Zumbly's Year-End $1 to $100 List... includes GOLD!!

Thanks to @Severus Alexander for suggesting the clickbait AV addition to this thread's subject. Apologies to everyone else, but yes, there IS in fact gold somehwere at the end of this post... if you're willing to plow through my ramblings about not just 10 but 20 coins this time, that is.

In previous years, this list has shown ten, each a favorite in its own price category, beginning with $1-$10, and working its way up to $100. This year, I thought it would be fun if I not only showed my favorite, but also the closest competitor in its price range. Afterall, by definition, for something to be a favourite, it must have been picked over something else, right?

So, anyway, here we go, my favourites and respective runners-up, starting with the cheapest to the priciest.

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CATEGORY $1 - $10

FAVORITE: BYZANTINE EMPIRE, Phocas. AE Decanummium.
$6.15 (Themis Auction 1, May 2019)

I love this little Byzantine curiosity, an example of a decanummium (10 nummi) flan having been cut from a larger one, an older follis (40 nummi) perhaps? The facing portrait and most of Phocas's name are pretty clear too. I don't really collect Byzantine coins (famous last words), but as a rule, I'll readily collect anything that sticks out as being interesting.

RUNNER-UP: CONSTANS. AE Centenionalis. Ex Doug Smith Collection.
$8.70 (AMCC 2, Dec 2019)

I don't have many 'Hut' Fel Temps, so I was pleased to pick up this example which has passed through the hands of not one but two illustrious CT members (@dougsmit having acquired it from @PeteB back in 2000). I think the soldier and little barbarian are very well-depicted, and was amused by the fact that Constans appears to be wearing lipstick. The AMCC auction note adds that "On some examples from Heraclea, including this one, the barbarian emerging from the hut appears to be holding a bow." I thought that was a neat little detail. All in all, plenty to like about a sub $10 coin.

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CATEGORY $11 - $20

FAVORITE: SELEUKID KINGDOM. Seleukos IV. AE20 Serrate. Ex Doug Smith Collection.
$16 (AMCC 2, November 2019)

It's probably an understatement to say that I was very happy to be able to adopt this ex Doug Seleukid bottlecap with its cheeky wandering "central" dimple, one of the many gems to be found in the AMCC 2 pick bin section. This coin combines an obverse that sports an off-center strike and off-center "central/centration" dimple with a reverse that has a centered strike and centered "central/centration" dimple. Somehow, it manages to do all that while still remaining pleasing to the eye! Here's a good discussion on CT about these dimples.

RUNNER-UP: THRACE, Maroneia. AE20. Ex J.P. Righetti Collection.
$15 (Rudnik Numismatics Auction, April 2019)

In contrast to its competitor in this price category, there's nothing particularly curious about this coin. I apparently just couldn't say no to a handsome, wholesome Greek bronze with a neat pedigree and tag for $15.

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CATEGORY $21 - $30

FAVORITE: MAXIMINUS DAIA. AE Follis. Nicomedia mint. NOT IN RIC.
$29 (Savoca Blue 17, March 2019)

I cherrypicked this Extremely Rare variety of RIC VI Nicomedia 69b from one of Savoca's sans-attribution auctions back in March. It is "Not in RIC" with the officina letter in the LEFT field instead of right, with no examples to be found in Wildwinds, OCRE, acsearch, or, for that matter, any of those lame collections out there that don't already have one. Yeah, no one really cares. Just leave me alone - Jupiter standing folles are my guilty pleasure. On a serious note, though, earlier this month, Leu sold a regular RIC VI Nicomedia 69b that they claimed was an unpublished variety on account of there being no eagle at the feet of Jupiter. In fact, the entry in RIC is erroneous, and these simply do not come with eagles. It's a nice coin, but IMHO not CHF 170-before-fees nice. Caveat emptor, I guess!

RUNNER-UP: IBERIA, Arse/Saguntum. AE Quarter Unit. Ex JW "Bing" Harper Collection.
$22 (CT Private Auction, April 2019)

I didn't buy this coin just so that I could joke about my chasing after Bing's old Arse. I didn't. No, really, I didn't!! In all seriousness, Bing, thanks for letting it go... your Arse is in good hands.

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CATEGORY $31 - $40

FAVORITE: AELIA FLACCILLA. AE2 (Cut into gaming token?).
$32 (Savoca London Blue 6, October 2019)

No one seems to be entirely sure what purpose these elaborately cut and occasionally redesigned Roman bronzes served, but one theory is that they were altered so as to be used as gaming tokens or counters. I'd looked with keen interest at a few of them come up in auctions in the past couple of years before finally nabbing this Aelia Flaccilla. This particular example was given serrated edges and a few deep blows of a chisel across its surfaces. If she could talk, imagine the tales she could tell!

