Hi all, Since I completed a 12 Caesar denarius set I thought maybe it was time to start a 12 Caesar aurei set. I made my first aurei purchase and was recently told that it’s hard to find them under 4K. So I figured any prices under 4K should be a good buy for each aureus. I must admit I did not do a lot of research and was ill prepared for this purchase. I think I was fleeced. Please, check out the coins below and tell me if I got destroyed on the price. I paid $2,400 for the Titus, $3,300 for the Nero and $4,000 for the Tiberius. Seems a little high in retrospect and after offering to a few dealers barely anyone wants them and they’re offering less than 2k a coin. This aureus portrait set may be a little daunting to complete any time soon. I was thinking of going after sestertius as well in the mean time. That may be a little more feasible. Can you guys tell me if I was completely ripped off? Also, what is a good auction house to buy early Roman imperial coins from? I’m tired of overpaying for coins. Thank you all for your time, Larry
Hello @Swervo513. Aurei are out of my league. Therefore, I'm not familiar with the market value of your 3 aurei. I like the Nero aureus. It has a nice portrait of Nero. The glare on the obverse side of the Nero slab, blocks out part of the text on the slab. The text on the slab, can affect the market value of the coin. Can you take a 2nd photo of the obverse side of the Nero slab, without the glare?
All three coins are in NGC encapsulation. Generally speaking, that will increase the cost of the coins. All three have a fair amount of wear. In particular the Titus aureus is noted to have "edge filing". What really jumps out is the weight... 5.70g. A full weight Titus aureus should weigh about 7.2g. If I may suggest... you can take a look at www.cngcoins.com and look under the "Research" tab. It's free to use. Enter simple keywords like "Tiberius aureus" and you can get a reasonable feeling of what a fair price should be. Since your aurei have a fair amount of wear, look under the eAuctions tab, where their lower grade examples are sold. It sounds like you bought at retail (not at auction) and with NGC encapsulation. If so, you should expect to pay more. Personally I think you overpaid a little though.
Since you're asking about the value of aurei and where to purchase early imperial sestertii, I suggest getting a subscription to acsearch.info. At something like EUR 85 annually you can quickly use their search function determine valuation. Also you'll see which auction companies regularly offer sestertii. D
Those are nice examples. I have zilch from 12 caesars. I do have 9 from Severus Alexander-Constantius I Chlorus This AV Aureus Gallienus joint rule with Valerianus I RRRRR (Unique) in fast st. (near MS) I won Teutonburger Auctions for 7200 euros.
