I recently obtained a mixed lot of 300 ancient coins at an average cost of $0.89 per coin. Advertised as Roman, that was mostly true except for about 3 non-Roman coins. Out of 300 coins: 55 were very low grade culls - absolutely no detail, metal slugs. 4 were melted together. 76 were low grade - just enough detail to say that "yes, this is a coin" 67 were medium grade - enough detail to see a bust and reverse motif, but not enough for a positive ID 13 were Byzantine, in mostly unidentifiable condition 80 were better grade - fully identifiable Out of the better grade coins, the following 20 emperors were represented (in alpha order) Antoninus Pius Arcadius Aurelian Caracalla Claudius II Gothicus Commodus Constans Constantine I Constantine II Constantine Commemorative Constantius II Constantius Gallus Elagabalus Gallienus Gordian III Honorius Julian Licinius I Licinius II Maximian Valens Valentinian I Non-Roman coins included: Seleucid Greek/Provincial Celtic (?) Out of those 20 emperors, there were 4 that I did not already have: Commodus, Honorius, Licinius II, Maximian Highlights were: Commodus Denarius, RIC 253 Elagabalus Varbanov 1426 Tiny Greek dichalkon Tiny Seleucid elephant Fake Licinius I Antoninus Pius Caracalla provincial issue of Nikopolis Gordian III Constans with goofy portrait Arcadius, front facing portrait. Too bad about the break.
Very nice, you will spend a lot of (fun) time fully identifying them all! What are you planning to do with the slugs?
@hotwheelsearl you have more patience than I do that's for sure. I tried this path once and picked up 40 coins for about $40. It was fun to clean them up a bit and try to identify, but in the end I'd rather take the same money and probably get 1 or 2 Fine coins with more detail. Who knows though, you may end up with something very hard to find in the end.
That’s a great acquisition, @hotwheelsearl ! Attributing those that you’re unsure of, is going to be a fun, educational, painful, but rewarding experience!
Deacon Ray, After spending some time with the hoard, do you think it was a good value ? These coins seem out of your realm of collecting...
You are right @Al Kowsky , not a good deal. At around $3.30 each for the 80 identified coins, not in very good condition. The seller came out on top here but, knowledge was gained through the identification process so not a complete loss. I am sure @hotwheelsearl wont be going down this road again in the near future. Thanks for posting your experience @hotwheelsearl, save your money for now or do as another suggested and buy a couple of nice examples.
I can generally resell the slugs for a minimal amount (there's a buyer for EVERYTHING) However, I failed to break even this time. The most expensive coins were probably the Elagabalus and the Commodus, at maybe $20 each. However, that still doesn't make up for the rest of the cost! Overall, a fun experience. Kept me busy for a few days at least
How did you know it was Elagabalus? And a few other pics seem impossible to identify b/c of lack of words, the Antonious Pius one. These kinds of transactions are usually better for the seller. However, once in a while you'll score. Some say never to clean, but I got a handful of uncleaned coins and there was a Alexander II (Syria) drachm that looked like just an encrusted bronze at first. I also was able to save some terrible looking Roman Imperials
I was able to identify the Elagabalus by combination of the portrait style (which could have easily been Alexander Severus or another boy emperor) with the serpent tripod reverse. Enough of the reverse legend existed for me to conclusively ID it as Markianopolis, and the rest of the details came together. For the Antoninus Pius, there's really only one option for that particular portrait, which is pretty distinctive for me. I was able to match the reverse conclusively to an example on Wildwinds, a Moushmov 5085. The Caracalla Nikopolis provincial was a real toughie, and I'm still not 100% on the identification as Varbanov 2980. I spend a couple hours scouring every possible option for a Nikopolis grape cluster reverse and the best match was a young Caracalla.
Thanks for responding. Good to know that I'm not the only one who spends a lot of time trying to identify a coin! It's fun to say the least, especially when you make some headway and know you'll get an answer soon.
Honestly, my eyes were starting to hurt after a while. Most of those coins were tiny AE4s, 17mm or less. It was pretty tough trying to tease out the tiny text. Also, my neck got pretty sore too. I had to draw this out over four or five sessions to preserve my health!
