My first overseas order

i've always been reluctant to order from "across the pond" for fear of never seeing the coins ordered. but everytime i window shop on Vcoins i see a lot of coins i like cant order because they are from "over there". so i decided to give it a try and ordered 2 cheaper coins from a dealer in spain. well i must say i was impressed and surprised. i placed the order on march 25 and the coins were in my mail today. i was mildly shocked as i was not expecting the package for at least a few weeks. i will definitely be shopping at this dealer in the future.
these coins were chosen for a few reasons, price being number 1 in case i never received them i wouldn't lose much, an emperor and empress i dont have, i dont believe i have this denomination, they are Æ As, (can someone tell me exactly what Æ As is?)
i like the galley reverse, and the empress profile, i assume these are kinda low quality coins, but i like em, and the experimental order from overseas was a success..
Hadrian AE As. HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate head right / COS III, galley
with rowers and pilot right, SC below. Rome mint, struck AD 124-128. RIC II 673 (27mm, 9.91 g.)


Crispina Æ As. CRISPINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right / HILARTAS S-C,
Hilaritas standing left, holding long palm and cornucopiae. RIC III 678 (24mm, 11.88 gm) 3mm thick. River patina.

 

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It means the coin is bronze. Here is a page that explains the terms you might see-

http://numismatics.org/seminar/termsmethods/#vocab

 

My one and only overseas experience was also a good one. I ordered 4 coins from some one in Czechoslovakia. They were here in 2 weeks and I was impressed with both the quality and the price.
I haven't ordered from him since because it seems that right after my order came in he doubled his starting and buy it now prices on all of his best coins.
Shipping was only $3.00 flat.

 

Victor Clark gave a great link. I stole it for my "Coin Tools" folder.

 

That must have been more than 25 years ago as czechoslovakia ceased to exist in 1993

 

I order coins from Europe all the time, such as from England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. I have never had a problem. Believe it or not, the biggest delays come when ordering coins from Canada.

One of these days -- when I hit the lotto -- I'm going to buy an aureus and describe it with a tied A V like this: "Roman Ꜹ aureus," just like I use a tied A E for bronzes: "Roman provincial Æ 17 mm."

 

"(can someone tell me exactly what Æ As is?)"

The bronze (AE) "As" was the basic unit of the Roman monetary system. Other denominations were based on their relationship to the As. During the Roman Republic, a denarius originally equalled 10 Asses though in later years of the Republic it was reassessed at 16 asses. The Imperial AE dupondius equalled 2 asses. The Imperial AE sestertius equalled 4 asses.

 

Not that this is wrong but I would not actually suggest a connection to the periodic table, as that does not work with other metals. For some reason, some coin dealers and collectors, especially ancients folks, use ...

* AV for gold
* AR for silver (not Ag)
* AE for copper/bronze (derived from aes)

Christian

 

I have made over 300 deals with overseas Auction houses/ all were 100 percent positive. some even send coins ahead of payment. Grading in most cases is very conservative, coins always look better in hand then site photo.

A European coin that is described as mint state/ stempelglanz/ FDC is always as good or better then a TPG MS-GEM 5/5 5/5.
John

 

Perhaps 80-90% of my coins are sourced from European auctions. I have had no serious issues. Any problems I had were when I ordered from the USA.

 

I couldn't find the envelope so I wrote Czechoslovakia. It's somewhere in that neighborhood.

What does pprp stand for?

Perpetually Purposely Rectifying People ? lol

 

That is always such a treat, when you get that surprise. I just got a AV Quarter Dukat 1761/ Waldeck from Kunker in mail. The coin was MUCH nicer then their auction photos

 

Marti Classical Numismatics

 

I've bought several coins from Marti Classical Numismatics. Some of my MA Legionary denarii in fact.

 

Be aware the numismatists use the term "bronze" differently than metallurgists. As a metal, bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Modern bronze often has about 12% tin. In spite of the word "bronze" used to describe some ancient coins, ancient coins rarely have much tin. (Tin is close to white and the surface-silvering seen on third-century Roman coins was thought and said to be tin by 18th century numismatists until it was tested and found to actually be silver. Also, tin is found in Britain so British numismatists expected it in coins.) Most studies of alloys study gold or silver coins, not AE. Cope found reduced AE folles of Constantine had 3-6% tin and each coin had as much or more lead than it did tin. Most coins that are not intended to be silver or gold are apparently intended to be either copper or "orichalcum", a golden-yellow alloy of copper and zinc which metallurgists would call brass (and was worth more than copper in the ratio of about 8 to 5). We can call them both "AE" and not have to know what alloy it is.

It can be very difficult to tell the alloy of a 2000-year-old coin, especially if it is patinated, so by convention we can use "AE" for those indeterminate alloys that have very little silver or gold. The adjective "bronze" is (mis)used, but not because of modern science, rather because of tradition.