Extremely rare ancient coins?

Reading all the posts here: coins were produced in series, that's why a coin is usually not unique. My two cents about the exceptions regarding ancient coins which can make them unique:

- Mint errors like incusum/wrong die combinations
- Antique rare monograms
- Over minting with another die set resulting in amazing coins
- Stolen dies (not die sets) leading to improvised mints where the other missing die needed to be replaced by any thing
- Stolen die sets leading to the use of a alternative material by the thieves leading to a new version (Barbarian ambushes a Roman die artist, steals his dies which are normally used for Denarii and melt some stolen gold down to create a complete new coin!)
- Experimental coinage
- Small island coinage

There are some coins which were melted 'en masse' in ancient times, after Crassus lost his campaign, Legio standards and apparently his head as well did I read that many of his coins ended up in the melting pot (to erase the shame of the defeat against the parthians).

The same massive melting happened with Labienus after his betrayal. For a very nice surviving piece of mister Labienus will you end up paying now over $150,000 as a result....

Vibius Varus lost his head in the Teutemborg forest due to betrayal of Arminius and the great Hermann der Cherusker, not so long ago did many coins appear out of the soil of the former battlefield, the Romans were spread out all over Europe, North Africa, middle east and did bring there coins with them. They got ambushed and massacred by enemies on a impressive scale as well, this did lead to coins ending up in the soil in just to many places. It's evident that on a large scale melting down of coins in the motherland could impossible have been leading to just one single coin surviving of entire mint series but it just helped to reduce the numbers, making it rare!

 

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If I am you I would send this coin to NGC to be certain about its authenticity because from what I know Lanz is not a dealer to be fully trusted

 

The Libertas sestertius series TRP XVII and XVIII are large and varied, but just a left bust with drapery was not yet noted in any of the reference books and therefore ' unique'

 

Thank you Mighty Knighty, any additional information which will be able to back-up the fact that this auction house is not to be fully trusted is very welcome if not needed.

We tend to trust local houses as: Schulman, Kuenker, Artemide Aste, Nomos, Giessen (Gorny&Mosch), NAC together with Lanz as well and with our eyes closed. So if I am going to call them this week, what should I tell them?

Best regards

 

You can search this forum and others for Lanz and you will find examples of fake sold by them . They kind of got famous for that practice. I am not saying this particular coin is fake just saying it is good to be cautious when you deal with dealers that are known to sell fakes

 

I remember flipping my lid the first time I found an LRB that was listed as a "R5" mint/field mark combo of a common type. Now I feel completely jaded to the concept of rarity.

A few years ago I was able to pick up a whole bunch of lots of Greek silver fractions. Ended up with a bunch that were unique, and plenty more that were "handful known" rare. Sometimes I wonder if selling the ones I did was the right choice... in some instances I know it wasn't.

My favorite from a Leu lot...


The type is common from Kyme, but as a hemiobol, whereas this one is either a trihemiobol or diobol, and was unique when I discovered it. I think perhaps one other has surfaced since, but mine is by far the better. My example was actually sold by Roma (for $300ish + BP) 6 months before it turned up in a Leu lot.

Indo Sassanian is an exercise in the mantra of "rarity is common" as most types are "rare" to some extent or another. My most significant accomplishment however...


This type is the predecessor of the Malwa types, being the only one with the sankh shape in front of the head that still preserves the Gadhaiya face. Maybe someone has a hundred of these, and they were clearly made with different dies, so maybe there are 10,000 in some hoard waiting to be found, but for now, I own all 5 known examples of the type. Two of them I bought after they had been on ebay for at least 3-4 years; two came from another seller about 3 years ago (one of which @Spaniard outbid me on, and I had to trade him for it later!) And the last I bought recently from Pars coins on VAuctions. The type is unknown to Maheshwari, Deyell, and Mitchiner, and I have been unable to find record of any more that aren't one of these 5. I'm fairly certain all 5 came from the same hoard that included mostly faceless types and was sold sometime around 2013.

For my Roman coins I don't pay much attention to varieties any longer, although rare individuals are a different story.

Lucius Caesar AE from Antioch on the Meander -


His portrait is common with big bro Gaius or grandpa Augustus, but coins in his name alone are extremely tough to grab. This further is one of only two published examples, although I purchased a third from Zeus late last year, it never arrived and I'm afraid I might have to get my money back and write it off as a loss

Then there's some truly odd ones


I see a helmeted bust on the obverse and a vaguely Kushan figure holding maybe a thunderbolt and a purse or modius on the reverse? It came in a lot of junk on ebay back in 2015, and I have never seen anything even remotely like it since.

This was another ebay find - seller sold a handful around late 2016, and I've never seen them again. Hemiobol sized, turreted male bust left / three line legend like AHV / MV / DV

 

@Ed Snible

Ed, I'm happy to say that according to Bastien, Trésor de Beaurains, no. 218, the Constantius I 10-aureus piece, liberation of London, was not stolen and melted down, but still exists in the collection of the Arras Museum.

Bastien argues convincingly, in my opinion, that many large Arras gold medallions were not melted down as fakes as rumor has claimed, but that this was just a story made up by the finders, to distract attention from the large pieces that they had in fact found and intended to sell secretly to collectors or dealers!

