I decided to go with the Zumbly style list of coins under $100 from those received in 2016. First is a coin between $90 and $99: There are cheaper Sasanian rulers than Ardashir III 628-630AD but I squeaked in under the century mark at $97 with this drachm. $80-$89: Carausius 287-293 AD - just a common Pax type and maybe not nice enough for the money but I like Carausius and I didn't have this letter combination. $70-$79: L. Postumius Albinus denarius c.96 BC This one could have better surfaces but then it would not have been $77. $60-$69: Philip II Antioch tetradrachm I liked the left bust and thought it worth the $60 despite the texture on the face. $50-$59: Smyrna, semi-autonomous in time of Valerian? AE 25 Senate bust/Tyche I'm weak on semi-autonomous and this one has clear legends. Was it worth $58? $40-$49 I don't but many Eastern mint Septimius Severus denarii but when I run across an unlisted variation in half decent shape for $40, I do. Emesa mint, FORT REDIT (but the T is weak) $30-$39: Yes, it is worn but I did not have Vespasian with the SPQR reverse and it was $35. $20-$29: The coin is not all that bad but not worth any more than the $24 I paid. The reason I bought it was I wanted a slabbed coin and this one has a nice label reading Constantine II while the coin is Constantius II. The sad part is NNC errors are common enough don't add anything to the market value of a coin. I can't get a good photo of it but breaking it out would ruin the reason I bought it. $10-$19: This barbarous radiate was $13 and it took me that many milliseconds to decide I had to have it. Can it be identified even to ruler? No, but that is not because it is low grade. Am I too good to own such a crude coin? No. Have I seen other left facing barbarous radiates. No? Does anyone care? No? Would I sell it for 10x the cost? No. Do you have one? Show them, please. Under $10: I have better coins of Licinius II but this one is worth the $7. Just what does someone have to do to escape being the Roman personality with the least demand? His father might be almost as unwanted by most people. Not buying a coin like this would make me feel like I was bullying the kid. Trivia: How many of this grade coins of Licinius II would be a fair trade for one equal grade coin of his mother? a) 10, b) 100, c) 1000, d) 10,000 e) Trick question - there aren't that many.
My favorite of the group is the Albinus. Great price. I would have gladly paid that amount for this coin.
I like the Vespasian and the Septimius very much, and am curious as to what must have been other nice coins they won against in their respective brackets. The leftie bust barbarous radiate is really interesting as well.
I think the $35 Vespasian denarius is my favorite. I bought a Tetricus AE in an NNC holder once, with a ludicrous "Mint State" grade on the label, but the price seemed decent (mid-$20s), and one cool thing NNC did was put the full hoard pedigree and date (some Roman villa hoard from 1967? Eastbourne? Ring a bell?) on the label. So the plastic was essentially worthless but for that, which I appreciated.
I really LOVE the Albinus and Vespasian example---- talk about getting the 'biggest bang for the buck'.
cool coins, Mentor ... Oh, and great thread-idea by Z-Bro I think I have 15 coins outta 43 that're under $100 Huh, eh? ... more than a third of my coins are under $100 (who knew?) ... cheers
