High eye appeal, low grade

High eye appeal, low grade: I am slowly realizing that this description fits many of the coins I like the best. Long ago I chose the path of building a collection of F-VF coins that were not the finest in terms of technical grade but coins I found interesting for some reason. Now I am starting to realize I am something of a condition snob after all. I still do not care about wear but I do prefer coins I find pretty. This is what we call 'eye appeal'. Coins with eye appeal can be worn or not but need to have something that grabs the eye and makes us feel happy for the experience. Of course this assumes we have the ability to overlook faults and concentrate on the glass half full rather than the glass half empty. The three coins here followed me home from the show yesterday. Each is faulty - all of my coins are faulty. Each has something that grabbed my eye and blinded me to their faults. As it happened, each of these coins sold for the exact same price. Opinions will differ as to which was the better 'buy'. In fact, today, I regret buying one of them and one looks better to me than it did at the show. I could have bought a single coin with fewer faults for the total cost of the three but that is not how I work and the show did not have a nicer version of any of these three types.

First is a coin I find to have high eye appeal despite its considerable detail reducing wear. It is an AE23 of Caligula from Caesaraugusta, Spain, with a two ox plowing scene reverse. Despite the wear the legends are clear and the significant details are boldly outlined. The stle is not great but normal for the Spanish mint that produced it. This is the coin I liked better when I got it home than I did at the show. Those of you who are allergic to wear would prefer one with a different set of footnotes.


Second is a coin I liked at the show and continue to like despite all of its faults. Its eye appeal is mostly due to the exceptionally fine die work. I can not help thinking that the die cutter here was tasked with producing a special presentation as for New Year's distribution but regularly spent most of his time cutting dies for aurei. I like the high relief portrait style. The surfaces have many scrapes and nicks but the most bothersome faults are caused by double-striking at the top of the reverse. Asses from the middle period of Septimius' reign (here 201 AD) are not common. This one has special interest with the double figures of Roma seated and Septimius standing, sacrificing over an altar. The reverse legend RESTITVTOR VRBIS suffers particularly from the double-strike.

Of course, those who prefer silver can get the design on two separate denarii.


Last of the three new coins is a type recently discussed on Coin Talk. I guess peer pressure could be blamed for my buying the coin but, at the show, I was attracted to the bold reverse. At home the obverse scratches were a lot more distracting. The portrait is not as harsh as some for Nerva and his is a case where uglier is better. Worse, the coin is common and probably easily upgradeable (for an additional price, of course). It is my third choice of the three.

I see my call for pile-on posts from the Pescennius coin failed to attract much traffic so here I'll ask posts of recent purchases but not just identified with a bunch of cut and paste catalog numbers and Wikipedia data. Instead tell us what it was about the coin that made it something you needed to add to your collection. Is it a long term purchase or something you hope to turn over for a quick profit? Did anyone influence your decision or was it entirely your idea? Sometimes it is easier to say what appeals to us than to explain why.

 

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Some nice coins Doug, I almost bought a Caligula just like that many years ago but @lordmarcovan bought it. Needless to say, I was glad he ended up with it. The poor coin got a very bad case of bronze disease in a short period of time.

I'd say my least favorite is the Bronze Severus, I would worry it was tooled or something & would just gloss right over it if it was for sale at a show near me. I'm sure it was a bit expensive too.

A more recent purchase is this George IV Farthing. I still collect modern British coinage but admit I don't focus on the copper coins of them. But another collector posted one in the world forum & was attracted to the reverse, mainly for the Lion, even though it can be easily missed.

It's a common coin/date & not worth much, but it's the classic case of someone posting their new purchases and I see it and want one myself.

Posting on cointalk can be very expensive.

 

i think those are fine coins Doug...

 

Let's evaluate this coin on a point-by-point basis:

- Obverse and reverse centering is nearly perfect.
- Legends are fully readable and the lettering is well-rendered.
- Obverse portrait is clearly recognizable as Caligula, and (here I disagree with Doug) the style is quite good, well above average for these mints -- especially the facial features.
- Reverse scene is interesting and not just another god-holding-some-sort-of-ceremonial-item type.
- High spots of devices are worn but also possibly the flan wasn't thick enough and the strike was a bit flat, meaning that circulation wear isn't really too bad. I'd hesitate to use the word "fault" to describe its wear.
- Color is attractive and fields aren't smoothed, adding to the subjective/emotional appeal of the coin -- it's easy to imagine it was actually used in commerce.

Really, how many coins do you find that rate so highly on the above criteria? I can imagine a young child in ancient times holding onto this coin in much the same way as a kid in the 1950s might have held onto a worn 50-cent piece.

A very appealing coin!

 

I find myself in the same category of collecting as you, @dougsmit. Though my coins are much lower grade than yours. I picked this one up at a local coin show in November of last year for $15.
I loved the design, color, and the fact that I could still make out the legends. Even though it is quite worn/dirty, I think it is wonderful. It certainly is one of the favorites in my collection.


Hadrian
Æ Brass As
Struck 125-128 AD
Obverse: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
Reverse: COS III S C, lyre

 

Nice coins Doug, I think my favorite is the Caligula- I have always had a soft spot for the Roman Provincial Spain style. Here's a Khusro II drachm I recently purchased from Frank Robinson:


Two features attracted me to this coin: 1. The high-quality portrait of Khusro II, in the "skinny face" type (less common than the "wide face" portrait") with no areas of strike weakness like you often see on Sasanian coins, and 2. it is from Herat, a mint that I did not have (and which seems to be scarcer).

