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Message:: [QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 8153812, member: 110350"]I said a while back that if I ever actually spent the amount of money necessary to buy an aureus in nice condition, given the number of fake examples out there (as well as genuine but formerly-holed and expertly-repaired specimens), it would have to be one with a decent provenance. And with a somewhat interesting reverse, given the number that simply show a deity "standing there." I think this one qualifies on all counts: the coin has an older documented provenance than any other coin I own, with the exception of my one siliqua from the 1887 East Harptree hoard. Vespasian AV Aureus, 75 AD (Cos VI), Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, IMP CAESAR - VESPASIANVS AVG [counter-clockwise from 5:00] / Rev. Victory holding palm branch in left hand and wreath in outstretched right hand, standing left on cista mystica flanked by two coiled serpents with heads pointing upwards*, PON MAX - TR P COS VI [clockwise from 8:00]. Two small edge dents/cuts on obverse at 3:00 and 6:00 (possibly from old jewelry mount). 19 mm., 7.22 g. RIC II-1 Vespasian 775 (2007 ed.), old RIC II Vespasian 82 (1926 ed.), BMCRE 168, Cohen 370, Sear RCV I 2254 (ill. p. 431). Purchased from George Matev, Arete Coins, Seattle, WA, Dec. 2021 [arr. Jan. 2022]; ex. Triskeles Auctions Sale 21, Lot 392, 29 Sep. 2017 **; ex. Ars Classica XVIII (“COLLECTION TRÈS IMPORTANTE MONNAIES ROMAINES FORMÊE PAR UN DIPLOMATE ÉTRANGER DEPUIS LONGTEMPS DÉCÉDÉ” [Collection of Vicomte de Sartiges]), Lot 144 [ill. Pl. 6], 10 Oct. 1938, l'Hôtel Schweizerhof, Lucerne, Switzerland (Experts Dr. Jacob Hirsch & M. Lucien Naville); ex. Collection of Louis, Vicomte de Sartiges (1859-1924), acquired before 1924. [See <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/donnas-first-aureus-with-published-provenance-to-1938-and-also-to-1910.391624/page-4#post-8155687" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/donnas-first-aureus-with-published-provenance-to-1938-and-also-to-1910.391624/page-4#post-8155687">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/donnas-first-aureus-with-published-provenance-to-1938-and-also-to-1910.391624/page-4#post-8155687</a> for a revised description of the coin, to reflect information provided to me in this thread.]*** [ATTACH=full]1422513[/ATTACH] *See Sear RCV I at p. 431: “The reverse type is inspired by the triumviral cistophoric coinage of Provincial Asia” (citing Sear RCV I 1512-1513, issued by Mark Antony). See also similar reverse on silver quinarius issued by Octavian, RIC I 276, Sear RCV I 1568. ** There was no mention of this coin's previous provenance in the 2017 Triskeles auction. George Matev of Arete Coins informed me that he discovered the 1938 Ars Classica XVIII provenance by submitting a photo of the coin to EX-NVMIS.  ***See Provenance Glossary, p. 14, Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 91 Catalogue, 23 May 2016,  Zurich, Switzerland: [ATTACH=full]1422516[/ATTACH] And here's the entry for Jacob Hirsch, one of the two "experts" for the 1938 sale together with Lucien Naville: [ATTACH=full]1422517[/ATTACH] Here is the cover page of the catalogue for the 1938 auction -- at the same time that I bought the coin, I bought an original copy of the catalogue from Kirk Davis, even though it's available online at the WUSTL Numismatic Portal -- together with the portion of Plate 6 illustrating the coin as Lot 144, and the catalogue's description of the coin, citing Cohen 370 (with a notation showing that it sold for 160 Swiss Francs -- equal in 1938, if I'm calculating correctly, to not much more than the value at the time of an ounce of gold, namely about $35!): [ATTACH=full]1422521[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1422524[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1422520[/ATTACH] And here are the "Conditions of Sale": [ATTACH=full]1422527[/ATTACH] I believe that my coin is unquestionably the same specimen as the one sold in the 1938 Ars Classica auction as Lot 144. One can even see, if one looks closely at the illustration, the small edge cuts on the obverse at 3:00 and 6:00. So apparently they already existed in 1938. The reason that the provenance of this coin actually dates back further than its publication and sale in 1938 -- at least to 1924, and perhaps as far back as a 1910 publication -- is that the collection of the Roman coins of the Vicomte de Sartiges, sold in 1938, had been preserved intact since his death in 1924, and had been privately published in Paris in 1910 in a fully illustrated edition with an undated later supplement. Here is the catalog entry in one library: Author Sartiges, Vicomte deTitle Collection du vicomte de Sartiges. Séries grecque et romaine, en 1910, ainsi que les acquisitions depuis cette datePublished Paris, D.A. Longuet [19--?] [The book was originally published in 1910 with 43 plates, and was apparently later republished in an undated edition, with a supplement containing five additional plates encompassing the coins the Vicomte subsequently acquired, presumably between 1910 and his death in 1924.] Perhaps needless to say, I would very much love to know if my coin is mentioned and/or illustrated somewhere in the first 43 plates of the de Sartiges Collection book.  If that were the case, I would know that de Sartiges acquired the coin sometime before 1910. If it's included in one of the five supplemental plates, then presumably the Vicomte acquired it sometime between 1910 and his death in 1924. Unfortunately, according to WorldCat, the book is held in only seven libraries in the USA -- none of them in or near New York City: Williams CollegeSawyer Library Harvard UniversityHarvard Library Smithsonian Institution LibrariesSmithsonian Libraries University of Cincinnati - Main CampusLangsam Library [John Miller Burnam Classics Library] University of California Los AngelesSouthern Regional Library Facility University of California, Los Angeles Stanford University Libraries It's also held by Oxford University in the UK, as well as by four libraries in Paris and one in Strasbourg. Fortunately, however, our own [USER=84047]@Voulgaroktonou[/USER], as some of you may know, just happens to work at the Classics Library at the U. of Cincinnati! I was able to contact Mike, and he has very kindly offered to retrieve the book and check the plates for me once the library -- unfortunately closed at present because of the current pandemic situation -- reopens in late January. My fingers remain crossed, and if Mike is able to find my aureus in the published de Sartiges collection, I will post about it here. But I am extremely happy with the coin, regardless of whether its published provenance ends up being 1910, 1910-1924, or 1938. Whatever the case, I think it's beautiful, despite not being in "perfect" condition. And no, I have no plans to send it in to be slabbed! Please post your own aurei that you particularly like, or any other coin with a documented provenance that makes you happy with its age![/QUOTE]

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