AncientJoe

Thanks Andrew! The type is on my list and that's tough to notice just from the images.

I place the slab in a towel on a hard surface and hit it a few times near the corner with a hammer. That will usually be enough to crack it and the rest can be pulled apart. So far, I've never damaged a coin (knock on wood!)

The Caligula is one of the most ridiculous auction prices I've seen in a long time. I hope it won't end up being repaired and returned to the market. I was outbid on everything; certainly an illogical sale in many places!

I haven't had a chance to look at them in depth but I'm also wondering what the pedigrees are/what their cost is if they've sold publicly. I've often wondered the premium applied to "sets" like this (although I've also wondered what kind of collector would want to buy a set en-bloc without adding their own personal touch to it).

Facing heads were very challenging to engrave but are also quite challenging to photograph. Here are a few of mine: Drachm circa 360, AR 4.05 g. Laureate head of Apollo facing three-quarters l., wearing chlamys secured by round brooch. Rev. AΠ – ΟΛΛΑ – Σ ??Swan standing l., with open wings; below, KΛ. ??Traité II, 1997 and pl CLV, 25. Boston 1861. Kunstrfreund 219 (this coin). Ex Naville I, 1921, Pozzi, 2400; Ars Classica XVI, 1933, 1390 and Leu-M&M 28 May 1974, Kunstfreund, 219 sales MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 450-330 BC. EL Stater (18mm, 16.09 g). Head of Apollo, wearing laurel wreath, facing slightly right; below, tunny right / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze I 132; Greenwell 17; Boston MFA 1492 = Warren 1436 THESSALY. Larissa. Ca. mid-4th century BC. AR stater or didrachm (26mm, 12.32 gm, 4h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Head of nymph Larissa facing, turned slightly left, hair in ampyx, wearing pendant earrings and necklace / ΛΑΡΙ-Σ-ΑΙΩΝ, bridled horse prancing right on ground line. HGC 4, 409. BCD Thessaly I 306-311. BCD Thessaly II 1160.Ex Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection (Sotheby's New York, 19 June 1990), lot 93 Drachm circa 380-350, AR 2.76 g. Pegasus flying r.; below, Λ. Rev. Head of Aphrodite facing, turned slightly r., wearing a pearl necklace; in r. field, retrograde Σ. Traité II, IV p. 78, 157 and pl. CCLXXVI, 15-16. BMC 115. BCD Akarnanien und Aetolien 211 (this coin). Ex M&M GmbH, 2007, BCD, 211 and Nomos 3, 2011, 77 sales. DYNASTS OF LYCIA. Perikles, circa 380-360 BC. Stater (Silver, 26 mm, 9.71 g, 4 h), Phellos. Laureate and bearded head of Perikles facing three-quarters to left, with his hair in dramatic disarray; traces of a cloak around his neckline; to right, dolphin swimming downward. Rev. 𐊓𐊁𐊕𐊆𐊋𐊍𐊁 - 𐊇𐊁𐊛𐊑𐊗𐊁𐊈𐊚 ('Perikle - Wehñtezẽ' in Lycian) Perikles, nude but for Corinhtian helmet, advancing to right, wielding sword in his right hand and holding shield in his left; in field to right, triskeles; all within incuse square. Mildenberg, Mithrapata, 21 and pl. 4, 20 and 22 (this coin). Müseler VIII, 35 var. (same obverse die, but differing reverse symbol). N. Olçay & O. Mørkholm: The Coin Hoard from Podalia, in: NC 1971, 407 (this coin). SNG von Aulock 4249 (same dies). From the Kleinkunst Collection, ex Leu 54, 28 April 1992, 155 and from the Podalia Hoard of 1957 (IGCH 1262). Rhodes drachm (I don't have the attribution on-hand) Pantikapaion drachm, 340/325 v. Chr. Head of a silen after half left (three -quarter view). Rev. Pan Head of a bull to the left (three -quarter view). 9h. Zograph, p. 283 and Tf. 40.17; Mac Donald p. 21.57; SNG BM IX Pt. 1, Tf. 33.880. 3.18 G.; 17.3 mm.

