Twenty from the Pandemic

Perfect reply Joe

Many of the provenances, such as an Apostolo Zeno, were found by me prior to bidding or buying. I discovered very old provenances on both the aurei, one to 1873, the other to 1920s. That costs literally nothing given many of the resources are freely available online

 

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My income is below the average for a 50 year old engineer in the UK. I'm retired and on a limited pension. I worked as an engineer in a major industry for a career. So this shd encourage. Started buying high end coins when earning under $50k and my income is heading down to that level again.

I do however sell existing coins of lesser pedigree or rarity or quality to buy new ones. And I add value by intensive research work. Which helps lower the effective cost of purchases and boost that of sales.

Gotta use every tool in your toolbox

 

What I said was just a joke - hope you were not bothered.
Any collector would be proud to have coins in these conditions, rarities + provenance.

But for a collector with limited budget and who doesn't sell coins, they're out of reach.
I am very glad when I see topic like this anyway

 

Thank you for sharing these additions. Despite the increase (fact or fiction?) in prices realised during these times - which has been much discussed on this board - it's good to see you've been able to add these magnificent coins to your collection during these troubles times.

I was unfamiliar with some of your rarities, so it's been fun attributing them and reading about the history behind some of them. For me, the Norbanus aureus is a favorite, precisely because of the history behind the coin.

I like your modus operandi. True, it's possible to, with proper research, to find old provenances on coins. I must attempt that one day, enjoyable pastime when I retire in 30 years or so
In the meantime, let me contribute by showing my budget brutus, a similar type as shown lastly in your second post.

 

Nice Brutus indeed! Mine comes from the Nordheim collection sold 1931

Continually get asked the question posed or hinted at above - how to afford a top quality collection on a middle class income. US median is $65k. So what I did was spend 10% of my fairly median income on coins from age 25 or so. Then from age 50 I started upgrading to super high quality by selling more coins than I bought, typically selling 100 each year and buying 30. Those sales allowed me to up my spend on ancients from say 10% to say 50% or more of income and thus buy such lovely coins.

I think anyone planning a great collection in the long term has to work out how to get there. It often involves selling to upgrade