition, not noticed until the numbering had been fixed.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, when I saw this on eBay I wondered what I should bid. Late Romans this nice can cost $20 and sometimes less. Perhaps I could hope to get this obscure rarity for about 40 euros?&nbsp; I use eSnipe and set a future bid. Then I thought about it. At what price level would I be happy to let it go?&nbsp; At what level would I regret it if I was the underbidder? </p><p><br /></p><p>My evaluation kept rising. I finally reset my bid to 120.09 euros. </p><p><br /></p><p>Result:&nbsp; I won it at 120.09 euros, over the underbidder who bid 120.00 euros. Close!&nbsp; I wish he/she hadn&#039;t been so knowledgeable. The next bidder down was only 37 euros, about what I thought it might go for if I got lucky. I didn&#039;t.</p><p><br /></p><p>But I am happy with it. A real rarity in great shape, and I needn&#039;t have regrets that I bid too low.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in