RUNNER-UP: SELEUKID KINGDOM, Tryphon. AE17. Spiked Macedonian Helmet.
$37 (Savoca London Blue 6, October 2019)

I like to think that the two competing coins in this price category show how I give equal opportunity to the weird and the beautiful in my collection. At the same time, my choice of favourite probably shows that when push comes to shove, the weird often wins out. This distinctive Tryphon type has been on my want list for awhile (check out @Ryro's excellent thread for a great writeup on Tryphon), and I was happy to score this lovely example for a nice price. Now that I think of it, though, if it had been cut and used as a gaming token like the previous coin, I would probably like it even more!

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CATEGORY $41 - $50

FAVORITE: THESSALY, Pherai. Alexander, tyrant, 369-359 BC. AE Chalkous. Jason, Leader of the Argonauts.
$48 (Obolos Auction 13, July 2019)

This neat little bronze shows on its obverse the mythological Greek hero Jason (leader of the famed Argonauts), a Thessalian royal, and the lower leg of a horse on the reverse. It was a rarity on the market 6 or 7 years ago, and a nice one might have brought upwards of $1000 at auction. With the ongoing dispersal of BCD's huge collection of Thessalian coinage, they've become quite a lot less scarce, and prices have dropped to the point that I was able to pick up this decent example at a major European auction house's sale for under $50. Same cool coin type, much friendlier prices. I suppose it's also worth noting that this coin is NOT ex BCD, and as such, rarer than other examples of the type.

RUNNER-UP: CLAUDIUS II GOTHICUS. EGYPT, Alexandria. Potin Tetradrachm. Ex Clain-Stefanelli Collection.
$41 (Naville 52, September 2019)

This one was picked up as part of an attempt to beef up my collection of later Alexandrian Provincials, currently pretty weak for the 3rd century AD. It has a well-struck, pleasing portrait, reasonably nice surfaces and colour, and an excellent pedigree to the Clain-Stefanelli Collection.

 

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CATEGORY $51 - $60

FAVORITE: DIVA MARINIANA. AR Antoninianus. Consecratio. Ex Doug Smith Collection
$52 (AMCC 2, November 2019)

Another AMCC 2 win, and another ex @dougsmit coin. Looking at this Diva Mariniana (just received yesterday!), I'd like to tell Doug that if he ever feels a coin is too homely for him, he should not hesitate to send it to me. While I didn't get this Mariniana for free, I did get it at a price I was more than happy to pay to check off a long empty empress box. Thanks, Doug!

RUNNER-UP: TRAJAN DECIUS. AR Antoninianus. Heavy specimen.
$52 (Gorny & Mosch Auction 263, March 2019)

Another pretty homely 3rd century antoninianus. To me the curious thing about it is its weight of 6.56g, about 60% heavier than the expected average of 4g for an antoninianus of Decius. It would be interesting if this were a case where two blanks got fused together and then struck, but I'm not sure I see any evidence of this. I think it's more likely that a heavier than normal blank was accidentally made and just slipped past quality control.

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CATEGORY $61 - $70

FAVORITE: CORINTHIA, Corinth. AR Drachm. Double struck bust. Ex JB Collection
$61 (AMCC 2, November 2019)

Talk about your dramatic double strikes! This was one of my absolute favorites of all the coins offered in AMCC 2, and I was really pleased to win it at what I think is a really great price. It's a lovely coin in hand, made unique by an error at the mint that produced a clear double of Aphrodite's face, giving the coin's reverse an illusory jugate head design. It was a pretty striking (pun intended) effect that I had expected to pay extra for, but instead it came in at a fair bit below my max bid.

RUNNER-UP: ROMAN REPUBLIC. L. Julius Bursio. AR Denarius. Rare control symbol.
$69 (Lockdales Auction 162, January 2019)

When browsing through auction catalogs, I have an internal alarm that tends to go off whenever I spot an interesting control symbol or minor device. I remember the alarm blaring "BUY IT! BUY IT!" rather strongly for this Bursio denarius with its small but well-formed bearded head (most likely Silenus's or Pan's) behind the bust of Apollo Vejovis. De Ruyter in his die analysis lists 454 obverse control mark varieties for this issue. I looked through all of them and came to the inevitable conclusion that mine's the coolest.

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CATEGORY $71 - $80

FAVORITE: ROMAN REPUBLIC. L. Livineius Regulus. AR Denarius. Bestiarii and animals.
$78 (Leu Web Auction 7, February 2019)

Another box checker at a price I couldn't say no to. The coin has its issues, but the devices are fairly clear - a gladiatorial venatio scene, with two bestiarii fighting a lion, panther and bear. This type was struck during the time of the Second Triumvirate, and the reverse likely commemorates the five-day venatio that was part of the extravagant games held by Julius Caesar in 45 BC at the Circus Maximus. For this venatio, Caesar had 400 lions imported from North Africa and Syria, and also introduced bears and giraffes to the hunt for the first time.

