Steppenfool

I was currently in a bit of a conundrum with N&N London. My total came to £110. I had to decide whether to pay tracked and insured £35 (+1% for insurance) from FedEx, or taking heed from some users here, e-mail to request the £10 shipping that is not an option to be selected at checkout. I settled on the latter due to the fact that the £35 option would take me above the £135 limit where Customs begin to ask for money. This does seem to annoyingly include the delivery free. I am not opposed to a Customs fee, it is mainly the potential hassle of a wrong Customs Code, or something else resulting in overpayment, which I dread being sentenced to sort out. In addition, I asked them to hold the coins until a later auction. However they only offered to hold them until the next auction, which unfortunately doesn’t include any Philip dynasty antoninianii. I have only ever bought an explicitly untracked and insured coin, that clearly states the buyer takes the risk, on one other occasion. This was a 6 week wait from Incitatus coins (the dealer confirmed the historical reliability of this service) and the envelope eventually arrived with stamps from Islamabad and a myriad of other places. Given that this order is only crossing the English Channel instead of an Ocean, I am hoping it arrives quicker after a more straightforward route. Rather than cower before Fortuna, I’ll meet her gaze and post the coins here:

I voted “Skip” and I feel quite strongly about it My first point of argument would be that you have strong principles regarding your coin purchases. I'm trying to stay regimented by only purchasing coins I'm missing in one of my core collections, primarily because the holes in my collection are becoming more expensive to fill. This coin doesn't meet that requirement. In my opinion, this hobby is one of those where its participants can easily be victims of enthusiasm, and the few rules we set ourselves are bulwarks against this. You have stated that you have a clearly defined system for purchasing coins. I would advise not neglecting this system. There’s probably an old adage about it, but the issue wouldn't be abandoning this particular principle, the real aberration would be initiating the abandoning of principles altogether. Once this is done, what chance do you have? My second point is regarding the following: Although the coin is attributed as rare, it's not. The type is extremely common with nearly 200 examples on ACSearch. It sounds like this example is not nearly exceptional enough to skirt your principles. The “pros” section feels circumstantial and accidental rather than justified on any solid essential point.

Referece (3) : Galen Of Pergamum. Galeni de Compositione Pharmacorum Book IV. 531. b & c Bartels, E.M., Swaddling, J. and Harrison, A.P. (2006), An Ancient Greek Pain Remedy for Athletes. Pain Practice, 6: 212-218. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-2500.2006.00088.x Available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1533-2500.2006.00088.x

Very interesting. Fascinating that there are still 3rd century Antiochian Tetradrachms in this hoard, but no sign of Imperial Silver.

If I had to tell the story of the Roman Empire (I don't know enough about Republican coinage). Here's 13 I would pick. Caesar Portrait Coin - The transition from Republic to Empire EID MAR - The Republicans strike back Augustus: DIVUS IVLIVS comet - Augustus' ambition and the end of Republic for good Augustus: Actium reverse - Augustus wins the Empire and consolidates Vespasian: Judaea Capta - End of the Julio-Claudians and arrival of the Flavians, destruction of the Temple has huge ramifications for Judaism and the nascent Christianity Antoninus Pius: Marcus Aurelius reverse - Adoptive emperors Caracalla: Antoninianus - Inflation is bad partly due to the Severans throwing money at the military, and Caracalla invents a new coin to try and hide it, also everyone is a citizen now? Elagabalus: Stone of Emesa - Religious ideas from the East, Roman culture being syncretised with others. Trajan Decius: Divi Series - Crisis of the third century, Decius attempts to ameliorate by appealing to tradition and persecuting Christians. Aurelian: Restitutor Orbis - Aurelian restores the world Diocletian: Tetrarchs Sacrificing - Diocletian has a cool new system of government that brings some stability Constantine: Eyes to Heaven DAFNE - Constanine is Christian, and the Empire is heading that way. Julian the Apostate: Bull - Paganisms last stand

I can't help you on the finer details of coin photography as I took a cheap and easy way out. I bought this thing for £30 from Amazon. Obviously the photos are nowhere near as good as those that members can achieve with their expensive and sophisticated set ups, but it is a great starter IMO and provides a lot of satisfaction for minimal investment. Now this looks like cheap trash, and I did have to buy a better stand as the included one was awful. But, I am amazed by the images I get from this little piece of kit, and it's compatible with the PhotoBooth application on my Macbook, and has a built in torch, so it's literally plug-in and take photos. Here's some of them: The only issues I've found is firstly, that on the preview screen the image is mirrored horizontally, but it fixes itself when taken. Apparently this can be fixed by using the official app from the devices manufacturers but I didn't want to. Secondly, because it is microscope rather than a camera, the largest coin it can handle is a larger Nummus of Diocletian's money reform.

Best of luck in your sale! Looking through your posts, I'd certainly be interested in some the pieces if you wouldn't mind revealing which auction house you consigned your collection to? Some of my empresses:

Here's mine, Ex Roma Numismatics. Very doe-ish early portrait, from the same period as @PeteB and @happy_collector examples. The revserse die had taken a beating and couldn't have had much longer left in it.

Welcome to the Forum! If you are able to post the photos of the coins here, members of this Forum would love to help you out in terms of identification and rough values, and show you the methods for acquiring such information. I am not aware of any non-profit coin dealers. You haven't stated your location, but in the UK, OXFAM have a Coins section. However, I have never seen any ancient coins listed. I would personally be more inclined to sell them and donate the proceeds. For this you can either sell privately (on eBay or such) which entails extra hassle and time but can be more profitable, or you can consign them to an auction house or dealer which would be a lot more convenient and they would do all the legwork in terms of identification and valuations for you, while also opening your coins up to a larger client base. Again, members on this Forum have a lot of experience in this area and would be happy to help. What is the nature of the collection? Is it Ancient or Modern, and can you narrow down further to another category Ancient Roman or British Gold?

Very nice coin! I am confident enough to identify the figures as Caracalla and Geta unless some better justification for their sudden inclusion on this type is discovered. Here’s the RIC entries, 240 refers the reader to 226 (my example) which does not identify the children as Caracalla and Geta.

here’s my two Maximinus coins, the top one a SOLE from Antioch, mainly purchased for the amazing detail on the head of Serapis.

Hello to our UK friends: I am selling some of my collection on eBay. I am trying to recoup costs rather than make a profit, so prices are (in my opinion) quite reasonable. Take a look if this interests you and feel free to negotiate a Numisforums discount! https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/numisbarn

So am I, I think I see a hairstyle of her’s. I’m sure @Roman Collectorcan confirm.

I have an inkling that coin retail prices are coming down. For a while there, the vast majority of retail listing had me thinking “I can’t imagine any scenario where that price could be paid by a buyer.” However, the last few days I have noticed that a few sellers are uploading very competitively priced goods in high volumes, to the point I’ve even even tempted to stray outside my collecting area! Perhaps a coincidence, perhaps seller fatigue kicking in simultaneously, or maybe there’s some effects/news affecting dealers us buyers don’t know about yet!