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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Eduard, post: 3439988, member: 8959&quot;]When I first started collecting Roman coins, around 1986 or so, I remember being passionate about Bronzes of Vitellius - why were they so scarce, so difficult to find?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>His silver seemed generally available, not so the bronze coins struck in his name.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>I scoured catalogues and sales, and sure enough, Vitellian sestertii and dupondii would indeed appear every now and then, but then typically sold for sums which vastly exceed my limited budget. </p><p><br /></p><p>A collector friend gave me some old 6o&#039;s and early 70&#039;s sales catalogues, and I found that Vitellian bronzes seemed much more plentiful back then. By the late 80&#039;s and early 90&#039;s, however, the supply seemed to have dried up. At least that was my impression.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>My desire to add a Vitellius bronze to my collection, specially a sestertius of his, went thus unfulfilled for a few years until I finally found, sometime in the early 90&#039;s, a local dealer who had one available for the princely sum of 680 DM (a lot of money for me back then). I was able to negotiate a price and finally had my sestertius of Vitellius. </p><p><br /></p><p>It was a PAX AUGVSTI type, which is also by far the most available sestertius type of Vitellius. The condition was not great, scratches and all, but it was mine! I was elated.</p><p><br /></p><p>As things would have it, just a few months later I found another two, this time in a flea market (!) </p><p>One of them very, very worn but a very scarce type (CONCORDIA), the other very, very corroded (another PAX). </p><p>The price was 80 DM for both! I could not believe my luck!&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Anyhow, here are the coins which had me running around for so long, and sorry for the rambling. Collectors are like that, as you know. </p><p><br /></p><p>My sestertii of Vitellius. Also an as of his (even uglier than the corroded sestertius), and a pretty Mars dupondius of Vitellius struck in Tarraco which I was lucky to find at a Spink auction in the late 90&#039;s.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post them if you have them, or any bronze of Vitellius, or any coin you have sought and &#039;yearned&#039; for for a long time, until you finally found it and still made you happy, <b>no matter what the condition.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]913368[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]913369[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]913370[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]913371[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]913372[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]913373[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b></b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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