Harry G

Nice coins, and I'm glad to hear your order arrived!

That Claudius II antoninianus is interesting - the obverse appears to read IMP C CLAVDDIVS AVG

I only have one "Wolf & Twins" coin in my "main" collection (of antoninianii), which is this rather unusual antoninianus of Carausius. It's certainly barbarous, and I like the σ+∩ mintmark!

Welcome to the hobby, and welcome to the forum!

I would mostly agree with all the other posters here - VCoins and ma-shops are good (although they can be a little expensive). I would also recommend Roma Numismatics for auctions.

https://www.vcoins.com/en/Default.aspx

https://www.ma-shops.co.uk/

https://www.romanumismatics.com/

It might be a fun exercise to buy a couple of group lots at an auction (Roma has a few decent ones at the moment). That way, you can get several decent coins for (generally) less than they would sell for at retail, and learn how to identify them, all the different rulers/denominations etc.

eBay can be a great place to buy coins, but there are lots of fake sellers out there. I'd recommend buying from sellers that have a physical shop as well as an eBay store, such as denant, del550, carpe-diem-numismatics, cpcoins and ancient17.

Colin Colyton deals a lot with uncleaned coins, and is also very good.

There are also lots of great private sellers out there too that I would always recommend, such as aulusplatus, penterry-mart.

There are a bunch of other excellent sellers on eBay (including me lol), but if you're unsure whether a coin is genuine or not, you can always make a post here 🙂

Biddr is also nice, and is an auction hosting platform that compiles loads of different ancient coin auctions. Just be aware of postage costs and fees before bidding.

Here are some of my scarcer ants with left facing busts!

Carausius - PAX AVG

Postumus (as Hercules) - ORIENS AVG

Valerian I - VOTA ORBIS

I also have a decently nice Tetricus II ant with a left facing bust, although I can't seem to find my photo lol. Will post it when I find it

Hi all!

I saw this posted on the r/AncientCoins subreddit, and thought I'd post it here for those of you that aren't on Reddit.

There are two rather nice tetradrachms from Pamphylia, Side currently listed on Numismad and Bucephalus in their biddr auctions. However, the coins appear to be almost identical - the same trace amounts of deposits, flan shape, wear etc. The only difference I can see is a scratch on the Numismad coin that isn't on the Bucephalus coin (beneath ΔH at around 7 o clock on the reverse)

Both auctions are currently live.

Numismad:

Bucephalus:

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/numismad/browse?a=3030&l=3426070

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/bucephalusnumismatic/browse?a=3028&l=3423541

I won't pretend to be an expert in Greek coins, but this seems more than a little odd. They look genuine to my amateur eyes, and I can't see why any forger would work so hard to make the coins completely identical. It may be possible that somehow both auction houses "have" (or have permission to sell) this coin (even though they are based in Poland and Belgium), with the Bucephalus listing is modified to remove the scratch on the reverse.

Any thoughts on this?

Credit to the original Reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/comments/yimyaj/same_coin_different_auctions/

Any thoughts on this?

I saw that coin when it original came up for sale, and didn't bid as I thought the style and lettering were a bit suspicious. There was also a similar follis of Alexander of Carthage with the same issues in the same auction 

This is my kind of thread!

I frequently buy larger lots of low grade coins, and have found a couple of rarities among them. Here are some of the highlights.

Postumus antoninianus, with the bust as Hercules, and with ORIENS AVG reverse. Unfortunately corroded and likely barbarous, but an extremely rare bust type with an apparently unique reverse. Bought from a large lot of uncleaneds off eBay.

Vabalathus antoninianus - sole reign. Not as nice as my other Vabalathus, but still very scarce (and with a different reverse). Bought from a large lot of semi-uncleaned coins off Biddr, although I spotted this coin in the lot before I bought it.

Q. Pomponius Rufus silver denarius. Not from an uncleaned lot, but from a small lot of silver denarii with this coin not visible. I recently made a thread about it!

