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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Only a Poor Old Man, post: 7633799, member: 111037&quot;]A few weeks ago I bought a tetradrachm of Antiochos VIII Grypos (the hook-nosed). Decent coin, but in the back of my mind I thought it was one that could use an upgrade sometime down the line. As a matter of coincidence, a couple weeks ago in a major European auction you could find around a hundred tetradrachms of the same ruler and his estranged brother. I watched it out of curiosity expecting the high volume to create a fire sale and some of them to go for next to nothing. As expected, the poorer examples didn&#039;t hammer for much (but still did decent). But anything well-centred and with good detail fetched the kind of hammer price that has become the norm nowadays. I didn&#039;t bid, as I already had one. But while researching the various types I came across a slightly different one from mine, in the stock of a major European house. And it even came with a good provenance. I decided to go for it, and voila:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1313138[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Why did I buy it when I already had such a recent tetradrachm of Antiochos VIII? Well, for starters this one has a different reverse. In my first coin Zeus is standing holding a star in one hand and a sceptre on the other. Here he decided to take a rest and hold a little Nike instead that is in the middle of giving him a hair-piece. The main reason was the portrait though. Much better struck in this example and most importantly, the die cutter had done justice to the alleged hook-shaped nose of Antiochos. Maybe he found the depiction flattering, who knows? Is it really an upgrade then as it is essentially a different type? Probably not, but it was definitely a quick addition. Both coins ended up on the same month&#039;s credit card bill. Ouch! I am planning to keep both of course. My new coin is an example from a different period of his reign, and I think it shows in the portrait. He looks mature and with interesting hair (did they have curlers back then?) For easier comparison, here is again my first Antiochos VIII coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1313139[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Would I have bought it if the demand for similar tets in the auction wasn&#039;t that high? Maybe not, or at least I wouldn&#039;t have rushed it. But as the prices are still strong, I thought it was good value for money. The whole point of an auction is to save money, and when the good coins sell as much as retail stock, then why bother with the stress of bidding? The real clincher though was the provenance. It goes back to 1990 and the coin came with that seller&#039;s ticket. I think coins with strong provenance will become more and more important and desirable in the future. When you have 100+ tetradrachms of the same ruler or his immediate family in a single auction, it can&#039;t be helped that assumptions will be made by some... So personally I am very happy to have one that has been around in private collections for so many years.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, there is not much of a write up I can do here is there? Most was covered in the recent thread of the previous coin. Also, I cannot really insist on sharing your Antiochos VIII coins as most of you did in that thread too. So to keep the conversation going and make it fun, post your coins with impressive noses. That should allow the Roman collectors to actually contribute too. I have seen some impressive schnauzers on the faces of some Roman emperors![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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