When you visit Lech Stepniewski's site Not in RIC, you immediately become aware that there are a lot of things that slipped past Bruun and the others who edited volume VII, or were only unearthed after the volume went to press (eg. Bulkan explosion of the '90s). The fact is that for unrecorded material no one really knows how rare each might be. Playing the odds we might say that none of that material is "common" or we would run into it in the marketplace. Then again, who would notice? Informed specialists might be as rare as the material itself. All of which leads to the question, how do you determine what to pay for such things when you encounter them? For example: Here is a mint mark from a common "PROVIDENTIA campgate' of Constantius II from Siscia. Coins of this type are noted in RIC as having been produced in either of two officinae: delta and epsilon. What have we here? Is that initial letter a delta? Why or why not? Let me press on that; if the normal coin is priced at 40 dollars/euros/whatever, is this one worth a premium on that - say maybe up to 70 dollars/euros/ whatever? How much is too much for something unlisted? Normally I do not get my knickers in a twist over unlisted officinae, but there are sometimes good reasons for exceptions. Siscia was pretty intentional and consistent about assigning production in the name of certain rulers to specific officinae. In 328-9 when this was current officina delta mainly was for Constantius, while epsilon was for his brother Constantine Junior. Dad got A, B, and gamma, but NOT the other two. There was some slippage between the two sons, but not into the officinae for their father. However, by the next year with the intro of the GLORIA EXERCITVS type, all three of these rulers were fair game for A, Delta, and Epsilon. But for the campgates this item is not known to RIC nor on the Not in RIC site. So, was this a transitional piece? Does that do anything to the price tag? You tell me, Please! 40, 60, 80? Something in between? More? Less? How much should I pay? (the seller is asking about $80)
To me and most other collectors is probably not worth the premium because we don't collect by officina, so only you can really answer that. I would say don't go too crazy unless it is something you absolutely must have and can't get somewhere else.
I don't collect ancients this way...but I do with my tokens. For an unlisted variety I would pay a slight premium but there are lots of variables to consider...thats not very helpful but I wouldn't pay double for a slight, unlisted variety of a common coin.
I try never to pay more than a $20 premium over spot on gold coins if that helps. That said, my strategy doesn't always work. It really depends how bad you want something.
This is one big point. In my specialty, I have few coins that were unknown for a while, then one other for a while, then two, then three.....sooner or later we catch the people who care. I tend not to pay extra but I do sometimes buy a coin for a fair price that I might not have bought at all if it were the 'regular' one. I guess that means I paid 100% of the fair price and zero extra. If the coin is something that really, really fits your collection and you realize that you are paying too much but don't care, buy it. After you buy it, the value drops to what other people think it is worth. In the case of coins I just had to have and intend to have them strip from my cold hands, I don't care. The rest I leave with the seller who wants them more than I do. Another matter: Don't buy a coin with value depending on whether you read one letter as an A or a D. Be sure. Sometimes you find that the 'font' used by that mint and the eyes of previous students make a lot of coins confusing and the rare reading was quoted from a coin that may or may not have been all that different. Buy 'one die' rarities when you feel the difference makes some difference at least to you.
My question: Do YOU collect this series by officiana variety? If not, then you are like 99.9% of ancient collectors, (who are unlike 99.9% of the general population already). It gets backs to Warren Esty's (@Valentinian ) excellent article on ancient coin rarity. You have to "get over" rarity in ancient coins. Collect what you like and enjoy. If, in your collecting area you "need" a certain variety then by all means pay a premium if you feel you "need" it, but never just go around paying "rarity premiums" just for the sake of it. If you do, you are going to end up with a bunch of overpriced ancients that almost no one else will be willing to pay a premium for the "rare variety". For late Romans, I am aware of Bruck's book on different varieties and like to pick up varieties of "wolf and twins" coins when I see them, but only at common prices. If I were a serious collector of them, I would have no issue paying up for the rare pieces, but would know full well when it came time to sell I would most likely take a bath. Maybe my only exception to this was a group lot of anepigraphic late roman bronzes I bought from G&M a couple of months ago. They were nice VF-XF pieces. I do not really collect them, but like them.
I almost agree but I have a lot more trouble getting over actual rarity as opposed to high demand popularity. I see three factors of note: 1. Rarity 2. Interest 3. High grade I tend to ignore coins that have one of these three, buy at a reasonable price coins with two and pay a premium for coins with all three. In each case I use my personal definition of all terms since, when it comes to my collection, I am the one who needs to be happy.
I think we agree Doug. Some coins, due to high interest, will always be pricey. I look at Cleo VII as an example. Sure, scarce coins. But if it were another leader prices would be 1/10th of what they are. Even for her, I only paid up for my examples of her because I was COLLECTING her. I did not do it because of the coin's scarcity, but because I "needed" it and had to pay up if I ever wanted it. Thankfully I did, since her coins go nothing but up it seems. But, I am betting you are only paying up for coins that fit in whatever you have defined as terms of your collection, not just because it is "rare", right?
I should reply to this, since I think it does have a bearing on my conundrum. I do indeed collect the campgates by officina and even beyond. I collect them by brick layer counts and all the "stray" marks that come along. Back in the nineties I was paying top dollar in bidding wars against other cranks like me who "just had to have it." The hook was set, but about a decade ago I stopped seeking out the lost when the other devotees started drifting away. Still, I have held on to everything I had bought up to then. Several hundred of them. Made some original finds, but published nothing. So along comes an item like this and a part of me says "Get it and tell the story," but another part of me says, "Cui bono?" If you want to tell the story, then paying top dollar makes some sense. But if I'm not going to tell the story, why pay top dollar for the coin after all?
I think you just answered your own question. No need to get us to justify the high premium if you yourself cannot justify it and feel like you have to turn to us to see if the purchase makes sense. Walk away. Tomorrow is another day and there will be other coins.
lrb...You should be writing something! Whenever you identify or discuss a topic you usually refer to the reference you are using to back up your suggestions...We all use references to attribute and discuss our certainty or disquiet of a coin, its history or a particular detail...As you know these references are written by cranks (highly focused collectors) like yourself who have the 'amazing ability' to focus on certain aspects of a series. This is so important for future collectors who frequently hit grey areas which can become increasingly frustrating due to lack of information..It just isn't there!....As to a premium...Pay what you think is ok..Its the knowledge thats important not the price....
