You Take What You Can Get

This drachm isn't in the best condition, but I'm very pleased to have acquired it. They don't come up very often in trade.


Vespasian
AR Drachm, 3.09g
Caesarea, Cappadocia mint, 74-75 AD
RPC 1646 (2 spec.)
Obv: AYTOKPA KAICAP OYЄCΠACIANOC CЄBACTOC; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.
Rev: ЄYOYC ЄBΔOMOY; Mt Argaeus; on summit, radiate figure standing l., globe in r. hand, sceptre in l. hand
Ex London Ancient Coins Auction A1, 3 July 2017, lot 45.

A fairly rare Vespasian drachm from Caesarea, Cappadocia. Struck in 'local' style with a 12 o'clock die axis. Ironically, the Mt. Argaeus type is more commonly seen in 'Roman' Style. It's the only reverse type Caesarea struck in 74/75.

 

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Very cool reverse type. Congrats on checking another rare type off the list!

 

Awesome reverse!

 

I like the coin. Portrait and reverse motif are well defined, not to mention that it is also a scarce issue.

Somewhat worn, yes, but that is not why we collect ancients.

 

A very interesting type David. Congrats on a very nice purchase. The portrait is quite nice.

 

A neat addition!

 

kool coin!

 

Nice! I like the reverse, and that's also a fine portrait of Bill Murray.

 

So true! Some of my favourite coins would be considered less than VF.

 

I like the portrait on this one.

Agreed, I have many coins, some not even ancients, I find more attractive worn than the ones that are perfect.

I'm sure a few notice I ignore/don't reply much if they are perfect.

 

What a cool and interesting coin!!

 

Great coin, David. I made a similar condition concession recently for this extremely rare, Spanish Mint, AR Victoriatus of the Roman Republic (Crawford 96/1), circa 211 BC. Note that the base of the trophy is massive and that ROMA is incuse on a raised tablet, similar to early Quadrigati and some early Denarii. I'll upgrade it someday...if I can.

 

Very cool coin!

 

Great coin, David! We're a different from modern coin collectors in that we don't collect flawless coins that have never been handled. We collect historic coins with character. We welcome the idea that many ancient hands have touched our coins.

 

Here again we face the question that has two sides each believing their answer is correct. If the best known or only known example of a coin is not high grade, does the coin exist? There are plenty of types available in mint state so it is not necessary for condition collectors to stoop to a VF or VG. I am sure there are coin types represented by no specimen better than poor. Whether any coin survived the centuries is very much a matter of chance. It is quite possible that the only survivor might be mint state but luck usually takes the other turn. Good luck on the upgrade dreams. I have several coins I would like to upgrade, too, but in the meanwhile I will enjoy what I have.
My worst rare/unique(?) coin:
Septimius Severus Alexandria mint denarius INVICTO IMP reverse (common from Emesa but not known from Alexandria)

 

How can you tell it's from Alexandria?

 

I love the grizzled local style on these issues, great catch!

 

I think the reverse look quite good

 

I guess I'm reading a different forum than you are Doug, because I've seen vanishingly little evidence of these "sides" you describe. No doubt I'm an example of a "condition collector" in your eyes, yet I have no qualms about including in my collection quite worn specimens of genuinely rare denarii. (Granted, I have very strict criteria about what qualifies as "rare.") Nor do I have anything but the utmost respect for David's Flavian collection, an ideal marriage of aesthetics and comprehensive scholarship. Of course the OP coin fits there seamlessly; why wouldn't it?

A few coins from my collection: A rare denarius of Q. Cornuficius, Crawford 509/5:


and the rarest denarius of Julius Caesar, Crawford 452/5 (rarest along with its "large head" sibling, Crawford 452/4, and excluding Crawford 482/1, probably struck by Octavian rather than Caesar):


Phil Davis

 

I wholeheartedly sacrifice condition of a scarce/rare/HISTORICAL coin over a pretty-boy mint state.

I surprisingly have a few coins with known examples under 20, and a further few with known examples under 10... I don't think they would win any Numismatic Beauty Contests, but I do not collect numismatically... I like to collect Historically.

I am fascinated by the Etrurian people. Little is known of their origins, and they are a very distinct people from the other Italian peoples. They were the precursor culture that heavily influenced and was later absorbed into the Roman Culture early in Rome's history.

Here is a fairly scarce (RARE?), only 2 known...one in the British Museum, the other is some obscure dopey collector's hands...

She ain't purdy, but she is mine...

Etruria, Populonia
2 ½ asses , AR 0.85 g
3rd century BCE
Obv: Radiate female head r.; behind, IIC (retrograde).
Rev: Blank.
Ref: EC 104 (misdescribed, Female head with an Attic helmet). Historia Numorum Italy 179.
NAC Comment: Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second specimen known. Dark patina and about very fine.
Ex: From the collection of E.E. Clain-Stefanelli
(Further research E.E. Clain-Stefanelli's excellent provenance... )
ANS Executive Director Ute Wartenburg reported that Elvira Eliza Clain-Stefanelli died Oct. 1, 2001. Mrs. Stefanelli retired in 2000 as the Senior Curator of the National Numismatic Collection in the Numismatics Division of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. She was at the Smithsonian for forty years, and was responsible with her husband Vladimir for organizing and building up the National Numismatic Collection (from 60,000 to over 1,000,000 pieces.) She survived a Nazi concentration camp in WWII Europe, moved to Rome, and learned numismatics there. In New York she and her husband worked for Stack's and started the Coin Galleries division there. Her most recent publication was "Life In Republican Rome On its Coinage", a lavishly illustrated discussion of the themes which appear on the coinage of the Roman Republic, published in 1999. Her major contribution to the science of numismatic literature was her classic "Numismatic Bibliography", published in 1985.