So here was my other surprise from the auction today. Let's see how many people can read my mind, (I am pretty transparent). Which coin did I care about in this group, i.e. what coin made me buy this group lot of anonymous bronzes? Here is a hint, I already own this complete series. Edit: Or, another way to say it, which of these coins would YOU be interested in the most?
I honestly don't know what your esoteric pursuits are when it comes to Byzantines, but I would have been very happy with the coin at the top, on condition alone. Nice haul!
I'd guess the monkey on the front of the pile or the coin at the top that's half hidden. Both look in very nice condition for ancients.
Ummm, isn't that monkey-coin, Christ? ... I think that the coin on the bottom-right looks like it's from the 70's (Peace, Love, etc) ... it's my favourite
I will wait until a few others might wish to chime in, but I will say there is one in there in pretty exceptional condition for the issue, but its not the top one, (that one is kind of nice, I won't toss it in the trash).
OK I was wrong , time for a different tact , the one behind it that kind of looks like a Spanish cob . BTW what are they made of ?
I would say the upper right one. I don't know these very well but it looks like a Class C follis like the bottom right but it has tiny lettering which seems unusual to me and in a brief search I didn't see ones like it. Admittedly, I didn't search too hard.
Here is an article on these at NumisWiki: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=anonymous follis The coin I wanted out of this group for an upgrade was the Class F on the left side, (upside down). If you search for these, you will find almost all are overstruck or in horrible shape. Of all of the anonymous classes, (except L, M, N which are to this day debated), F, H, and J are the hardest to find. Of these, I have found F to be the toughest to find a clean, non-overstruck copy in decent shape. I was lucky years ago I got nice H and J's, but my two examples of Class F are actually worst than the coin on Numiswiki. As a quick background to these, Anonymous follis were called that since they never named the emperor. The ruler ascended the throne, and picked his favorite depiction of Christ from a famous church. So, all of these depictions are famous scenes of Christ from churches around the empire, most of which has since been lost. Because of that, this series has also been studied by art scholars trying to learn what certain pieces of artwork looked like. Like numiswiki says, they were the predominant currency of everyday transactions for a couple of centuries, (think modern day quarters), so circulated extensively. As such, high grade examples showing details of Christ's face are pretty scarce. You can buy these for $20-30 in F condition many times, but coins like the one on top here you cannot find for that price. If that coin were a tad better, (little fuller on the face and edges of the coin), and that coin is a $300 plus coin. So, like I said, I won't toss it out, but the real reason I wanted the lot was for the very nice, (for the type), class F. Unfortunately, due to our neo-communistic leaders in MN these have to ship to my sister, so it will be a while before I get to see them. I do promise to take pics of them when I do get my hands on them though.
I admire your expertise in these coins, Chris, and I'm looking forward to your pics. And I'm sorry about the coin purchasing situation in MN. If that ever happens in PA, I'm going to show up on Steve's doorstep and live on his couch.
Ummm JA => if you mean "my" house, then you'd better be prepared to fight Buster and Larry for couch-dibbs!!