RUNNER-UP: ROMAN REPUBLIC. L. Mussidius Longus. AR Denarius. Shrine of Venus Cloacina.
$71 (CNG E-Auction 441, April 2019)

This is an iconic type, at least here on CT, thanks in no small part to @TIF's epic writeup on it. She and a few other members have seriously pretty examples of the type, but to be absolutely honest, I'm not sure I'm 100% down with that. To my mind, a coin dedicated to the Goddess of the Great Sewer ought to ideally be the most banged up, grunkiest one out there. It ought to look like it went through the Sewer itself and got spat back out. In short, it ought to look like mine. Or @Ryro's. It only took five years of dedicated searching to find this example, and yes, I just made up a word back there (grungy + junky = grunky). Pretty proud of myself.

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CATEGORY $81 - $90

FAVORITE: GORDIAN III. CILICIA, Seleucia ad Calycadnum. AE Tetrassarion. Gigantomachy.
$90 (Leu Web 7, February 2019)

I'm fond of mythological reverses, and really like this type, which features a scene from the mother of all mythological battles - the Gigantomachy. In the battle, the Olympian gods came together to war against and ultimately defeat the one hundred Giant offspring of Gaia (the Earth) and Uranus (the Sky), and by doing so, established their supremacy over the cosmos. This specific scene depicts Athena laying her divine and wrathful smackdown on an anguiped (serpent-legged) giant named Enceladus. The coin itself is not bad too, I think.

RUNNER-UP: VITELLIUS. AR Denarius. Anepigraphic reverse.
$90 (Noble Numismatics Sale 121, August 2019)

I'd been looking for a decent, affordable Vitellius replacement for my collection ever since selling my old one last year. I really liked this for its bold, bareheaded portrait of Caesar #9, and also for its less common anepigraphic reverse.

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CATEGORY $91 - $100

And.... *DRUMROLL*... here it is, folks, the promised pot of gold at the end of the rainbow... my first Byzantine AV solidus!

FAVORITE: BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Constantine VII & Romanus II. AV Solidus.
$97 (Leu Numismatik Web 10, December 2019)

Errr... so yeah, I suppose I should have said "spot" rather than "pot" of gold. Where you might expect a solidus of Constantine VII to be between 18-20mm and around 4.4g, this teeny bit of yellow is all of 10mm and just 1.2g! So what happened here? The auction cataloger suggests that it was "clipped down to a small medallion of Christ and likely worn as a religious pendant or earring." I think that's plausible, and I'm more than willing to go with that theory, since I think it makes this mini-coin a truly fascinating relic of its times. So, that's it, my big foray into Byzantine gold. As far from mint state as it gets, and still something to love, IMHO.

RUNNER-UP: CORINTHIA, Corinth. AR Stater. Overstruck early issue, circa 515-450 BC.
$98 (Naville 52, September 2019)

Runner-up in this final category is a coin made a bit more special because it was overstruck on another coin, the clearest evidence of which is a ghost of a design below the body of the pegasos. Corinthian staters, being plentiful, were frequently recycled by other cities to strike their own types. Conversely, a Corinthian stater showing traces of having been overstruck on the coin of another city would be pretty remarkable as well as an outright rarity. While the undertype here is not at all clear, I imagine I see the tail and lower body of a dolphin, from a didrachm of Tarentum. Being that it would be super-cool if that were truly the case, a couple of months ago, I wrote to François de Callatay, an authority on the subject of Greek overstrikes, hoping to get a confirmation of what I thought I was seeing. While he agreed it looked overstruck, he was politely non-committal about the possible undertype. Basically, I think he thought I was seeing things. Oh well, I think I'll carry on imagining... and perhaps next time ask a real expert about it.

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Thank you if you've made it this far. I'd be happy to read any comments you have about this list or the coins on it, and also if you'd like to show any related coins or make your own $1-$100 list as some other members have already done.

My Top 10 list is still in the works, awaiting the arrival of one final coin that just has to be in it. I'm hoping it'll get here before the end of the year!

 

Great selection at some bonkers prices. Nice arse too.

 

What an epic year-end recap! Wow, you sure can find some bargains-- that GIII gigantomachy for $90? From Leu?!! Did all other bidders have to take a bathroom break when it hit the block?

The Livineius Regulus gladatorial scene denarius for $78? Theft!

The "spot of gold" Byzantine is a fun find.

Thanks for the entertaining post .

 

Fascinating coins and entertaining write-up, @zumbly ! My favorites are the Gordy gigantomachy, the CII Spes tet, and how you cherry-picked the Max Daia. What a year!

 

Well, you've got the Silenus control mark and I've got the wine. Seems like we have a little Bursio party going!

