Featured Galerius (with Dattari provenance) and Galeria Valeria

Thanks, but hardly! It wasn't that complicated. But I did practice law for more than 35 years, and research was part of what I did for a living. And for even longer (since well before there was an Internet!), my primary pastime -- even more than coins and antiquities -- has been doing genealogical research on my own family and for other people, often involving figuring out the significance of documents as much as 450 years old, in many different languages, from archives in the U.S., Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK, Poland, Russia, and Israel. TLDR: I enjoy research. On many subjects.

 

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DonnaML, Thanks for posting these valuable links ! I copied nearly all the descriptions & & photos from auction #170. The photos were outstanding & the auction featured many rarities & "high grade" coins. What a shame these auctions were handled so poorly . The succeeding auctions had many unsold coins & coins that went at "give away" prices . I don't think we'll ever see an offering of Tetrarchy folles like this again....

 

@DonnaML thanks for doing this research. I've saved these links and documents.

 

You're welcome. But which was Auction # 170? Do you mean the first one (# 147)? Just scrolling through the Dattari Collection coins in that one, I was struck by how beautiful the condition was of almost all of them. And how few went for high prices. Perhaps that's because Vico's general description of the auction before it took place failed even to mention Dattari, as far as I can tell!

It's probably a good idea to save the photos and descriptions. They may not stay on the Internet forever.

 

You're right it was 147 . Just having a senior moment .

 

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Donna, Three coins that really caught my eye from Auction 147 are pictured below, all 3 from the Aquileia mint.

This coin is by no means rare, but it fetched 1,200 Euros. The modeling on the reverse is without equal.


This coin has a wonderful portrait, almost comical, & the reverse looks like an episode of Dancing with the Stars. This one went for 675 Euros.


Another fantastic portrait & perfect strike on both sides. This one sold for 425 Euros.

 

Beautiful. And there were a lot more like them. I'm certainly not an expert, but it's difficult to imagine an auction of hundreds of Tetrarchy folles with a better group of coins. I wonder if it got much attention at the time. (Not enough, if the people posting in that Polish forum were correct.) The Dattari Collection coins that Vico offered in the three subsequent auctions weren't as consistently superb, but were still very nice in general. Like the one I now have!

 

Beautiful coins! Congrats!

 

Wow, great digging @DonnaML. It is a pitty that the "Great Dattari Collection" was auctioned off in that way. I do really enjoy the Ex. Dattari coins though. Here are a few of my favourites:

This Licinius I has a beautiful full silvering that is toned slightly gold. It also retains a lot of the protrait detail:


I also love the color and interesting flan shape of this Galerius follis. My picture definitely does not capture the reddish iridescent color that this coin has in the fields.