Post your favorite ancient "problem coin"

Coming from US coin collecting, I know the standard for what constitutes a 'problem coin' is vastly different for ancients. In US coins any coin that's been cleaned, has a rim ding, tooled surfaces, whizzed, excessively dipped, scratched or any one of several other imperfections will automatically assign that coin to the junk bin.

I think for ancients, and rightfully so, the standard is different. Many ancient coins have spent centuries underground, exposed to the elements, have centuries of wear etc. The standards for grading ancients take that into account.

However, there are a few flaws such as bronze disease, excessive wear, porous surfaces that are viewed by many as detractors from the appeal of an ancient coin. These flaws are generally considered to negatively impact the overall eye appeal and value of the coin.

And yet, one of the beauties of the ancient hobby is that the enthusiast can claim that some of these flaws add beauty or aesthetic appeal to the coin. I have one such coin in my collection, the surfaces on this coin appear to be rotting away in places, yet I love the coin and think the flaws actually add some character. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Do any of you ancient collectors out there have coins that fit that category? I do.

Here's mine. Post your favorite ancient problem coins!

Agrippa; 37-41 AD
Struck under Caligula
AE As; 30mm/11.2g, Rome mint
OBV: M AGRIPPA L F COS III, Head L wearing rostral crown
REV: Neptune Standing L holding small dolphin and trident; SC in fields
(RIC I 58, Cohen 3)

 

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I'm fairly new to ancients, so I can't really say I have a real problem coin yet, though I'm sure I will in due time. This is probably the closest to a problem coin I have. It was so heavily toned to the point of being so dark you could barely see the details, so I lightly juiced it to keep it toned yet lighten it up enough that one can easily make out the details. I know I'm probably going to get some hate for that.

At least I made sure it didn't end up like a shinny new quarter.

 

All 'ancient collectors' have a few 'problem' coins---some simply an accepted consequence of being thousands of years old and others that are just something less than the fully struck and fully lettered examples we all crave.

One of my very first, decades ago, is an AS of Caligula and it now makes me wonder what I was looking at when I purchased it (read that to mean it wasn't inexpensive) LOL

 

These two sestertii have both been victimized by bronze disease and are now stable for a couple decades but scars never heal. They were treated before they came to me. The Caracalla is a rare coin and the Titus has a nice obverse for the grade. On my website's grading pages, I used it as the model for 'well centered'. Both are welcome in my collection but both would be so much better 'if only'...

 

Need I say more?

L CALPURNIUS PISO CAESONINUS & Q SERVILIUS CAEPIO ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS CALPURNIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Head of Saturn facing right, harpa and legend PISO behind, CAEPIO and symbol below, Q below chin
REVERSE: AD FRV EMV EX SC, the two quaestors seated left between 2 grain ears
Struck at Rome 100 BC
3.6g, 20mm
Crawford 330/1a; Syd 6031

 

Been letting your attack dog handle your coin collection?

 

Bit over cleaned, lots of black crust that doesnt wanna go anywhere, reverse die clash that isnt pleasing to the eye and makes the reverse look worse then it could be.



Some horn silver, bankers mark.

 

I assume that if I get really into ancients almost all of mine will be problem coins

Here's a cull a dealer gave me last weekend at a show, LRB of an emperor carrying a captive,

 

Mr Bannon....or can I call you Race?

I don't have a problem coin, but I am gonna gush for a moment because I am star struck.

I just want to say I watched you, Dr. Benton, Johnny, Hadji and Bandit every Saturday morning. I never knew you were a coin collector. This is such a big moment for me. I feel dizzy. Gosh, I probably sound like an idiot right now..............sorry....like I said, start struck

IMHO your best work was done in the later episodes. Some real compelling cartooning.

I'm sorry. I'll stop now. You're probably sick of this kind of attention. I'm probably embarrassing you.

btw Welcome to ancients...I will leave you alone now.

 

You'll really like this then...

 

I'm not sure if this one has a planchet flaw, test cut or plain old damage but it definitely doesn't have a complete caduceus.

 

This is my favorite problem coin, with the problem being that I don't own it!

 

Thats all of us!

 

This one of those you bite to make sure it's real. I just bit too hard I guess. I need to take a new image. That one is terrible!

 

I'm not to the point with my collection where I can obtain duplicates - there are just too many types I don't have. So, this is my one example of a Titus as Caesar Neptune from Antioch. Ex. Harry Sneh if that helps!


Titus as Caesar
AR Denarius
Antioch Mint, 72-73 AD
RIC V1561 (C), BMC V516, RSC 122, RPC 1933 ( 14 spec.)
Obv: T CAES IMP VESP PON TR POT; Bust of Titus, laureate, draped, bearded, r.
Rev: NEP RED; Neptune stg. l., foot on globe, with acrostolium and sceptre

 

And with it being in the Boston MFA now, you won't be able to unfortunately The 190K CHF price in 2002 for it makes me wish I were collecting then (the CHF was lower as well). I don't need a time machine to go all the way back to antiquity: the early 2000s would be just fine!

The banker's mark on mine is minimally distracting in my opinion. The greater "problem" is the obverse centering, but I was happy to sacrifice a bit of centering (which doesn't lose any detail) in favor of a very solidly centered reverse and fine style.

As is often the case with ancients, one must pick and choose between what problem is acceptable. Whereas with US coins, a "details" holder means negligible value and bashing because CAC didn't fawn over it, ancients are often still quite pricey even when imperfect (with my denarius being a good case-in-point):

 

Well, I must admit............that was time travelling at it's best. I saw some things that became archetypal images for me later in life. I didn't realize they originated from this show. It was like falling into the rabbit hole.

 

wow, those are some nice problem coins.... heres my 2..

 

I have a double struck coin that was so unusual that the dealer missed the attribution. It is a Cr 344/4 (L.TITURI.L.F/SABINVS) and not a Cr 348/5 (L.RVBRI.DOSEN). I like the coin because it took a bit of research.

 

i was really into johnny quest when i was a kid!

as AJ points out, i think almost every coin is a problem coin...even if it's some of our dream coins. they almost all have some flaw don't they? i suppose it's a matter of if those flaws are large enough that we consider them a "problem" or not.

this is one of my nicest coins (by the metric of money spent), but is has some porosity, and the reverse is off center a tad. some folks would turn their nose up at it.






this one has less problems, but not worth paying 4 times as much to me.

http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=530372