Your top purchases of 2015

WOW ! Killer deal.

 

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What do the punch marks mean on the second coin?

 

Sorry for the poor pic, in a hurry. I picked these up for near spot. I kind of got into norfed/liberty dollar this year. Got mostly common ones but I have a few key dates and issues.

 

Just noticed my pic is upside down, my bad

 

Like collecting nut, I can't post pictures either, regretably, but I can describe my top purchases for 2015. 1950 U.S. proof set, 1951 U.S. proof set, PCGS PR69 2007 $5 James town commemorative, ANACS AU 55 1920 SLQ, and PCGS AU58 Pan-Pac half dollar.

 

You must really love the Peace dollar series to complete 2 circulated sets of them.

 

Unknown. Likely people tested the coin to ensure it's silver, but if the marks denote certain areas (as has been suggested), then we don't really know.

 

Yes, I do like the Peace Dollars. I just have a lot of them. A few years ago I went through them and found I only needed 3 coins to have a complete set. Naturally I had to make a set. This year I did. I already had 1 but only needing 3, I just had to do it. Now, if I can only find the 3 I need for my PCGS MS-64 set.

Sounds like you did pretty good yourself Daniel.

 

Yes it was. Thank you. The thing was, he know what he had but he just wanted to sell them anyway. Sometimes, you never know. He set the price. Who am I to argue?

 

Love the post guys!!!

Some of my favorites of the year.... and one of the most expensive single coins I (inadvertently) bid on with a higher maximum than I intended (so it HAS to be a favorite)...If you guessed the left-facing Otho, you're right on LOL:

 

My favorites for the year:


I bought this one because I was looking for a cheaper example of a Julius Caesar elephant denarius and this was the nicest one I could find in my price range. It has some damage but very little actual wear. I don't have the superpower of seeing everything that happened between the time this coin was minted and when it got to me, so this is largely "educated conjecture" but first, the style of this coin is the sans-serif piglike variety that Woytek identified as having come from a mint in Spain or Southern Gaul. The test cut is of the type that is associated with the hacksilber economy in Spain where verifying that a coin was actually made of silver was of the utmost importance because they were basically bullion. Lastly, the coin is on the higher end of the weight range for these types, nicely tying together the possibility that this coin was minted in Spain, made its way into the hands of the local Iberian population and was selected for its higher than average weight, test cut and hoarded before accumulating much real wear.
I have to thank Andrew McCabe for pointing this out. I realized the test cut seemed to be of Spanish origin after reading this paper of his about a hoard of similarly-cut Republican denarii, but he is the one who pointed out the style and weight when I brought this example to his attention.


I bought this coin largely because it was a very nice example of a Republican bronze with good provenance and the seller's description that it may be from an unidentified lightweight series seemed very interesting to me. This series is discussed some in the RBW catalog, but the best source is Andrew McCabe's paper on anonymous bronzes, which identifies it as "Group H1", a series of Second Punic War-era half-weight(compared to contemporary coins being struck in Rome) overstrikes on captured bronzes of Rome's vanquished enemies in Sardinia, Sicily and Southern Italy. It is a really cool coin, and I am glad that I bought it.


Many CoinTalk members picked up an example of this type around the same time I did, and I actually hope to pick up another one myself in 2016. This is from a really interesting series of denarii minted in the recently-established Roman colony of Narbo, Gaul. The combination of a Roma head obverse and a Gallic warrior(possibly Bituitus) reverse is a really cool way to celebrate the founding of a Roman colony.


This one is related to the founding of Narbo as well, but was minted in Rome the year before the previous one. I was always envious when the guys here posted their examples of the type so when I finally saw an example I liked I had to have it.


This is a fairly common type, one of the most common Second Punic War-era bronzes actually, but I really, really like it. It has a really killer "mars" head and is overstruck on something, but I haven't identified what it's overstruck on just yet. I wish i could get a better picture, but it's got one of those glossy patinas that makes it difficult.

 

I'm pretty fond of the MAT victoriatus I just won from CNG. Besides that, as Carthago already knows, I'm pretty pleased with some stuff I won at NAC last spring:







All three ex Leu 17 as it happens.
Phil Davis

 

Coin porn?

 

Lol, thats about right.

 

I'm gonna have to start posting this version of the coin...

 

Todays society would have that coin banned in days if it circulated.

 

Really, thats interesting. so their basically like the chop marks of ancient times?

 

Yes, and as Phil knows, I made unworthy attempts at all 3 of those only to be schooled severely by the Master. I wasn't event underbidder on any of them.

That Pansa still gives me the chills every time I see. Such wonderful coins!!

 

I've had a big year. The Arrius Secundus hails from Haeberlin (1933), HP Hall (1950), and Niggeler (1966). There are other pedigrees lurking with these coins I have yet to find but hope to in time.

 

Awesome coins Carth. Simply awesome.