Last night, out of boredom, I stared at the computer monitor watching Heritage auction 61151 . I had no intention of buying anything but always keep my eyes peeled for bargains . I ended up scoring 7 handsome coins . But the real shocker came with lot #97462, pictured below, photos courtesy of Heritage. No mention was made in the coins description that this was an Extreme Rare issue & it had an estimate of $100 - 200 ! My heart started racing & I thought to myself would I pull-off the grand ripoff of the evening ? Well it wasn't to be , the coin sold for $4,080.00 . Poor Salononius was murdered by the order of Postumus shortly after assuming the title of Augustus . His coins struck under the title of Caesar are not common & nice looking examples can fetch as much as $500. The coin pictured below is the last example of this type (Augustus) I can remember seeing at auction by CNG nine years ago, it sold for over $3,700 . Photo courtesy of CNG.
It's fun to think you're the only one who spots the rarity hiding in plain sight. It's happened many times to me, but it's almost never paid off. Once, for a very rare Antony fleet series, and once for a Caracalla Circus Maximus denarius. Marcus Antonius Fleet coinage (Light Series) M ANT IMP TERT COS DESIG ITER ET TERT III VIR RPC Conjoined heads of Marcus Antonius and Octavia right M OPPIVS CAPITO PRO PR PRAEF CLASS FC Galley under sail right Tarentum (?) summer 37 BC 4.13g Sear 1497, RPC 1470, CRI 296, Very rare in any condition ANTONINVS PIVS AVG Laureate head of Caracalla right LAETITIA TEMPORVM The spina of the Circus Maximus decorated as a ship facing l., with the turning posts at its prow and stern, a sail mounted on the central obelisk, and the spina's other monuments visible in between; above the ship, four quadrigas racing l.; below, seven animals: an ostrich at l. and bear at r.; between them a lion and a lioness chasing a wild ass and a panther attacking a bison. Rome 206 AD 3.34g Ex-Londinium coins, Ex Professor K.D. White with original envelope. Sear 6813, RIC 157, BMCRE 257, CSS 793 Very rare! Only 2 examples in the Reka Devnia hoard
I mentioned earlier the Herennius Etruscus as Augustus issue with the estimate of $100-$200. I thought I'd get the bargain of the century, too, but no ...
Nice pick up! I went on a coin bender in that auction, using proxy bidding for the first time. The problem with that is that I usually bid live or last second so I can stop if I actually win some lots but with proxy bidding, the risk is of winning too much! Heritage's online bidding platform really is top notch though. They do everything possible to make the process clear and convenient. Smart! Out of 8 proxy bids and 1 live bid, I won 6 coins. Most were modestly or fairly priced.
R.C., I think you did well with the 3 ladies you scored at last nights auction, I really like the denarius . There were plenty of bargains last night but many collectors seemed to be over-paying for very common coins . Slabbed coins with the Morris name on them brought high prices, even unsightly coins with lots of corrosion on them. I think most of the bargains could be had late in the evening when a lot of people had to get some sleep for work the next day. I did score 1 ripoff that I won't post until I've got it in hand , in fact I'll probably write a detailed article about it .
Too well done for some. I have bought stuff on whims just getting caught up in the auction "frenzy" sometimes. But, I have the opposite issue, not wanting anymore to risk getting only one coin, which jacks up the cost of shipping to the roof. Better to win multiple lots.
I had to be careful. There were many "Morris Collection" Flavians up for auction and I could not afford them all. I bid on several but let them all go to focus on the one I won. There were seem interesting rarities in the collection but even the common coins in less than stellar shape went for good money. I imagine if Heritage would have advertised that my win was a plate coin in RIC, I probably would have been outbid.