I owned that Colosseum medallion for a few years but ultimately wasn't happy enough with the metal quality (and already have a Colosseum sestertius) so I sold it. I paid $36K all-in and it shocked me when it hammered for 80K CHF... then double-shocked when I saw it on VCoins with the dealer looking for such a strong profit in a short window. Here's my picture:

Great post, @shanxi! Here's my stater equivalent to the diobol in the first post: Borrowing an auction house description: "MYSIA. Pergamum. Ca. 334 BC. Gold Stater (8.60 gm). Head of Alexander right as young Heracles in lion skin headdress / Facing Palladium wearing calathus on head, holding lance in raised right hand and filleted shield on left arm, crested Corinthian helmet right in lower left field. SNG Paris 1557 = Luynes 2493. Von Fritze, Die Munzen von Pergamon, pl. 1, 7 = EHC 268. Westermark, "Notes on the Saida hoard (IGCH 1508)," NNA 1979-80, nos. 36-37 (the Berlin and Paris specimens). Struck in high relief. Lustrous mint state. Pergamum was one of the richest cities in Hellenistic times. It was part of the empire of Alexander the Great, who conquered the region from the Persians. Subsequently Pergamum became the seat of the Attalid dynasty, a sophisticated center of wealth, art, literature, and military power. It was famous for its cult of Asclepius, the god of healing, and for the great Altar of Pergamum, erected to commemorate the defeat of the Gauls by Attalus I Soter. Its magnificent frieze, 390 feet long and 7.5 feet high, was discovered in 1891 by the German Karl Human, built into a Byzantine wall as if it were no more than old stones. It is now one of the principal treasures of the Berlin Museum. The exquisite gold staters of Pergamum were produced by Alexander himself, early in his reign before his great eastern conquests and thus before he had vast gold reserves at his disposal. The obverse features a head of Alexander as Heracles, wearing a lion skin. This type was soon to be introduced on Alexander's silver tetradrachms and drachms, and was later used on his decadrachms as well, but the Pergamene stater issue marks its only appearance on gold. The portrait can be identified as Alexander, not only from the ivory portrait of him found in Tomb II at Vergina, but also because Alexander is portrayed wearingthe lion skin while riding his horse Bucephalus in a royal lion hunt sculpted on the sarcophagus of his friend Abdalonymus, king of Sidon, which is in the ArchaeologyMuseum in Istanbul. The reverse is equally wonderful. The Pergamene stater is the only gold coin that features the famous AthenaPalladium of Troy. This image of Athena was regarded as the guardian of Troy. According to one myth, the city could never be taken as long as the Palladium remained in Troy. Entering the city through a secret passage, the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus removed thePalladium, thus making it possible for the Greeks to get the Trojan Horse into the city and win the war. According to other myths, the Palladium subsequently made its wayto Athens, Argos, or Sparta, but the most common story is that it was not taken from Troy at all until the fall of the city, when the Trojan hero Aeneas rescued it and carriedit with other Trojan refugees to Italy. Aeneas' descendants founded Rome, and the Palladium, now regarded as the guardian of Rome, was deposited in the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum. The Athena Palladium is often depictedon Roman coinage held by Roma or by the emperor, but it is never shown so clearly or in such detail as on this coin of Pergamum. The Athena and her Palladium were important to Alexander, who claimed descent from Achilles, the great Greek hero of the Trojan War. A head of Athena graces the obverse of every one of Alexander's gold staters. The Pergamene stater, however, is the only Alexander-relatedgold coin with a complete figure of Athena—and at that the most famous one from mythology. This issue is thus quite remarkable in that it uses major motifs and types of Alexander's imperial coinage, but in ways unparalleled on other gold coins. The issue is also remarkable because allusions to Troy, Alexander the Great, and the founding of Rome are all joined in a single coin."

That flan is something you don't see every day!

