What Your Budget Buys - $30 Edition

This is a major problem with collecting ancients. If I collected modern coins I might find a dozen people whose collecting interest matched mine within ten miles. None of my favorite Coin Talk friends live farther than 10,000 miles and I feel fortunate to know them even though the chance of a face to face meeting is slim.

 

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Yep, I love me some coins that leave my arms & legs intact.
Recent purchase not shown much

Trajan-Rome
IMP TRAIANO VG GER DAC PM TRP-Laureate head right
COS V PP SPQR OPTIMO PRINC- Aquitas standing left holding cornacopiae and scales
RIC 118 RSC 85
Cost: $30 + ship so $36 maybe

Another Trajan which is amongst my faves

Provincia Arabia, Trajan, AD 98-117
AR Drachm, 18mm, 3.2g, 6h; Bostra mint AD 114-116.
Obv.: Obv: ΑΥΤΟΚΡ ΚΑΙΣ ΝЄΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ΣЄΒ ΓЄΡΜ ΔΑΚ; Laureate bust right, with slight drapery.
Reverse: ΔHMAPX ЄΞ IZ YΠAT ς; Arabia standing left holding branch and bundle of cinnamon sticks; at feet, camel left.
Reference: Metcalf 16; Sydenham 185 (Caesarea).
From JA shipped for $40

Elagabalus

Roman Empire, Elagabalus 218-222, Denarius, 2.89g: Obv: Laureate bust of Elagabalus right "IMP ANTONINVS AVG" Rev: Fides standing left, head right, holding vexillum and standard "FIDES MILITVM". RSC 38a.
Was bought with the 1st Trajan so cost: $30

 

During a sale, after being discounted and store credit, this one cost $30

 

As far as I know, this coin is the only known example. There are cool things out there cheap, you just gotta look!

Dont gloss over it too quickly, its pretty cool!


Philip I, 244 – 249 AD
Æ 8 Assaria, Syria, Seleucis & Pieria, Antioch Mint, 30mm, 15.45 grams

Obverse: AVTOK K M IOVA FILIPPOC CEB, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Philip left.
Reverse: ANTIOXENWN MHTPO KOLW, Veiled and turreted bust of Tyche left, above a ram leaping left, star below, A E S C in fields.

References:
McAlee 955c (this coin)

Cost:
£15

 

What a score!

 

Every once in a while I luck into some cheap Greek ancients. Here are three drachms I've bought in the past couple of years. Macedonia Alexander (posthumous): $29 Parthia Orodes II: $28.50 Cappadocia Ariobarzanes: $26.

The Macedonia has an edge chip and appears to have crystalized internally. The others ain't perfect either, but I was pretty pleased with the prices.

 

Here's a nice $31 LRB:


Constantine II, AD 317-340
AE, follis, 15.5mm, 2.65g; 6h; Lugdunum
Obv.: CONSTANTINVS I[V]N NOB C; laureate, cuirassed bust right
Rev.: GLOR-AI EXERC-ITVS; two soldiers hoding spears and shields with two standards between them; standards with Os on banner
In Ex.: SLC

 

All are from the last three years.


Seleukid Kings. Seleukos I. 312-280 BC. Æ 13.5mm (2.49g). Antioch. Holed in antiquity.
Obv: Winged head of Medusa right.
Rev: BASILEWS SELEUKOU, bull butting left, Ξ below.
ex CNG e-auction 349, April 2015, lot 730 (part of; unsold)

The hole has a rectangular shape which is most unusual in any
size, but more so when it is this large on a relatively small diameter coin. In hand the coin feels rounder than usual, which suggests the coin was made into some kind of tool.


EGYPT, Carus, 282-3 AD. potin 18.3mm 8.4g
Obv: Α Κ M A KAPOC CEB; Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev: Eagle standing right, holding wreath in beak; L to left, palm behind, A to right
Emmett 3999
Ex Art Institute of Chicago, from the Glover collection acquired in 1978, #1481. Gemini, auction XII, April 2017, lot 487 (part)

Note: extraordinarily smooth and even patina with yellow highlights.