9 hours ago, CaptCaveman45 said:

can i post up coins for identification.? most would be worn bad, but someone might be able to help . just want to make sure before i do this

Absolutely, yes! Try not to post too many coins at once as different posts (as it clogs up the forum)

13 minutes ago, shanxi said:

see  https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=611986 or https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10439764q

Apologies - I worded that poorly. I meant that I couldn't find any other coins of a different type with those details - only Crawford 398/1

Hi all!

I recently bought a few lots of coins from a lower-end auction house on Biddr (mostly to sell again on eBay but with a few keepers), and they arrived today!

One of the lots I had bought was a group of 10 Roman silver coins (mostly lower grade denarii).

The picture only seems to show 9 coins, but there is a 10th coin

And here is that coin!

Unfortunately, the coin is very damaged, with a fragile and crystallized flan. However, I think I am correct in my attribution of Q. Pomponius Rufus (Crawford 398/1), and I cannot find any similar coins with an eagle on the reverse with VII below. This coin also appears to have a banker's mark on the obverse (above his neck). It's a shame - apart from the damage, the coin is in mediocre shape!

Sold examples vary wildly in price, but most (whole) ones I've seen go for between £450 - £20,000. Due to the condition of mine, it isn't even close to the lower end (although Roma sold a fourree example in 2016 for around £160 which might be about right). It was certainly a nice surprise to discover this unpictured from a group lot! I only decided to research it because it looked interesting (and would otherwise be listed on eBay as an "Unresearched Roman Republic Denarius" right now)

CNG describes the coin type as being struck by "One of the rarest moneyers of Roman Republican denarii. Apart from his coins, nothing is known about him. Curiously, this reverse type may have served as the model for the later gold staters of the dynast Coson."

Is my attribution correct? I know almost nothing about coins from the Roman Republic, and don't want to get my hopes up.

Thanks!

9 hours ago, Limes said:

Ah yes, who doesnt have a case of the auction frusties? Funny thing is, every time I make the same mistakes again. Its a never ending case of self inflicted torment. And I think over the years i have learned to enjoy the pain.

Anyway, it goes something like this. A few weeks before the auction starts, the catalogue is posted. I drewl over all the amazing coins, select a big list of targets, start the research process and decide my tactic. Which is then basically the idea i can get a few main targets cheap because supposedly im the only person on the planet who follows this auction and is interested in the coins. (Haha) Then, the first pre bids come in. No problem, I expected those, and they are manageable. (I tend to forget again and again that a pre bid does not show) someone s max bid. A week before auction date, more pre bids follow. Ok, that is trouble, some high bids already, I have to cancel some targets from my main list. But luckily theres always a second, not main target list and I just go for those. A day before the auction starts the last pre bids come in. By then I cancel almost all my main targets and secondary targets. I can always focus all my funds on one or two coins, right? Auction day arrives: pre bids are just the beginning of the misery. My primary and even secundary targets are getting away on such high prices, i start wheeping a bit. This is not what realized prices told me!! But then comes that one main target left on my list.... I get all my hopes up, go full in.... aaaaaand its gone. Enter: the pain. I start contemplating my lifes choices, open a beer or two and start eating a lot of chips, sometimes followed by frustated shopping on ma shops (and still find nothing).

Luckily theres always another auction around the corner. Eat, sleep (rave) repeat, and sometimes you get lucky. 

This is exactly the same for me, except, in my frustration at not winning any lots, I manage to buy a "cheap" coin that I didn't particularly want instead, and end up paying an extra 2x the cost of the coin to have it posted to me!

Nice coin, and an interesting error!

I don't have any Decentius or Magnentius coins in my collection, but here's one that I recently sold at Roma (ex. eBay score)

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure yours is ex. Roma (I saw it come up for sale on eBay after it was listed there)

https://www.romanumismatics.com/index.php?option=com_timed_auction&view=lot_detail&low_estimate=0&high_estimate=0&keyword=Decentius&exclude_keyword=&sort_by=lot_number&image_filter=0&box_filter=0&paper_filter=0&export_issue=0&arr=0&auction_id=0&list_type=list_view&gridtype=listview&lots_per_page=100&page_no=1&lot_id=131788&search_type=&year=&month=&department_id=&cat_id=

Here are a few of my more interesting barbarous radiates!

