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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3541787, member: 75937&quot;]One thing I have noticed over the past 12 years or so is that the prices of Roman provincials have gone through the roof. They used to be the ugly stepsister of the ancient coin collecting hobby and were largely ignored by condition cranks and those put off by their (often) naive artwork. Not anymore. At the mid-level European auction houses, such as Naumann, Auctiones GmbH, Leu, and such, they bring strong competition, with hammer prices bringing triple what they would have ten years ago.</p><p><br /></p><p>For F-VF Roman imperial silver, I haven&#039;t seen prices change much, actually, with many common denarii from the Flavian - Severan period going for $60-100 in VF. Similarly, debased antoniniani from the mid-third-century often go for even lower than this. You could amass a rather extensive Philip, Decius, Gallus or Volusian collection for less than $60 a coin and be proud of any of them.</p><p><br /></p><p>The supply of high-grade LRB bronze material remains high and there has been an influx of previously &quot;scarce&quot; coins (Vetranio, for example) and some coins have come down in price while others seem to be keeping level with inflation. If you bought Constantinian-era coins in the 1990s and want to sell today, you&#039;ll be disappointed.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Gallic and British usurpers still have strong interest from specialist collectors, but the hammer prices of common Postumous, Tetricus I &amp; II, and Victorinus coins aren&#039;t shocking and most can be had for less than $75, mostly because they aren&#039;t &quot;slab material.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman middle bronzes, particularly of the Flavian - Antonine period, are very stagnant and in low demand, particularly if the coins have circulation wear, rough surfaces, are off-center, or weakly struck in spots. Antonine sestertii circulated for decades and are rare in high grades -- these bring astonishingly high prices at auction and F-VF examples bring astonishing low prices. This has led to an unfortunate epidemic of tooling, smoothing and repatination, even of common varieties.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s my take on the Roman coin market.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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