Michael Stolt

Thank you, and good luck with your upcoming target! The Didrachm seems to have been popular, more than one person I know of highly considered bidding on it. Even though the bid war was quite intense, I think the final hammer was very decent, for the denarius as well (and many other types in the sale ) compared to the current market.

So it looks like we have a new home, and our own section for Roman Republican, I like it. I did make a post on CT yesterday before knowing this, so I am posting it again here 🙂 These are probably my last purchases this spring, as my auction funds are running a bit dry. But I am very happy to end a very successful spring with these two types.The auction format was interesting, with all lots ending at the exact same time (5pm local time), with an exception if a lot received a late bid, then the timer for that specific coin would reset at 10 minutes. This created the longest bid war I have had so far. Nearly 50 minutes of back and forth bidding with the timer resetting to 10 minutes for every bid made.Back to the coins - I am very excited over the fact I will soon be holding my first ever Roman Republican Didrachm, and my favorite type among them with Roma/Victory.I could have waited for a better centered specimen, but what made me go for the current one is the amount of crisp detail you don't usually get on these due to wear or worn dies. The obverse is particularly nice and sort of tipped the balance.The second coin is a very scarce, unsigned corn ear series denarius, the design of Roma's helmet with a single big spike (referred to as the "Bastianelli spike" is quite unique, and specimens as good as this one very seldom show up for sale.As a bonus red_spork pointed me towards a nice provenance back to 1979 for the denarius, that Cayón did not mention. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roman Republic. Circa 250-240 BC. AR Didrachm (6.50 g). Rome (or Neapolis?) mint.Obverse: Head of Roma (or Diana) right, wearing Phrygian helmet; sword in scabbard with belt to left.Reverse: Victory standing right attaching wreath to long palm frond; ROMANO upward to left, II to lower right.Reference: Crawford 22/1. Roman Republic. 211-208 BC. AR Denarius (4.37 g). Unsigned Corn-ear (second) series sibling. Mint in Sicily.Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) to left.Reverse: The Dioscuri, each holding spear, on horseback right; two stars above; ROMA in exergue.Reference: Crawford 68/1b.Provenance: Schweizerischer Bankverein. Auktion 5 (16 October 1979), lot 338. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ending this post with a little group image of the beautiful Roman Republican coins I have managed to gather over the few years I have been collecting! 🙂