Tetricus I, reverse of Marius (clasped hands) reverse. Unfortunately corroded.

Tetricus II antoninianus "as CESAR". Never seen one that (nearly) fully spells out his title before.

Tetricus I, CONSECRATIO (altar). Style looks nearly official, but a little off.

On 9/9/2022 at 5:39 PM, Curtis JJ said:

Note: For anyone interested, here a copy of BMC Corinth online Forum Ancient Coins (Joe Sermarini), direct to PDF file

Oh my gosh ("I just threw up in my mouth a little bit"), now that I've read that, once I complete this comment I'm going back to bed to cry under the covers for the rest of the day... maybe weekend too... That price is SO unfair!!! I would've totally sold my Prius and tried to outbid you!

That's why I love Konvolute (the Germans have the perfect word for it, which I think is used in other languages and, in my opinion, should be adopted by all English-speaking book collectors!). Sometimes you can find the most wonderful groups of books much cheaper than they have any right to sell for.

You're right that most copies of BMC Corinth are not as expensive (usually a couple-or-few hundred, and damaged copies with original cover as low as $100-150, probably some even less).

I'm not an experienced enough book collector to know what makes some copies worth 10X more than others, but I imagine small gradations in quality at the higher end result in huge increases in price. (Provenance may matter too, but maybe not as much as for coins, sometimes just in generating excitement and bids for an important library, like the Mark & Lottie Salton at Kolbe-Fanning or Poinsignon at Kunker.)

Here's the recent $2.750 + fees Salton re-bound original BMG Greek Corinth (note that the description mentions a previous sale of a copy for $1,600 hammer):

https://bid.numislit.com/lots/view/1-4Y4151/original-bmc-corinth

[Edit, another] $1,600 + fees: https://bid.numislit.com/lots/view/1-4JAYOD/original-bmc-greek-on-corinth-colonies

Kolbe & Fanning also recently had one listed on their website for a comparable fixed price (2k range, I believe), but apparently it sold, since I don't see the listing. I believe they've sold others in that price range. I'll edit in some other examples if I can find them. But apparently they weren't just a "one off" or "two off" -- there were multiple. For some of the other volumes in the BMC Greek set too, but I can't remember which, exactly, I've seen bring 4-figure prices.

BTW, here's my BMC Corinth, which I've shown before (it lives inside a custom box with my BMC Central Greece [1884], both from part 1 of the Hermann Lanz [1910-1998] library in Jan. at G. Hirsch). The cover is damaged along the spine (but internally perfect), but I really wanted this copy for G.F. Hill's (1867-1948) bookplate (the famous numismatist, Director of the British Museum, author/editor of several volumes of BMC). The 150 EUR hammer seemed surprisingly low given the "object biography," but that goes to show I don't understand book prices that well:

Interesting, the Corinth book is probably the nicest of the lot. It is rebound, but not unattractively.

I think mine's still certainly on the low end of that estimate... 😄

21 hours ago, Curtis JJ said:

Oh, p.s., speaking of numismatic libraries....

the other day I made a little video (~75 seconds) and titled it "Time to Reorganize my Ancient Coin Library" (Sound On: a version of "walk the line" that was reportedly public domain)...

several decades of book acquisitions there:

 

Thanks for sharing! That was an interesting video. Lots of excellent books

14 hours ago, dougsmit said:

Re: Akerman:  I have had his book set for many years and find it interesting since it dates to a time two centuries ago when rarity was what made a coin collectable. Akerman does not even list the common coins of Rome but gives the ones to be sought out as rarities and ranks the most rare type for that ruler.  Of the Severans he notes as most rare, I have only one (a Geta).  I don't agree with all of his choices but it is interesting today when more people want condition rather than rarity.   I would have sold mine long ago were it not for the fact that a previous owner had the pair rebound with a pair of signed letters from Akerman tipped in.  I suspect that makes my volumes as rare and valueless as the books themselves.  The plate drawings are pretty but not especially accurate. 

Haha, I think you're right there. Looking through now, only the rarest coins seem to be there, and the illustrations, while interesting to look at, are quite unlike the coin they're supposed to be showing.