Yaudheya Republic, Punjab, 3rd century AD, Copper Unit, 23mm, 10.7g
Obv: Karttikeya (God of War) standing facing, holding a filleted sceptre/spear in right hand, left hand on hip, peacock on left, circular legend around in Brahmi: Yaudheya Ganasya Jaya ("Victory to the Yaudheya People").
Rev: Within a dotted circular border: Goddess standing facing left, wearing transparent garment, left hand on hip, right hand raised in blessing, blank fields.
Mitchiner ACW 4707-4710

 

Thanks for the coins you've shared so far, guys. I'm honestly impressed by the quality of all of your purchases. They are proof positive that excellent and interesting ancients do not have to break the bank.

On the other hand, here are two of my less considered buys.

Caracalla antoninianus with ragged flan and over-cleaned porous surfaces...


Trajan dupondius with lunar-landscape surfaces...


Anyone else have some $30 regrets?

 

I wouldn't regret those, especially the Caracalla. I like 'em!

 

Usually my regrets cost much more than $30! Here is a circa $30 regret.


Moesia, Nicopolis, Caracalla, AE27, 12.06g
Bust / Heremes std l, holding purse and caduceus.

The coin looks and feels weird. I am not sure if it is smoothed, tooled, waxed, or has some other kind of treatment. I bought it about 15 years ago from a dealer in New York whose catalogs were made of newsprint with halftone ("dot") plates. I often made mistakes when buying from this dealer, especially with very small coins.

 

Here are my Byzantine Epigraphic folles
Average cost is below $30 + I think the most expensive coin was around $45..

 

Randy's Domna is one I would pay more for as a study piece. Note the obverse die was used for both of my Venus coins below. The small die break above Julia's head makes it obvious. My top one was $39 in 2006. The second was $130 in 2003. Relatively few of our CT family would buy these coins but I was thrilled even at that price. Specialists sometimes pay more. If you don't see anything special about a coin, you should not.

 

The Domna just shows that you can find special coins if you know what to look form (or through dumb luck in my case)

 

Under Yazid II, Umayyad Caliphate
AR dirham
Obv: (center, in Arabic) "There is no God but Allah. He has no equal"
(in margins, in Arabic) “In the name of Allah. this Dirham was struck in Wasit in the year two and one hundred” (AH 102)
Rev: (center, in Arabic) "Allah is One God. The eternal and indivisible, who has not begotten, and has not been begotten and never is there His equal"
(in margins, in Arabic) “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the true religion to reveal it to all religions even if the polytheists abhor it”
Mint: Wasit
Date: 720-721 AD
Ref: Klat 695



Under Al-Mansur, Abbasid Caliphate
AR dirham
Obv: Kufic legends: There is no deity except God alone He has no equal (in center); In the name of God. This dirham was struck in Madinat al-Salam year 155 (in margins)
Rev: Kufic legends: Muhammad the Messenger of God (in center); Muhammad is the messenger of God. He sent him with guidance and the true religion to reveal it to all religions even if the polytheists abhor it (in margins)
Mint: Madinat al-Salam (struck 771-772 AD)
Ref: Album 213
Size: 25 mm wide

 

Just won this from the FAC member auction. Total cost: 24.00.

TRAJAN. 98-117 AD. AR Denarius (3.42 gm). Struck 100 AD. Laureate head right / Vesta, veiled, seated left, holding patera and torch. RIC II 40

 

Nice! Clearly, I need to pay more attention to FAC member auctions.

 

I recently posted this....also won at FAC-----$39.51

SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Antioch. Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. (34 mm, 18 grams. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Tyche seated left on rocks, holding grain ears; above, star above ram leaping left, head right; at feet, half-length figure of river-god Orontes swimming left. Mcalee

 

I recently posted a full write-up of this win from Frank Robinson's most recent auction, but didn't mention that my winning bid was just $37:

Sasanian kingdom, Khusro I (531-579 AD). AR drachm. Dated Royal Year 30, mint of Darabgard.