Your Best Buy in 2021 and Why ($1-$1,000 only)

I'm sure we all are especially happy and proud of some of the bargains we snagged during the year and sad about some we lost out on. Let's make this a happy post. A coin you purchased at a price well below what you expected to pay or a must have coin you finally added to your collection at a price below $1,000. State why you think it was a special purchase.

I'll go first. From my 2021 10 Best list its quite obvious that I've added some unusual Cleos and even a Julius Caesar issue to my collection. Last year I purchased a Cleopatra VII 80 Drachmae for only a few hundred but saw something else that was very tempting so I sold it for a very decent profit. I continued to feel this gap in my collection and had so far missed out on all Cleo 40 and 80 Drachmae offered up at auctions. And then I think I got lucky:

Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera Æ Diobol - 80 Drachmai. Alexandria, 51-30 BC. Diademed and draped bust to right / KΛEOΠATPAΣ BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ, eagle standing to left on thunderbolt; cornucopia to left, Π to right. Svoronos 1871; Weiser 183; SNG Copenhagen 419-21; Noeske 380-2. 17.21g, 27mm, 12h.

Near Very Fine. Very Rare. I paid $520 inclusive of BP and shipping costs.



And this one graded VG just sold for $1,100





I'd like to think I did alright.

Please post your best/bargain buys under $1,000 for 2021.

 

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Picked this Cleopatra up for 22 Euros

 

WOW that is phenomenal @Andres2. Any idea what a fair price for that should have been? Looks like you got a real bargain.

 

Not much to look at, but this is one of my favorites from 2021, and fits the bill for a good buy. It cost $71.67 from the usual pit of despair.



Obv: IMP MAXIMINVS PF AVG
Rev: VIRTVS AVGGG
Mintmark: RP

What makes this coin special is that the reverse type is completely unlisted in RIC, and is quite historical. Despite the Maximinus obverse, this is a victory type issued by Constantine I from Rome in 313 AD, celebrating his victory over Maxentius. He's using the inclusive 3 G's "AVGGG" to refer to Maximinus II and Licinius I as well as himself. This had been a pretty aggressive move by Constantine to seize Italy (officially the territory of Licinius who was nominally appointed as western augustus by Galerius), but he'd at least made nice with Licinius (his immediate neighbor) by arranging for him to marry his sister, and is trying to further appease with these "AVGGG" reverse types.

This type is only known for Constantine and Maximinus, but presumably exists for Licinius too. It's known from around a half-dozen specimens, from two reverse dies.

As far as being a good buy, it's worth considerably more to any specialist collector attempting to complete a Constantine reverse type set (close to impossible). Here's one of the other specimens, a double die match to mine, that sold for about $900 (incl. buyer's fee) at Numismatic Lanz # 132 in 2006.

 

Well, I paid 50 Euros for this green one, should be also 50 for the other one,instead of 22 Euro

 

I like this on the most out of all I received this year.





Silver Tram - King Levon I (Leo, Leon or Lewan)
Mint - Sis

Born: AD 1150 (est)
Lord of Cilicia: AD 1187-1198
King of Armenian Cilicia: AD 1199-1219

Obverse: Seated Crowned Figure Holding Cross and Fluer-de-lis - Text: "Levon King of the Armenians"

Reverse: Cross Between Two Lions Rampant - Text: "By the Will of God"

Why....The history.

http://www.cachecoins.org/armenia_levonIa.htm

 

I love those lions - very medieval looking !

 

Any day you can get a Cleopatra VII is a good day.

Being rare is not the reason I purchased this coin, but because it was the last one I needed to complete a set of all 15 Seleucid kings named Antiochus. Not much is know about number 11 other than he tried to average the death of his brother Seleucus VI with the help of another brother Philip Philadelphos. He drowned fleeing a battle only after a reign of a few short weeks.

Only 2 sold at CNG in the last 13 years each for $850 in similar condition, mine was $230. As a bonus it has an unpublished control confirmed by Oliver Hoover himself.

Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus
Antioch on the Orontes
94/93 BC
Obvs: Diademed head of Antiochus right clean shaven, dotted border.
Revs: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOV on right, EΠIΦANOVΣ ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOV on left. Athena standing left holding Nike outside inscription and resting hand on grounded shield, spear propped in crook of elbow. Monogram outer left above unknown symbol.
19x20mm, 8.27g
Ref: cf. SC 2443; cf. HGC 9, 1301(R2)
Note: Unpublished with a symbol that is not bunch of grapes below monogram.

