Every now and again we get the question from beginner ancient collectors, how much should I pay or where is a good place to buy? well my advice is have a look at these Savoca Blue auctions, usually over a thousand coins looking for a home most lower grade but at starting prices as low as 5 Euro with one Euro increments is a good place to start and not get burnt. I think they make their profit on sheer numbers, also good for collectors who have been around for a while and don't like paying much which is probably most of us, I picked up up these five that I consider a good price especially the top two and the bottom one, priced from top Macrinus 44 Euro to bottom Hadrian temple of Artemis 13 Euro, 129 total plus hammer and postage. PHOENICIA, Berytus. Macrinus. 217-218 AD. Æ 25mm (9.56gm). Laureate head right / COL IVL AVG FEL, B-ER in exergue, Poseidon holding dolphin and trident, right foot on rock, standing left within hexastyle temple. BMC Phoenicia 167; SNG Copenhagen 113. MESOPOTAMIA, Rhasaena. Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Æ (27mm, 9.83g, 12h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Eagle standing left with wreath in its beak within temple; below, forepart of river-god Chaboras swimming left. Castelin 70; SNG Copenhagen -. SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Seleucia Pieria. Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ (26mm, 13.06 g, 12h). Laureate head right / Baetyl of Zeus Kasios within shrine seen in perspective; A to lower right. Butcher 52; BMC 36. SYRIA, Cyrrhestica. Cyrrhus. Philip II. AD 247-249. Æ 29mm (15.88g, 6h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Zeus Kataibates seated facing below garlands, holding thunderbolt and scepter, eagle at his feet to left, within hexastyle temple with arched pediment; above, bull (Taurus) leaping right. Butcher 21 var. (bull leaping left); SNG Copenhagen 49 corr. (under Philip I, bull not described); BMC 34 corr. (bull described as ram; same rev. die [obv. not illustrated]). VF, brown patina. Butcher notes that obverse dies of Philip for Cyrrhus are shared with Hierapolis, Zeugma, and Samosata and suggests that the coinage under his reign was struck at Antioch. IONIA, Ephesus. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ (23mm, 10.25 g, 6h). Laureate head right / Cult statue of Artemis Ephesia within tetrastyle temple. RPC III 2061. BMC 229; SNG von Aulock 1885. good fine, green patina, POST YOUR SAVOCA BLUE AUCTION WINS OR YOUR OTHER BARGAIN AUCTION WINS.
Agreed about Savoca Blue. The descriptions can be minimalist and some coins are mis-identified, but there's value to be had. Here are a few I've got. A little Kyme bronze - 0.93g, 10mm. SNG Von Aulock 1625. Akragas Hemilitron. 14.96g, 25mm. HGC 2, 139. C. Maianius as. 23.28g, 32mm. Cr. 203/2. ATB, Aidan.
I’ve always liked the Savoca Blue auctions. They always have a huge volume of coins and I’ve found some great bargains there (very fast shipping too). I got these two Byzantine coins from the auction today, less than 20 Euro each. Leo VI The Wise, AD 886-912. Constantinople, Follis Æ, 27mm, 6.05g Justin II and Sophia, AD 565-578, Nikomedia, Follis. 30mm, 11.71g.
Some of my favorite coins came from Savoca Blue Auctions. Here are a few I've picked up over the past few years: Marcus Aurelius denarius (24 Euros): Julia Domna denarius with a die clash on the reverse (20 Euro): Gordian and Tranquillina pentassarion (38 Euro): Claudius As (44 Euro): And a couple dozen more.
Savoca Blue auctions are fun because of the incomplete (and not infrequently wrong) attributions... and the low starting prices, of course! I've picked up a few bargains and a couple that weren't bargains but were desirable and infrequently seen coins. CILICIA, Flaviopolis. Domitian Æ 1/3 Assarion, 17 mm, 3.2 gm. dated CY 17 (89/90 CE) Obv: ΔΟΜЄΤΙΑΝΟC ΚΑΙCΑΡ; laureate bust of Domitian right, with slight drapery Rev: ΦΛΑVΙΟΠΟΛЄΙΤωΝ ЄΤΟVC ΖΙ; veiled, bearded and draped male bust of Kronos right; harpa to right Ref: RPC II 1760 CAPPADOCIA, Caesaraea Pseudo-autonomous issue, time of Trajan AE 13 mm, 3.3 gm Obv: turreted and draped bust of Tyche or city goddess to right Rev: pyramid; ЄTIϚ (date) below; uncertain mark or object to left; MO-YΛ (I'm not sure of those letters and there may be more letters at ~12:00, mostly off flan) Ref: (pending) TROAS, Dardanos c. 450-420 BCE AR obol; 9 mm, 0.56 gm Obv: cock standing left Rev: cross-hatch pattern Ref: Nomismata 3, 303; Demeester 98; SNG Ashmolean 1119 (all references unverified; I do not have copies of these reference books/catalogs) https://www.cointalk.com/threads/chicken-waffles.333266/ I have a couple more but apparently I've never posted them here and I need to edit the images and do some research.
Won this one after losing to Clio on the same type. That one was in better condition, but I don't mind paying 8 times less for this one that is similar and a die match.
Those three look great, especially the Akragas, I missed that would have bid for sure if I had seen it.
Thank you for posting this.. I watched the Session 1 auction yesterday -it was my first "real-time" auction. I had a couple of pre-bids in and sat with my popcorn and beer. My bids were destroyed quickly (as expected) but it was an interesting experience. I was actually quite surprised that many coins with very low starting prices went unsold. I will feel a little more comfortable next time..
I wasn't able to be in the live bidding either of the past two days, so I'm super bummed at missing out on some super rare provincial portrait coins! I do love me some Savoca Blue wins though...
I see a few coins I bid on up there! Great scores everybody! I also enjoy Savoca Blue auctions, although I'm finding it increasingly hard to find bargains there. They've become awfully popular. (To some extent they may well be lowering prices on lesser coins through sheer volume! I wonder where they get all their stock...) My best bargain from yesteryear's Savoca helped me win a very tough match in the Imperator tournament last year, and the coin now belongs to @TIF. I did pick up a couple coins in the auction today. First, the 3 Graces for 34 euros (a pretty good deal IMO, though probably smoothed): And a not-so-cheap (46 euro) A-Pi denarius which I wanted partly because it fills an early reign slot, but mostly for what appears to be pretty luscious toning:
Nice bargains, @Ancient Aussie. I didn't have the time to go through Savoca's massive catalogue of offerings this weekend, but I've picked up a few interesting coins in their past "Blue" auctions. I guess it's not surprising that one of my pickups is the same type as @TIF's. Another one I really like is this anepigraphic reverse Hadrian denarius. HADRIAN Rare. AR Denarius. 3.12g, 18.9mm. Rome mint, AD 134-138. RIC 294d; Sear 3551; BMCRE III p. 338, *. O: HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate head right. R: No legend, Hadrian standing right, wearing military garb, inverted spear in right hand, parazonium in left hand, left foot on crocodile (?). They also have pricier coins in their "Silver" auctions, which is where I picked up this Sep Sev provincial. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AE Tetrassarion. 10.86g, 28.3mm. PONTUS, Heracleopolis (as Sebastopolis), dated CY 208 (AD 205/6). Amandry & Remy 17b; Voegtli type 4o. O: AY KAI Λ CЄ-ΠTI [...], laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. R: CEBACTΟΠO H[PAKΛE]-O-ΠO, The Seventh Labour of Hercules : Hercules wrestling the Cretan Bull, in field, ЄT HC (date).
