What your budget buys 2500-10000 edition....

That denarius is truly spectacular. It has the "look" of a Gasvoda coin: I wouldn't be surprised if he were one of your competitors on it.

 

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Beautiful coins everyone, thanks for showing them.

~Doug

 

An interesting question might be what we each believe to be an appropriate expenditure from our total coin budget on one coin or how many coins we consider it appropriate to buy that totals up to our annual budget (if we have one - most don't). There are coins I would love to have that sell for $100,000. There are coins I would love to have that sell for $200. If my budget is ~$10k/year, I could buy one coin a decade or one coin a week depending on which coins I was buying. Those of you with $100,000/year budgets could be chasing that million dollar coin a decade but you probably won't any more than I do in my 'bracket'.

I once heard a discussion among dealers who were questioning the definition of a 'serious' collector of ancients. They came to relative agreement that it was someone who spent $1000 a year on the hobby. Now, thirty years later, we have added a digit. Will enough of today's 20-somethings have the disposable income we do today when they are retired to leisure that will support buying MS denarii at 100x the VF price? I'll not know.

When I started in the hobby we valued very nice coins higher than less nice ones but not to the degree we do today. Sheldon tried to quantify this with his 1 to 70 grading scale. In theory, he considered a VF35 worth half of a perfect coin called a 70. Some of the Republicans shown here are available for 1/10 these prices in VF. We might ask what the price ratio will be in 50 years but most of us will not know. We will have stopped collecting and moved on to another hobby (race horses, beer cans?), the hobby will be illegal and all our coins will have been sent to the government or we will be dead. I'd be interested in knowing the future price index of Okidoki's drachm (possibly the only one known, at least probably the best) and AJ's obol (the one coin in this thread that I do not consider overpriced). In neither case do I expect to know. I would be disappointed if they were sold.

 

Thanks! It's about 10mm in diameter and very thin (as obols generally are). I've toyed with a side-collection specifically of obols due to how artistic they can be. Here's another which I found to be very aesthetic considering its size - it might be signed on the obverse headband but is tough to discern: (a bit over $3K in price)

 

That one is incredible too (I'm sure @dougsmit will agree). I shrunk both photos down on my monitor to roughly actual size, to get a feel for how they look in person - just... wow. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you will pursue that sideline... just make sure you post them all!

 

Got to show off this Akragas coin.
Sicily, Akragas. 425 - 426 BC. AR litra, 1.04gr.
Obv: eagle to the left, holding serpent in talons; behind its back: AKPA.
Rev: crab, between its scissors A; below fish (polyprion) to the right.
Ref: Rizzo pl. III, 7.
Bought from Tradart, Geneva in the nineties.
Bought as an obol, but from the weight it could be a trihemilitron. It would explain the hare-serpent variation.

 

We've all bought coins that are "overpriced" and most of us still have some in our collections. I know I do.

We've all bought coins that are a bargain as well.

When I was in grade school, an adult's admission to the movies was $0.25. Today that admission is around $8.00. I consider that grossly overpriced but clearly I'm wrong about that since that's the market price and movie attendance is robust enough to fund the production of hundreds of (mostly terrible) new movies per year.

It's all relative.

 

Some more coins for this category:



DOMITIAN 69 - 81 AD
AE As(10.10 g.) Rome, 86 AD RIC 488
IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XII CENS PER P P, laureate bust right, aegis on shoulder / FORTVNAE AVGVSTI, Fortuna stg. left w/rudder & cornucopiae, S-C across field.
Purchased at Roma Numismatics auction II in 2011 for $3850.




GALBA 68 - 69 A.D.
AE Dupondius (13.55 g.) Rome 68 AD RIC 323
IMP SER SVLP GALBA - CAESAR AVG TR P Laureate and draped bust r. Rev. PAX AVGVSTA Pax standing left, holding olive branch and caduceus; S - C in field
Purchased at Goldberg Pre-Long Beach auction in 2012 for $7,550.

I really liked the portrait of Galba on this small bronze and was pleased to complete my Galba mint set with its acquisition.

 

This one was my second cast coin and is the only "full sized" cast As I have. Cost $3200 (priceless in my mind). I passed on one for $1200 later that I wished I had bought. I bought the cast quadrans shown below in the same auction. Prices for Aes Grave vary a lot.

Roman Republican Aes Grave As, Libral standard, 225-217 B.C.
Obv.: Head of Janus. Below, --.
Rev.: Prow right. Above, I.
Cr. 35/1.
TV 51.
AE. 258.4 grams, 63.5 mm
Good VF+. Very attractive specimen. Olive green patina.

The set below: As, Semis, Triens (4 dotter), Quadrans (3 dotter), Sextans (2 dotter) two shown and Uncia (1 dotter).

 

An aes grave as is on my wishlist - I've got a triens and sextans, but waiting for a large one at a not-so-large price

 

I do enjoy seeing photographs of coins that show all the details that existed when they were (pretty much) first minted. I also appreciate their unsurpassed beauty. Thanks to everyone who posted such coins in this thread.

 

To Ides Of March01, Your Claudius As piece is
amazing. Very Very Nice!!!!

 

Some of my favorites in this category:


Bruttium, Rhegion
AR Tetradrachm 415/410-387 BC, 17.12g, 22.6mm.
Obverse: Lion’s scalp facing
Reverse: Rhegion before laureate head of Apollo right, olive branch behind.
References: Herzfelder 102 (D60/R87) citing 5 specimens from this die combination, BMC Italy p.375, 25, Sear 501.
David Sear says its authentic.


Thrace, Maroneia
AR Stater, 385-360 BC, 12.81g
Obverse: Horse prancing left with loose rein
Reverse: Linear square with vine and bunches of grapes, astragalus before M in reverse legend.
Schönert-Geiss 165, S-1631


Ionia, Klazomenai, c. 386-301 BC, AR Tetradrachm, 14.86g
Obverse: Theodoros, magistrate. Laureate head of Apollo facing slightly left.
Reverse: Swan standing left, preening its wing; ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΣ below.
Hurter 17, V5/R10 (this coin)
Very Rare, Fine Style
Ex. David Herman Collection, CNG Sale 73, September 13, 2006, lot 321
Ex Kunker Sale 94, lot 1085, September 27, 2004
Vourla (Urla) Hoard of 1964 (IGCH 1210)

John

 

I understand the moral dilemna.

For every dollar I spend on an ancient coin, I donate 50 cents to a charity. If I buy a $1,000 coin, I donate $500 to some worthy cause.. If the amount is larger, I sometimes split the donations among a couple charities.

It certainly affects my coin budget, but I don't care. It feels good donating.

And I sleep like a baby...................that snores.

btw I'll post my coins later.

 

This and the other responses confirm my opinion that ancient coin collectors are an awesome bunch! Amiright?

 

The final tier for me. I rarely bid 5 figures on a coin and when I did, I was outbid.


Either $7,000 or $3,000 or Free or Priceless. I bought it for $3k, sold it for $7k (less dealer commission) and then had it gifted back to me, when my original collection was stolen.......thus it is Priceless to me.


$6,600 including fees


$3,250 fees included


$3,700 fees included


$2,800 fees included


$4,800 fees included


$3,300 fees included

Details in the gallery.