 

This one was a good deal; it was two figures, even taking into account the buyer's fee, currency exchange fee and shipping.

It doesn't look like much, but it is a bust variety unlisted in the major references and it may be one of only two known specimens (which are die-matches to each other). @Orielensis owns the other one. You may read more about it here.

 

I have several that were a really good deal. They are all special to me for different reasons, but don't know/care if they are "numismatically special"

Won this Diassarion for 30 CAD AMCC3 auction (2021, ex Shea19 collection)

Roman Provincial – Greek Imperial, Pseudo-autonomous issue, Æ Diassarion
Phrygia, Cotiaeum, issued, c. 254-268 AD struck under the reign of Gallienus by Archon Diogenes, son of Dionysiou
23 mm, 6.83 g
SNG Copenhagen 317; BMC 25; SNG von Aulock 3776
Ob.: ΔHMOC KOTIAEΩN head of Demos with tainia, no beard, to right
RE.: EΠI ΔIOΓENOYC ΔIONYCIOY; A / Ρ-X across fields, KOTIAEΩN in ex, Zeus Aetophorus seated left, holding eagle in extended r. hand and scepter in l. hand

​

 

Hmmm thats hard to say, every coin I own I bought in the last year, and there's a lot of good contenders... lets go with this Antigonus II Tetradrachm that I bought for $550 US. I guess to me its special because... I generally stick to the common, affordable coins like the athenian owl or rhodian didrachm but this one is a bit harder to come by, the legend is fully visible and yeah its just awesome.





And yes I took it out of the slab

 

For me it would be this piece, which I also listed in my top 10 coins for the year. When I originally saw it I thought it was a Danube imitation but learned later it is actually a very rare Arabian imitation, but I had bought it as a Danube imitation for $350. I only learned of it being an Arabian imitation from this Roma listing which is a die match for both sides which sold this year for about $5,200 after conversion and buyers premium.
https://www.romanumismatics.com/223...-ar-tetradrachm?auction_id=77&view=lot_detail

 

I have only made 4 purchases in 2021, but I am particularly thrilled with 2 of them.

Hammer prices of 550 USD and 560 EUR respectively. My max bids were significantly more on each, so in that sense they were good deals
Both coins represent everything I look for when adding to my collection.

I’m just a guy obsessed with Greek silver and I see my coins as miniature pieces of ancient art. Some collectors focus on historical context, grade, completing sets, rarity etc. For myself, those things are valid but tend to take a back seat to a certain aesthetic when choosing a purchase.
The condition/ state of wear doesn’t have to be perfect, but the eye appeal has to be attention grabbing, and the design and engraving has to be the finest quality the period had to offer - all while staying within a budget.


Terina stater
Dark tone with a hint of rainbow, excellent style and a very rare design.
Only about 10 examples known with Nike sitting angled to front.
The most expensive Terina stater ever sold was a double die match to this coin. Pics do not do justice. Wonderful in hand.


Rhodes didrachm
Again, fine style, exceptional old toning, and a coin that really shows its age - which to me adds character.
I set out to score an attractive facing portrait Tetradrachm in 2021 but it wasn’t meant to be. This is as close as I get.

 

These Arabian imitative tetradrachms are fascinating. I remember fawning over one only to see it hammer for >10k. The price you paid is one heck of a deal

 

Lovely imitation Tet. and a great bargain.

 

Crazy. It’s hard to find a decent Cleopatra VII at even 10x that price..

 

Great topic!

For me the under $1K purchase I am happiest about is this Byzantine gold solidus of Justinian the Great.




I paid $575 for it which I think is a great deal for a gold coin in Ch AU condition that is almost 1,500 years old.

The melt value of 4.5 grams of gold alone is ~$260 ($58/gram) so I think it was a very good price.

 

These Arabian imitations are rare of course but also were minted in the Gulf, they represent the ancient history of Kuwait, Qatar, the Emirates. They are bitterly sought after by very rich Emirati or Qatari collectors who can raise the stakes...

 

This one was just picked on the ground by a friend of mine. "Hey! it's Cleopatra!" I said. A good day, sure! (Not my coin, of course: it was on an archaeological site and the coin was immediately given to the archaeological team working there).

 

Please feel free to post more than one coin you feel is a winner.