I had a friend who was new to ancients and only wanted to buy coins which had the full dotted border on them... he quickly abandoned that plan. Here are a couple of mine which come to mind as close enough to make the cut: Ex Biaggi:

A coin can be irreplaceable for a range of reasons: condition + pedigree + style, absolute type rarity, and personal significance. Here are a few examples from my collection: Condition/Pedigree/Style: This Clazomenae drachm is Ex. Kunstfreund, Ex. Pozzi, and of superb condition and style. A replacement could theoretically exist but no comparable examples have ever hit the market. Absolute Type Rarity I've posted this recently but this Athens diobol is one of two available to private collectors (the other is in a friend's collection and won't ever be back on the market). I consider it entirely irreplaceable. This coin was minted from the melted down statues of Nike on the Akropolis to fund the creation of a navy against Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Personal Significance This aureus of Antoninus Pius marked a transition in my collecting journey to shift from US coinage to solely into ancients. I fell in love with its art and it has since been my avatar icon for the last 10+ years. It also sparked my interest in pedigree hunting: I've tracked it to several major sales as well as the Biaggi collection which makes it all the more appealing. I'll also add this Colosseum sestertius to the "Personal Significance" category. I first saw it at an ANA show pre-lot viewing, held it in-hand, and said to myself: "now THAT is a piece of history". It's not the finest known of the type but it's an incredibly important type and a difficult coin to find in any condition. I've since tracked down a 1910 pedigree and consider it a permanent resident in my list of favorite coins.

He was indeed, focusing mostly on aurei (moonlighting as a decent opera singer 😉 ). A musician myself, I've always wanted a coin from his collection and never found quite the right one. I bought this coin unpedigreed and tracked down the Michael Price pedigree and then a friend found the Caruso so I couldn't be happier!

Congrats, @DonnaML! I've contemplated trying to complete a Hadrian Travel set but ultimately it would bias my generalist collection too heavily so I'm happy with just two. Here's my aureus of a similar type to your denarius (Adventi Africae): Ex: Enrico Caruso collection, Canessa sale 28.06.1923 lot 298; Ex. Michael F Price Collection, Stacks Dec 3rd, 1996, lot 175; Stacks Fixed Price List, 1990, Lot 25

This shouldn't materially impact buyers (except for buyers who aren't very good at math).

That's an excellent coin and a superb provenance! Your provenance find has at least doubled the value in my eyes.

That's an objectively nice box. Almost makes it worth it 😉

Congrats, Rob!! Very glad you were able to cross an aureus off your list, and a Twelve Caesars at that!

These are valid concerns, and dramatically misshapen coins can be more challenging. But, the material has worked reasonably well for me as it is slightly malleable versus being fully rigid. The smallest I've been able to find is a 10mm insert but even that isn't small enough for some of my coins. For those, I use small plastic Kointains and place them within a larger insert in the Quickslab. Alas, even this won't work for everything: electrum staters, dekadrachms, and even some tetradrachms are too thick. But, it covers a large portion of my collection consistently so I'm reasonably happy with it. For the larger coins, I use inert 2x2 flips in a Lighthouse holder meant for a single slab.

Lighthouse Quickslab are probably your best bet (they're what I use). You'll just need to find ones with holes that match the sizes of your coins - they come in a wide range of sizes. They look like slabbed coins but can be opened at will and the neoprene prevents the coin from moving around at all.

I'm deeply indebted to Andrew Burnett, Peter van Alfen, Bernard Woytek, and Ute Wartenberg (among others), all of whom have helped me numerous times. Numismatists are a special group!

Fascinating to see all of the coins with the same dig/test mark in nearly the same place!

Here are my two, the first of the Zodiac and second of Noah's Ark. Both are rare types and often come with these central alignment dots. I don't find them distracting at all.

I know of two high-end collectors who have bought many substantial coins recently, having made their fortunes in Bitcoin (alas, I've never owned any despite being acutely aware of it in my industry). They've both diversified most of their holdings, selling incrementally over time, so I wouldn't expect a substantial impact.