The most notorious case of numismatic theft and melting down occurred at the Paris cabinet in 1831: their entire collection of ancient gold coins and medallions was lost when a thief hid and had himself locked in at closing time, then exited with all of their gold coins through a window. Some of the more spectacular pieces, for example a 36-solidus gold medallion of Justinian I (Sear 134), are at least known from reproductions, namely the sulfur casts of Paris coins made by Mionnet before 1831 for sale to collectors.

 

Sestertius of Salonina with only two specimens known (Göbl 490y, not in RIC, Cohen, BMCRE or Banti), the first is mine, the second is ex Gemini auction, 11 Jan. 2005, lot 430:

 

Note: Several years ago Curtis Clay pointed out to me that I had made an error in listing the location of this coin as the Louvre in a posting on another Forum - his knowledge and skill at spotting errors is amazing.

This is a pictorial example (the reverse of which is my CT avatar) of a bronze copy I owned of the famous ten aurei multiple (RIC VOLUME VI, TREVERI, No. 34) coin/medallion, the original of which presently resides in the museum at Arras and that commemorates the restoration of secessionist Britain to the Roman Empire by Constantius in 296. The reverse depicts the personification of Londinium (LON) kneeling and supplicating to Constantius (on horseback) outside of the City Fortification while a galley with Roman soldiers waits on the river Thames. The inscription REDDITOR LVCIS AETERNAE proclaims Constantius as the restorer of the eternal light (of Rome).


Obverse inscription: FL VAL CONSTANTIVS NOBIL CAES
Reverse inscription: REDDITOR LVCIS AETERNAE
LON (lower right) - PTR (exergue)

Bastien records the original (unique?) as No. 218 in his book on the Arras Hoard and mentions that galvano copies were made and sold by the Paris coin dealer Bourgey. At a weight of 23.0 grams I think the copy depicted here was cast in bronze from one of those galvano copies. There appears to be numerous other copies in circulation in a variety of metals - brass/bronze, silver, gilded copper, etc.

Note: Constantius was actually Caesar of the west when this medallion was minted, but was elevated to Augustus of the West upon the Abdication of Diocletian and Maximian Herculius on 1 May 305.

James

 

To state the obvious: every ancient coin is handmade and therefore unique. I think uniqueness or rarity covers both the type and the condition. The "problem" with a rare or unique type can be that after a while it turns out to be not so rare and certainly not unique.
For me personally, historical interest and condition (+style) trump rarity of type. In fact, since extremely rare or unique types are often in average and lower conditions, I don't have any (at least with regards to Roman coins). I am thrilled when I find a common coin in exceptional condition and unusually nice style:
As examples:
Constantinus II follis (ALAMANNIA DEVICTA) from Sirmium. The coin type is very
common, but I think that this style and condition are rarely found. In addition, it is an interesting historical type which commemorates Crispus' victories over the Alamannic tribes, which are mentioned here for the first time on a coin. The coin is black, with some yellow-golden deposits. The surfaces are perfect.



This coin type is even more common (Constantine I), but again the condition and the style are quite exceptional and very pleasing:



Finally, a very common Crispus follis from Nicomedia. However, even among coins from Nicomedia this particular style is rarely seen. The portrait appears to be one of the most naturalistic depictions of Crispus:

 

Thank you very much for the warning and you have right, one should be double careful once warned. Got if through Noble PTY. Fake coins is something which we and others encounter in the crème de la crème of international auction houses, often copying a good selling example. It's a real plague, like I mentioned in another post here is there a community of collectors who maintain a database with fake dealers and fake coins. It's growing rapidly.

 

Marsic Confederation
AR Denarius
89 BCE
Italia-
Italia seated shields vict
Corfinium Campana retro B
105 HN Italy 412a Sear 228 RARE



Marsic Confederation / Italian Allies
Social War 90-88 BCE
AR Denarius
19x17.9mm, 3.7g
Anonymous Issue, Corfinium Mint
Obv: Italia head, l, ITALIA behind
Rev: Oath-taking scene with eight warriors, four on each side, pointing their swords towards a sacrificial pig, which is held by an attendant kneeling at the foot of a standard. - Binding the Marsi, Picentines, Paeligni, Marrucini, Vestini, Frentani, Samnites, and Hirpini Tribes into the Marsic Confederation against Rome during the Social War
Comment: The reverse is based on the gold Stater and Half-Stater from the Second Punic War, and the Ti Viturius denarius...
Sear 227 SYD 621 SCARCE



Marsic Confederation
AR Denarius
Bovianum(?) mint, 89 BCE.
3.93g, 20mm, 3h
Obv: Laureate head of Italia left, VITELIA = ITALIA in Oscan script
Rev: Soldier standing facing, head right, foot on uncertain object, holding inverted spear and sword, recumbent bull to right facing; retrograde B in exergue.
Ref: Campana 122 (same dies); HN Italy 407
Ex: Eucharius Collection.
Ex: Roma Auction 11, Lot 607

 

Interesting NGC Ancients article from 2015 about how, with ancients, rarity is common. NGC Ancients: With Ancients, Rarity Is Common | NGC (ngccoin.com)