Apparently, a lot of coins are being mis-attributed as Avitus. This article is by Rasiel Suarez. He says that these coins need a lot more study and research. http://dirtyoldcoins.com/Roman-Coins-Blog/?m=201408
I consider it a fair question to ask ourselves if we are willing to pay $1600 for a certainly identified rarity with legends that remove all doubt even from someone who does not know the series, how much is a coin that is probably or possibly or hopefully identified worth? To me this is not much different from the fake question: If a genuine coin is worth $1600, how much is a coin that may be genuine or we hope might maybe on a good day be genuine worth? A 50% chance coin is not worth 50% of the price. I don't collect very late Romans to any extent and will never even consider buying an Avitus but the same question comes up when we consider a coin missing a mintmark (looks like it might be Constantinople style) or is ambiguous as to which son of Theodosius it is even if both are the same price.
As a dedicated collector of 5th century Roman coins, this article truly was a very interesting one and, while introducing me to this recent Avitus coin misattribution problem, reminds me of the difficulties with trying successfully identifying a lot of these tiny bronzes. I look around for rare rulers such as these (not usually buying the expensive ones, but hopefully scoring one in a random lot or something) and I see listings of coins like these all of the time, supposedly as some crazy-rare emperor like Avitus or Majorian, but usually, on closer inspection, are of more common emperors like Honorius. Or if I can't definitively ID it as any emperor, to be safe, I just assume it is not a rare ruler and pass it by. I don't want to waste time and money on a coin that I will always have doubts about. Even if a coin to me looks like it is of a very rare ruler, to be sure, I will ask trustworthy people I know that are knowledgeable about these coins their thoughts on it. Recently I saw an Arcadius Salvs Reipvblice being sold as a Majorian (but priced at 10 times less than the cheapest Majorians). I informed the seller what it really was. They said they were going to correct the listing but didn't, and sure enough, the "Majorian" sold. Imo it doesn't hurt to do your research beforehand when considering buying these kinds of coins.
Thank you very much for the link. I did not find an example for my page on the AE attributed to him: http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/type50.html I think Ras has exposed the truth about the AE of Avitus.
I had to dust off the cobwebs for this. It's been a while since I've thought about Avitus. A little refresher for me and anyone else interested: guy
I liked the article on the Avitus AE4 and thought it was quite well done. Also I'm quite interested in Roman coins of the 5th century but have had very little luck in obtaining any. Unfortunately I rarely have the opportunity to go to coin shows and those that I do make have only modern junk. Thus auctions are my only recourse. Do you have any recommended books on this area? "Coins of the 12 Caesars" by Michael Grant doesn't quite conver it. I do have a semi-strong accumulation (too few to really call it a collection) of the 3rd century as I'm also fascinated by the Military Crisis of that time.
There are plenty of online sites that sell coins. Just gotta wait until the coins pop up that you want. Auctions or buy it now types.
Like Gil-galad said, like with most ancient coins, you're best bet is online dealers/auctions. You'll usually find emperors such as Honorius, Arcadius, and sometimes Theodosius II. Leo I and Zeno are scarcer than the aforementioned emperors, but can be had for reasonable prices. Valentinian III is even scarcer still but again, won't really break the bank. More common types being more available and affordable on average. Gold of course being expensive for all of them and silver as well except for Honorius and Arcadius. Very rarely will any of the extremely rare emperors such as Avitus or Basiliscus show up for sale, in any condition or metal. Those will cost big bucks, even the little bronze nummi. 5th century Roman coins are usually not pretty aesthetically but many are scarce/rare and have plenty of interesting history behind them As for books, I don't personally own any (I mainly rely on free online sources and people I know. I want to try and get some books on these coins though in the future), aside from non-numismatic books on the general history of the era, but here is a compiled list of books on Roman coins, including late Roman: http://jaysromanhistory.com/romeweb/booklist/coinbook.htm (click CTRL and F at the same time and type "late Roman" to quickly find what you need) Here is another one not in the above link: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo18382952.html For coinage of the post-Roman barbarian kingdoms I highly recommend the Catalogue of the coins of the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Lombards. The whole book is available as a PDF on archive.org
Thanks very much for all your help. I'll try to read further and see what I can find. Recently I saw a gold tremissis struck around 475AD. (Bascilicus) It sold very cheaply (well, under $1K) but often I guess these are hard to find? I've learned the hard way that when I buy coins without knowing exactly what I'm doing, the coin invariably ends up as being very common and I end up overpaying. Then next month, 4 of them appear for sale, all cheaper than the one I bought. This even happens in areas I thought I knew about. Of course when I don't buy the coin I always end up wishing I did... I wish to avoid Byzantine and other post Roman coins for now.
