Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;IdesOfMarch01, post: 2563854, member: 39084&quot;]Despite my recent setback (the Hadrian <i>Hispania</i> aureus that was a forgery), I continue to pursue Hadrian’s travel series coins.&nbsp; The recent Gorny and Mosch auction presented with an opportunity to acquire a bronze from this series:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]553120[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>HADRIAN 117 - 138 A.D.</p><p>AE Sestertius (25.59 g.)&nbsp; Rome ca. 134 - 138 A.D.&nbsp; RIC 840</p><p>HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P Laureate head of Hadrian right.&nbsp; Rev. Africa, draped, wearing elephant-skin headdress, reclining left, right hand holding scorpion, cornucopia behind</p><p><br /></p><p>My recently shown Hadrian aureus is also an Africa issue, with the lion reverse.</p><p><br /></p><p>I recently saw this ancient bust of Hadrian in the Vatican&#039;s collection and am struck by how similar the likenesses on his coins resemble this bust:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]553121[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>While I strongly try to avoid discussing explicit price information in my threads, there is a story behind this coin for which it’s worthwhile to make an exception. </p><p><br /></p><p>This coin was previously listed in another German auction, with a starting bid of 15,000€.&nbsp; Not surprisingly, it went unsold at this starting price.&nbsp; Following the auction, I asked my dealer to get in touch with the auction house to see if the consignor would consider selling it privately.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was willing to offer as much as 10,000€, to which the consignor agreed, but the auction house insisted on adding its 18% buyer’s fee to this amount, and of course I would also be paying my dealer his commission.&nbsp; Making things even more difficult, the auction house required payment in advance, before sending the coin, despite my dealer’s international reputation from 40 years in the ancient coin business.&nbsp; There wasn’t even an explicit return guarantee in case the coin proved to be unsatisfactory.&nbsp; So we ended up not coming to an agreement on the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>To my advantage, the coin was reoffered via Gorny &amp; Mosch, and I ended up winning it with the opening bid of 8,000€ (possibly still overpaying, but better than 10,000€!).&nbsp; Plus, my dealer had an opportunity to examine it in hand prior to the auction, alleviating any concerns about its condition.</p><p><br /></p><p>Pile on with any recent Hadrians, or especially with any travel-series Hadrians!</p><p><br /></p><p>Postscript: There were two other Hadrian travel sestertii in this auction as well, but upon examination my dealer noted “The two other pieces were heavily smoothed and painted with some of the details added with plastic or epoxy.”&nbsp; Details added?&nbsp; Epoxy?&nbsp; Yikes!&nbsp; This is unnerving, because the catalog pictures did not reveal this, nor did the description, and only in-hand examination revealed that these coins were uncollectible.&nbsp; But fortunately for collectors and the industry as a whole, those two coins went unsold.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in