pprp's top 5 for 2020

This year has been different in many aspects; numismatically it was not good for me. I unfortunately could not win my major targets due to the increased competition in auctions. This led me to reconsider the overall idea of coin collecting and I have significantly slowed down purchasing in the second half of the year with a goal to totally pause until the competition is gone.

I hope you will enjoy my top 5 below (in no particular order).

I wish 2021 is better for everybody!

1. CALABRIA, Tarentum. 334-302 BC. AR Nomos (19.5mm, 7.94 g). Warrior, holding shield and two spears, preparing to cast a third, on horseback right; ΣΑ below / Phalanthos, holding dolphin and distaff, riding dolphin left; ΦI to left, waves below, ivy-leaf in exergue. Vlasto 588 variation.

ex- Baron Friedrich von Schennis collection (J. Hirsch XXXIII, 17.11.1913), lot 61.




2. LUCANIA, Herakleia. 430-400 BC. AR Stater (7.56 g, 1h). Helmeted head of Athena right; Scylla on helmet / Herakles strangling lion; to left, bow and club. Eunice Work, The earlier staters of Heraclea Lucaniae, number 25.5 (this coin); SNG Lockett 344 (this coin).




3. AKARNANIA, Palairos. 330-280 BC. AR Drachm (1.59 g). Reduced standard. Pegasos flying right; trident below / Head of female left; civic monogram behind neck. SNG Lockett 2314 (this coin); BCD Akarnania 420; HGC 4, 900.




4. ISLANDS off ATTICA, Aegina. 480-457 BC. AR Stater (12.25 g). Sea turtle, head in profile, with ‘T-back’ design on shell / Large square incuse with skew pattern. J. Ward, Greek coins and their parent cities, 1902, plate XII, no 512 (this coin).




5. ELIS, Olympia. 91st Olympiad. 416 BC. AR Stater (11.94 g). Hera mint. Head of Hera right, wearing ornamented stephanos inscribed H P A/ Flaming thunderbolt within wreath. Seltman, Temple Coins of Olympia 252 (dies EC/ηη/g this coin).

ex- Egger, 10-11 December 1906, lot 396.

 

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A stunning top 5 with impressive provenances.

 

Noone would need a top 10 with such a top 5 to be happy with

Q

 

Lovely acquisitions for your collection, @pprp!

 

Those are some nice pieces with great provenance! competition was stiff this year with prices skyrocketing. I hope prices relax at least some in 2021 or soon thereafter. I hope next year you have more success!

 

Lovely group!......Wonderful movement on the Lucania reverse! Congrats 'FIVE' super coins!

 

Very nice group, I think #2 is my favorite.

 

All beautiful. I think my favorite is also no. 2.

 

All great, @pprp

 

Nice coins! Coin #2 is my favorite as well.

 

Your introductory paragraph sounds more pessimistic than the coins you managed to acquire: I think you added some great pieces! The Hera Elis is my favorite - the Seltman plate and earlier pedigree adds a lot and the coin itself is superb.

 

I agree with @AncientJoe. Some very nice coins. Any of "turtle" coins, especially with pedigree, are great.

 

Thanks for the appreciation. I can provide a long list of coins for which I was the underbidder. But especially after underbidding for the one below, I gave up. I can't compete with them. If anyone wonders why the price went that high, it's the Pozzi specimen. My dear friends at CNG (@Ardatirion) missed it. The competitor didn't.

 

My favorite is the turtle #4. I do not have the book you quoted but I do have the 1973 hardback sale catalog when the Ward collection was sold by Sotheby. Your coin was lot 423 and brought 2800 Swiss francs (cheapest of his five turtles).

In addition to what you quoted the listing described the coin as having two dots added at shoulder and 'Holloway (2) Group 18. p. 251; cf. Milbankpl.1. 14; Boston Museum IIII)

Lot 422 was a really nice earlier turtle that brought 18000 Swiss francs. I was given that catalog over 30 years ago by a friend who attended the sale and penned in prices and a few notes here and there. My catalog is listed as 'Part II'. I do not have other parts. Many of my better catalogs were gifts from 'old guys' (aka my age now) who were cleaning out their holdings. Then, as now, the postage to send a ton of catalogs for sale made giving them to a young person appealing. I wish I knew what I will do with them. I'm sure Ward would sell but what about the boxes of lesser books?

 

Your mistake was not so much bidding too low as bidding too late. The Pozzi sale only realized 33 francs for lot 1577. My Pozzi catalog is the 1966 reprint which reproduced the prices in the back. That was some collection! Does a return of $2750 on an investment of 33 francs one hundred years before seem like a good deal? Someone here can do the math.

My Pozzi has the bookplate of Dabney Shelton Mabry. It attracted my attention by the inscription "Reading Rots the Mind". Does anyone know him?

 

You still managed to obtain some beautifull coins. I would say you had a fantastic year! However, I agree with your sentiment on the current trend in prices for choice material.John

 

Thanks for your reply. I also have the catalog somewhere sealed as it smells of moisture. The hammer price is a great counter example for people "investing" in ancient coins. The prices of coins are severely inflated in such auctions in the 70s. With 2800 swiss francs in 1973 you could buy 850 g of gold which is something like 45.000$ today. I merely paid 1600$ all in for the coin...

And to reply to @Bing , the provenance was a lucky find. I got another coin from the Ward collection this year which I did not include in my top five since it irritates me to remember the traumatic bidding.

Lot 344 from the same sotheby's auction...

 

I wish I had a time machine

 

I think you won some fantastic pieces here, really beautiful coins, now I am curious to what you lost out on.
I agree with your statement due to increased competition, we saw some records made this year.

 

Stunning prices. Congrats for all your great Five.