So, I couldn't contain myself from my new found addiction and wanted to try something different, an auction. So, I tried Heritage Auctions. I won my first live auction on the 1st. One more Greek god to add to the collection. These photos are straight from the Heritage Site. BRUTTIUM. The Brettii. Ca 215-205 BC. AE reduced sextans (16.17 gm). About XF. Head of Ares left wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with griffin; within laurel wreath / BΡETTIΩN, Hera Hoplosmia advancing right, helmeted head facing, holding spear and shield; lyre in right field. SNG Copenhagen 1645. SNG ANS -. I can't wait for this coin to arrive so I can compare it with the others. At 16.17 g that's my heaviest. The lightest I have is .7 grams from the Memnon of Rhodes. What are everyone's first auction win, other than EBay? To be continued......soon
With an interest in the town of Kyrene as a result of following the career of Eratosthenes, who measured the circumference of the Earth, this was my first auction win, in 1993 from Numismatic Fine Arts. Read about Numismatic Fine Arts here: https://chasingaphrodite.com/tag/numismatic-fine-arts/
According to my records my first auction win was this drachm from Apollonia at Agora sale 25 in January 2015, about 6 months after I began collecting ancients. I sold the coin after less than a year because my collecting interests had changed and I decided I wanted to focus exclusively on the Roman Republic.
Not all of these are as good looking as yours. Compare to my 15.91g, AE26, for example. They are not exactly the same but close. I was not familiar with the ones with obverse wreath.
It was the only Ares Coin on Heritage Auction, at that time. After winning it, I used that acsearch and saw both with and without wreaths, however, there were many more without the wreath. There are some on vcoins that I thought about getting in case I lost. This one in particular: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/nu..._bronze_au5053_bronze_407/731001/Default.asps Others were out of the price range for me.
If it's Ares you're after, we can do a pile-on Here's a common type from Amisos, gussied up with a fancy background. The coin came from a larger mixed lot. There were a couple of these in there. This one has an attractive patina. PONTOS, Amisos 100-85 BCE, time of Mithradates VI AE 20, 8.55 gm Obv: helmeted head of Ares right Rev: sword in sheath; star over crescent in upper left field, monogram below; AMI-ΣOY across fields Ref: I don't own any of the typically cited references but this seems to be similar to Malloy 31
That's an excellent and beautiful example, @Jbruce. I think the unusual wreath around the bust really makes it special. Here's another one with Ares on the obverse but a different reverse. BRUTTIUM, the Brettii AE Double Unit. 17.44g, 26.1mm. BRUTTIUM, the Brettii, circa 214-211 BC. SNG ANS 38; HN Italy 1975. O: Helmeted head of Ares left; two pellets behind. R: BPETTIΩN, Nike standing left, erecting trophy; star between. My first auction experience of any kind of was a HJB Bid or Buy sale. One of the coins I picked up was this Maximinus Daia head-on-a-platter follis. MAXIMINUS DAIA AE Follis. 4.65g, 22.2mm. Antioch mint, AD 312. RIC 164b. O: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMINVS P F AVG, laureate head right. R: GENIO - AVGVSTI, Genius standing left, modius on head, holding head of Sol and cornucopia; ANT in exergue, * - Z in field. Ex Phillip Davis Collection
I'm not sure which coin was the first I won at auction. It may have been this one from Pegasi many years ago:
This was my first auction win. Claudius, with Nero as Caesar. 41-54 AD. AR Denarius. Struck 50-54 AD. (17.68 mm, 2.78 g, 6h) Obv: TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG GERM P M TRIB POT P P Laureate head of Claudius right Rev: NERO CLAVD CAES DRVSVS GERM PRINC IVVENT Draped bust of Nero Left RIC I 83 (R2) ; RSC 5. SRCV I (2000) 1890 RSC 5 Ex: CNG e-auctions 356, Lot: 469. Closing Jul 29, 2015 Ex: Holding History Coins Agora Auctions Lot 07-158 April 21, 2016
This is a timely thread as I just won my first auction. Lucius Verus has some deposits on the reverse but I liked the overall coin. I don’t know if those can be “conserved” or if just best left alone. Photo from auction house. Coin is in the mail.