2 hours ago, Brennos said:

Congratulations ! it is an almost complete set of the Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum in 29 volumes.

each book is worth about 150$-200$ depending on the volume and the condition (the Forni reprints are of course less exensive)

Part of my library on greek coins :

Woah, awesome collection! That must take a while to read end to end...

19 minutes ago, Curtis JJ said:

Fantastic group! I'd love to have all those. The Akerman look really beautiful. The plate you showed is much better than most of the digital copies I've seen. Deeply jealous of the BMC set!

Depends on condition & volume, but i think nice originals of certain BMC Greeks can sell for much more. For instance, I've seen several copies of Corinth sell for $2k-3000-plus! ($2750+fees for the Salton Lib. copy, which was rebound, and a few other copies recently in that range. But, of course, you can also buy a complete set of 29 average used copies in that range too.)

 

P.s. if shipping was half the total then I'm assuming this must've been around $1000 or even less which strikes me as a great steal. Could be wrong depending on details, but I'd have paid a lot for these! 

Wow, do you have a link to that Corinth sold listing? I was looking at the CNG sold listings, and prices seemed healthy (but not that much!)

I paid £280 hammer for the lot + £70 fees + £140 postage, so a little under £500 in total.

Hi all!

I just thought I'd share a purchase I made recently. Instead of buying some more coins for my collection, I decided that I wanted some good books to read and use to research.

I saw a nice lot of ancient coin books come up for sale, and decided to bid, and surprisingly, I won it for a very reasonable price! Unfortunately, the postage to receive them was about half what I paid for the books themselves...

Anyway, the books I will probably be keeping are these RIC volumes 1 - 5. Some are rebound (though quite nicely), and, I didn't know this while bidding on them, they all appear to be the original editions.

Another two books I may or may not decide to keep are these two volumes. "A Descriptive Catalogue of Rare and Unedited Roman Coins" by Akerman (printed in 1834!). They have some neat plates in them, and are nicely bound.

The bulk of the lot, however, are 23 (!) volumes of BMC: A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum. Some are rebound (quite nicely), and all are the original editions from the late 1800s - early 1900s. They are all ex library and quite worn.

"Lycaonia, Isauria and Cilicia (1900)", "Cyprus (1904)", "Lydia (1901)", "Peloponnesus (1887)", "Corinth (1889)"

"Seleucid Kings of Syria (1878)", "Central Greece (1884)", "Attica, Megaris, Aegina (1888)", "Italy (1888)", "Caria and Islands (1897)"

"Macedonia (1879)", "Thrace (1877)", "Troas, Aeolis, Lesbos (1894)", "Lycia, Pamphylia and Pisidia (1897)", "Crete and Aegean Islands (1886)"

"Phrygia (1906)", "Galatia, Cappadocia and Syria (1899)", "Ionia (1892)", "Parthia (1903)"

"Cyrenaica (1927)", "Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia (1922)", "Sicily (1876)" and "Pontus, Paphlagonia, Bithynia and Bosporus (1889)"

Phew, that was a pain to type 😄

There were only two of the later reprints by Forni, and one (technically) non-Greek book.

"Greek Scythic Kings of Bacteria & India (1886)" (from BMC Catalogue of Indian Coins), "Thessaly to Aetolia", "Ptolemies Kings of Egypt" (these both Forni reprints)

And finally, there were a few miscellaneous non numismatic books, my favourites being "British Non-Parasitical Worms in the Collection of the British Museum (1865)" and Mazzaroti" (a book on constellations with some plates from 1882)

I have no idea what I'll do with the Greek books (as I don't specialise in any Greek coins), so I may just end up listing them on eBay. The RIC books (and some of the others), however, will be mine to keep. Regardless, they will an be an interesting read!

Show me some of your numismatic books!

9 hours ago, Agrippa said:

@Harry G, congratulations with this great lot. Had the lot also on my watchlist but, besides the pre-bid I already placed, totally forgot to attend the live bidding 😒

Some really great coins in this lot; especially seeing them individually.

The first one you show is IMO also special as this SALVS AVG one has a dot in the right field.