I just posted this recently but it's worth including in a thread on owls: ATTICA. Athens. AV Diobol (1.43 gms), ca. 407/6 B.C. Svoronos-pl. 15#7. Head of Athena facing right wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with palmette and olive leaves; Reverse: Two owls standing confronted, olive branch between, ethnic in exergue. Minor scuffs, though commensurate with the assigned condition. Ex. John Whitney Walter CollectionAthens was a prolific producer of silver coinage, minting millions of owl tetradrachms. Gold, however, was much scarcer in the region and Athens only minted gold coinage when in severe crisis. This gold diobol comes from the final years of the Peloponnesian War and is one of the most important and rarest Greek coins.Athens faced heavy losses against Sparta. Near the end of the war, they blocked Athens from accessing its silver mines, resulting in an economic emergency. After four years of being starved out, the need for funds became so dire, the authorities ordered the melting of seven of the eight massive gold statues of Nike which were standing around the Parthenon on the Acropolis.These statues were symbols of the city’s great economic reserves making this a true moment of desperation for Athens. The gold from these statues was minted into coins and used to construct a new fleet of ships to attempt a naval retaliation. Because of their value, to protect against forgeries, the dies used to strike the coins were stored in the Parthenon treasury in an alabaster box. Further indicating the importance of their minting, the historical context of these gold coins is exceptionally well documented by the playwright Aristophanes and by the Athenian treasury records.Unfortunately, even with the influx of funds, Athens was ultimately defeated at sea and surrendered to the Spartan general Lysander.While many thousands of coins were minted with the volume of gold from the statues, only a very small number survive today. This coin is one of only two diobols in private hands with the four others residing in museums. Other denominations are also known but exist in similar numbers, with only one or two examples of each available to private collectors.

Here are two of my favorites, stealing the auction descriptions as I haven't had a chance to do a proper writeup in a long time: Tetradrachm circa 300-280, AR 17.29 g. PHΓINOΣ Laureate head of Apollo l., long hair falling in curls over neck. Rev. Lion's head facing. SNG ANS 676. Historia Numorum Italy 2501 (these dies). SNG Lloyd 700 (these dies). AMB 229 (these dies). Herzfelder 115bis. Historia Numorum Italy 2501. Ex NAC sale 8, 1995, 115. Perhaps during the 290's, but conceivably a decade before, Agathocles of Syracuse was involved in a poorly recorded campaign in Bruttium in which he captured Hipponium and Croton. Rhegium, as an ancient enemy of Syracuse, which had burnt Rhegium nearly two centuries before, should have been involved in some way. Our coin seems closely related to certain issues from Syracuse and Punic Sicily, and moreover depicts the solar deity Apollo and a lion, which, although the emblems of the city since time immemorial, seem singularly appropriate to the typology favoured by the tyrants of the new hellenistic world. These splendid dies could well have been engraved by the master who cut the best dies of the Agathocles Kore coinage and perhaps also those of the vastly rare Ptolemaic-type gold stater of the same ruler. BRUTTIUM, Kroton. Circa 400-325 BC. AR Nomos (20mm, 7.70 g, 11h). Head of Apollo right, wearing laurel wreath; KPOTΩNIA-TAΣ around / The Herakliskos Drakonopnigon: the Infant Herakles, nude, crouching facing on rock, head left, strangling a serpent in each hand. Attianese 163 (this coin illustrated and enlarged); HN Italy 2157; SNG ANS 386 (same dies); SNG Lloyd 617–8; Basel 199; Dewing 513; Gulbenkian 132–3; Jameson 433–4; Kraay & Hirmer 271; de Luynes 735 (same dies). From the Gasvoda Collection, purchased from Numismatica Ars Classica. Ex Gorny & Mosch 219 (10 March 2014), lot 19; Giessener Münzhandlung 55 (14 May 1991), lot 30. From the consignor: The reverse type, the infant Herakles strangling two serpents, is highly artistic and was struck during a time of superbly talented engravers working at the main coin-producing cities of Magna Graecia. This is a rare type and certainly among the best survivors of those coins. The father of Herakles was Zeus, who had impregnated Herakles's mortal mother, Alkmene. Hera was naturally unhappy with the impending birth and had two serpents placed in the crib of the infant Herakles. Being the son of Zeus, the babe easily strangled them.

A great coin, and the toning would indicate that it's probably not part of the more recent group of electrum to reach the market. Looking forward to seeing more of your collection!