Roman Republic, moneyer: L. Iulius Bursio, AR denarius, 85 BC, Rome mint. Obv: male head r., with attributes of Apollo, Mercury and Neptune; behind, control-mark (wine grapes). Rev: L.IVLI.BVRSIO; Victory in quadriga r., holding reins in l. hand and wreath in r. hand; in field, controlmark (FI). 21mm, 3.76g. Ref: RRC 352/1c.

In all honesty, that's a fantastic list and I greatly enjoyed reading your comments. Thanks for posting it.

The Tryphon is a favorite because of the goat's horns helmet also found on a Roman denarius I've been trying to understand for a while now. And the Vitellius with the anepigraphic reverse stands out to me, too – what a nice coin!

 

A superbly frugal list my friend! My favourites would have to be the Gordian III and the Vitellius.

 

I bought this coin in a Gitbud Naumann sale in April 2016 for $97.27 including postage. You did not get it for free but I was hoping to recoup more than half what I paid. I wish I could say this was the last coin I bought because I thought I needed one rather than because I liked the coin. I never did like it so I'm glad it ended up where it can be appreciated.

 

Wow, @zumbly ! Just an AMAZING recap! Fantastic. I want them all.

 

Give me maybe another couple of decades and I should hopefully get there.

I'm pretty much a teetotaller in real life, but in Coinland... let's party! Oh, and I really like that Bursio!

When the Great Sewer Goddess beckons from her porcelain altar shrine, you just gotta answer the call.

 

@zumbly you always have nice coins and these are no exception. Your Maximinus is my favorite as well.

 

Amazing deals and interesting coins - for me the Aelia Flacilla gaming token, Phocas curiosity, and the Clain-Stefanelli Claudius II top the list. All interesting and I enjoy your descriptions. Best wishes for the next year!

 

Lots of great coins here. I'm glad to see other members who also appreciate the allure of a well-worn but still attractive coin. If I had to choose my absolute favorites, I'd go with the Gigantomachy scene and the double-struck Corinth. (I have a thing for double-struck coins, as you might be able to tell from my own Top 10 list.)

 

Are you kidding me!?!?
Beautiful coins at some ridiculous prices And as always, super fun write up. Thanks!
That Tryphon is about perfect.
Someone was hypothesizing that the wicked helmets on the reverse must be ornamental as there is no practical use for it in battle. I gotta disagree. Can you imagine the intimidation factor of seeing 20,000 Maco/syrians charging at you wearing these things


And what can I say. When your celebrating poop your coin oughta look like crap

L. Mussidius Longus
42 BC. RomeFoureé Denarius AR16mm., 3,02g.
Radiate and draped bust of Sol facing slightly right / The shrine of Venus Cloacina; a low circular platform surmounted by two statues of the goddess, each resting right hand on cippus, the platform inscribed CLOAC and ornamented with trellis-pattern balustrade, with flight of steps and portico on left; L•MVSSIDIVS•LONGVS around above.
nearly very fine
Crawford 494/43b. Former Savoca

Bing's arse is in Good hands nice

 

My collection, which lacks a Maximinus II Nicomedia 69b with left-field officina, IS SO LAME.

Funniest: Bing's grunky arse.
Most interesting for coin nerds: offcentre dimple Seleukos IV
Most interesting for regular folks: Gigantomachy
Most mutilated: tie between Aelia Flaccilla gaming token/weight and solidus
Coolest looking: double struck Corinth drachm
Best looking: oooh, hard to say... the Max II Daia is pretty sweet, obviously, but the Tryphon is lovely, the CII drachm has a great portrait as does the Vitellius, and the Gigantomachy is great too!
Best deal: erm, all of them? The Max II Daia, the Flaccilla, the Mariniana, and the Regulus leap out at me in this respect.
Coin SA is most proud of you for: tie between the bookends... my buddy bought Byzantine! TWO Byzantine!

[ahem, here is my $23 Gigantomachy :

]

 

Your list shows what can be done when someone is knowledgeable and patient. Good for you. Regarding the hut coin, I’ve argued that the object is really a pedum, a shepherd’s staff used for hunting, not a bow. Wish we had a time machine to go talk to a die engraver.

 

Pretty nice scores Zumbly! You got a keen eye for bargains!!!!! I have never been so fortunate as to get anything below $100

 

Awesome buying zumbly, you really have a great eye for bargains.

 

These are all great, I especially like the Gordian Gigantomachy and the Tryphon. Some great values in this list.

 

And poop just got real right there. Love that grunky fourrée!

Pedum is convincing! On my coin, it looks like it could also be a twig.

Don't stop trying! I look forward to the day you show us one.

Keep looking.

Are you making fun of my Byzantiny treasure?

Well, you were responsible for many of the deals on this list, so thank you! I'm sure I'm not the only one looking already forward to AMCC 3.

Awesome deal, showoff!