I have the following two coins (die match with yours) of this type in my own collection and so far didn’t seen another one.

 

Thanks for your reply! I had no idea this variety existed, and didn't notice the dot! I would imagine it was created by the engraver accidentally starting to make a legitimate field mark for a different reverse (such as the star on Pax types)

The reverse die looks the same, although the obverse on mine seems to have a curvier nose, so maybe the obverse does are different?

I don't know... That 1865 Washington dollar looks legit to me...

Seriously, though, it's a shame to see posts like this, although I guess it's bound to happen occasionally (bot accounts coming in and listing obvious fakes).

I always thought that CNG took photos of their coins on that background, but it looks like there are some slabbed coins there that break the illusion 😂.

Looks like there are some fantastic coins on offer, but CNG is usually to rich for my blood, so I'll pass.

On 8/19/2022 at 2:02 AM, Ocatarinetabellatchitchix said:

Very nice lot Harry. I’m happy you won it; the COMES example worth around 300€ alone since we only see about 1 for sale every year ! The VIRTVS standing left is not common at all (only 5 in Cunetio) and your INVICTVS without the star is very hard to find. Your other INVICTVS with the leaf is very interesting; it is classified as number 591 by Mairat, and there are only one in London and one in Paris (die match with yours). But it’s clear that there is a star on your specimen, unlike the example of the British Museum; so it should have its own number (maybe in a future revision?). Here are some of my leaf  examples, and another one I found a couple of months ago double die-match with the London one (without the star). By the way, I know the collector who was the underbidder the first time the lot was for sale. I don’t think he’ll be very happy that the auction house didn’t contact him to offer to buy it ! Maybe I’m better off not telling him your story…

 

 

Thank you for your reply! The coin illustrated in Mairat (591/2) seems to have something in the left field (I'm assuming it's traces of a star), that is very weakly struck, which my coin also appears to have - maybe the mint worker attempted to remove the star from the die?

I didn't realise that Virtus standing left was particularly scarce! I always assumed they were equally as common as the other (although that explains why I didn't have an example in my collection before!)

Yours are excellent coins as always 😄

On 8/19/2022 at 7:48 AM, shanxi said:

Nice lot, there are some wonderful examples !

 

I have only one Victorinus

 

Victorinus, 268-270
Antoninianus, Köln
Obv: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG, Bust of Victorinus, radiate, draped, right, or bust of Victorinus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, right
Rev: VIRTVS AVG, Soldier, draped, cuirassed, standing right, holding spear in right hand and leaning on shield with left hand
AE, 2.11g, 20.3mm
Ref.: RIC 5b, p.393, 78

Nice piece! That patina is fantastic

15 minutes ago, IanG said:

Harry G asks if there is a way to reduce the size of a picture being posted on the forum. There is, I did it yesterday. I was posting pictures of two coins in a reply on a thread. The first came out at normal size, the second for some reason was very much larger. Leaving them like that would have looked odd so I altered the second one. What you need to do is right click on the picture that you want to alter and press control. this brings up an option to resize. It was easy for me because I was able to check the pixel size on the first picture and match it so they were of identical size. Otherwise you might need a bit of trial and error.

Thanks for this! That works for me (although I need to double click rather than right click for some reason).

^That one is 1 pixel x 0 pixels apparently 😄

Whenever I try to post a picture of one of my coins, the forum automatically blows it up to the maximum size possible. Because I normally only take pictures of coins with my phone, the quality generally isn't great.

For example, here's a picture of a Victorinus ant, that I was going to post on my latest thread.

My photo looked really grainy, so I ended up posting 2 coins together, so the smaller size doesn't make the quality look as bad.

I don't know if there's a way to reduce the size of the picture on the forum (or if it's possible to add one), but maybe someone knows how? Changing the picture size outside of the forum isn't really an option for me, as all the options I've tried compress the hell out of the photo, making it even more unusable.

Hi all!

A few months ago, I bid on an Elstob & Elstob auction, where I won a single lot of Tetricus ants (including a left facing Tetricus II example). I had bid on several other lots, but unfortunately, the prices were extremely high, and I was completely blown out of the water on all my other bids. I had resigned to the fact that I would never get some of the coins offered for sale, and moved on with my collecting.