 

Beautiful coin @Parthicus ! I have 2 drachms and I find myself eyeing them quite often on vcoins. They are very interesting to me and have great designs!

 

Here is an example where imho the eye appeal is high yet the coin is very worn. Julius Caesar denarius.

 

I think the portrait really pops on that one. Great example!

 

Doug, that Septimius bronze is very interesting. It looks medallic. The obverse legend appears to have been engraved with great care in terms of spacing and consistency of letter size, and the portrait is of fine style and high relief. The dotted border is well executed and the flan sufficiently large to host the entire design. What is the denomination? It looks medallic.

 

Those are marvelous coins, @dougsmit ! I'm with you; I'd say the majority of my collection is in the F-VF range, but appealing to me for one reason or another. Here are some recent purchases I found appealing for one reason or another:

Severus Alexander and Julia Maesa pentassarion from Marcianopolis with Hygeia on the reverse. This was offered at a recent Frank Robinson auction and I liked the dual portrait, the retrograde E on the reverse, and the fact that the coin was well-centered with virtually complete legends and smoothly patinated. Hygeia's snake is particularly plump and animated; it takes little imagination to see it slithering:



This similarly-themed provincial of Severus Alexander has a smooth, dark olive patina and is a bit off-center and with weakly struck legends, particularly on the reverse. Asklepios, though, is rendered in amazingly fine artistic style:



This sestertius of Philip II isn't CNG Triton material, but it's lovely but circulated:



The same can be said about this as of Nerva from Frank Robinson's most recent sale. It's very high relief and its surfaces aren't as rough as this photo makes them seem:




Another dual-portrait Severan pentassarion from Marcianopolis, but I found the reverse design quite interesting, with Apollo about to slay Python. It has seen considerable circulation and its patina is multi-colored, a calico of red-brown and green but I think it's pretty. The portraits are expressive, too.



This Julia Domna provincial is worn and rather weakly struck, obscuring details and preventing it from appearing in the next Nomos sale. But I really like the reverse design of Dionysus and his panther. I like a smooth, glossy patina, too, which makes this one a winner.



Lastly, I bought this one because I like the Artemis on the reverse; she looks cute in her thigh-length chlamys and boots. The fact it's quite scarce is icing on the cake. It has a beautiful, dark glossy patina that simply doesn't photograph well.



Everything else I have bought recently was purchased not because of eye-appeal, but because it was either very scarce and I couldn't let the opportunity pass or filled a hole in one or other of my "specialty" collections.

 

Your coin looks like it was unearthed after centuries in the ground, and began circulating again. That’s the only way I can think of for your coin to look like that.

 

@dougsmit, an interesting thread! My collection is almost all from the "glass half full" category. Being interested in the stories of the people and the times, the wear or strike flaws are sometimes the features that draw me to a coin. Of your coins above I am not sure "low grade" applies to any by my standards, the bronze of Severus is the one I would choose of the three for the high relief portrait alone.

Here are two coins to illustrate my take on "eye appeal". First a Trajan denarius that "followed me home" with high relief portrait and the nice details on the wings of victory.

Trajan, 98-117 AD, AR Denarius
Struck circa 107 AD
Obv: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder
Rev: COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, Victory standing facing, head left, holding wreath in right hand and palm left hand
Ref: RSC 74, RCV 3129
Note: Dacia was annexed as a roman province after the defeat and death of King Decebalus

Second, an Augustus denarius chosen for it's obverse youthful portrait of Augustus at least 60 years old and an off-center strike that still shows nicely the two ill fated grandsons and adopted sons of Augustus, Gaius & Lucius, with a flan of nice silver and good surface.

Augustus 27 BC-14 AD, AR Denarius
Mint: Lugdunum (Lyon) 2 BC-4 AD
Obv: CAESAR AVGVSTVS - DIVI F PATER PATRIAE, laureate head right
Rev: AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, each togate and standing facing, resting hand on shield, spear behind each shield, Simpulum on left facing right and lituus on right facing left in upper field
Ref: RCV 1578
Note: In 17BC Augustus adopted the two infant boys of his daughter Iulia and Agrippa, and thereby acquired his first legal heirs. Lucius died in 2 AD in Massalia, Gaul. Gaius died not long after in a Lycian town in 4 AD from wounds received in Armenia.

 

Absolutely beautiful Trajan @Sula86! I am a sucker for anything "Victory" but your coin is overall amazing. I love that portrait of Trajan.

 

It is an as. I believe it was made with extra care as something to be used in a formal donative possibly involving the emperor himself. Asses were not a lot of money then but I suspect the special occasion ones were more like modern Maundy coins than just small change. Certainly some mint workers were more skilled than others. That is why I said I suspect the team who made this might have been taking a break from gold. Such things will not be proved but the idea adds enjoyment to the coin.

 

I agree. It could have been selectively cleaned but it lacks the scratches I would expect from that. It could have served as a pocket piece but those are usually larger coins. I once was shown a tetradrachm of Uranius Antoninus a dealer was carrying around in his pocket with assorted pocket change. He was attempting to produce a more natural looking surface. This was in the day when I was not alone preferring a good smooth fine to a rough EF.