However, for whatever reason, the buyer(s) of several lots didn't pay, and they were relisted and put in a different sale! As this new auction wasn't as well advertised (and didn't specialise on coins), I managed to pick up this lot of Victorinus ants for significantly less than they reached before (I believe last time, this lot reached a little over £750 after fees, and I managed to get it for around £300). There are a couple of grail coins in here, and I'm very pleased to add some scarcer coins of Victorinus to my collection!

First of all, here are all the common types that were in the lot...

Left: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / SALVS AVG, Salus standing left, holding patera and sceptre, small altar at feet, entwined by a snake

Right: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / PAX AVG, V - ✶, Pax standing left holding olive branch and sceptre

Left: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS P F AVG / PAX AVG, V - ✶, Pax standing left holding olive branch and sceptre

Right: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / INVICTVS, ✶ - [Partial hieroglyph], Sol advancing left, holding whip in left and raising right hand

Left: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / VIRTVS AVG, Virtus standing right, holding spear and leaning on shield

Right: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / VIRTVS AVG, Virtus standing left, holding spear and leaning on shield

Left: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / PAX AVG, V - ✶, Pax standing left holding olive branch and sceptre

Right: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS P F AVG / FIDES MILITVM, Fides standing left, holding two standards

Left: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS P F AVG / PAX AVG, Pax standing left holding olive branch and transverse sceptre. Relatively scarce with nothing in field

Right: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / INVICTVS, ✶ - [half-leaf / "better" hieroglyph], Sol advancing left, holding whip in left and raising right hand

Left: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / INVICTVS, [nothing] - [hieroglyph], Sol advancing left, holding whip in left and raising right hand. Unusual with nothing in the left field

Right: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS P F AVG / INVICTVS, ✶ - [hieroglyph], Sol advancing left, holding whip in left and raising right hand

This heroic bust one is a type I've been after for a while!

Left: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / VICTORIA AVG, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm

Right: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / PAX AVG, V - ✶, Pax standing left holding olive branch and transverse sceptre. Rare with the heroic bust

A couple of the coins have the very long obverse legend, featuring an unabbreviated PIAVVONIVS in the obverse legend. I didn't have an example before, but now I have two!

Left: IMP C M PIAVVONIVS VICTORINVS P F AVG / PAX AVG, [nothing] - [nothing], Pax standing left holding olive branch and transverse sceptre

Right: IMP C M PIAVVONIVS VICTORINVS P F AVG / FIDES MILITVM, Fides standing left, holding two standards

However, the two highlights of the lot are undoubtedly these two.

Left: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG / INVICTVS, [traces of ✶] - [leaf hieroglyph], Sol advancing left, holding whip in left and raising right hand. This coin contains the rather rare leaf heiroglyph in the right field. Unfortunately, there is a little bit of damage where it is supposed to be, although most of it is still visible. I've managed to find a die match to it in Mairat (see below).

Right: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS P F AVG / COMES AVG, Victory standing left, holding wreath and palm. Coins of Victorinus with this reverse are much rarer than the standard types, and I can only see one exact match on acsearch (no mintmark in field), which sold about 6 years ago.

Unfortunately, I do not know who this collector was (they had some amazing coins in this and their last sale), but if anyone knows, please do let me know, and I will be delighted to add the provenance!

Please show me some of your Victorinus coins, or some under-priced shenanigans...

Damn, that Gordian III medallion is fantastic! Unfortunately, I'm a couple of quid short to be able to buy it, so here's something more within my budget range.

Behold: The Cheapest Coin on VCoins!

10 minutes ago, shanxi said:

A rare coin !! Another nice example in the Reinhardt collection, page 54 and 55 (MIR: 369cc (0ex))

https://www.academia.edu/77282280/GALLIENUS_ANTONINIANII_English_version_PDF?email_work_card=title

 

Woah, thanks for that! I was not aware there was an example in that collection (and all the other VICT GAL AVG obverse types!). I've just added the one with the military bust on my bucket list for when I win the lottery lol