Rasilon

This coin was one of my very first auction purchases. It was also where I learned not to bid while drinking. 🙂 Despite paying more than I intended ($670 with all the juice and shipping) I'm happy to have it in my collection. STEPHEN ALBUM RARE COINS, AUCTION 41, LOT 75Ancient - Roman & Byzantine ROMAN EMPIRE: Titus, 79-81 AD, AR denarius (3.42g, 19.7mm), Rome, 79 AD, RIC-34, diademed head right // TR P VIIII IMP XIIII COS VII P P, Venus Callipyge, seen half from behind, nude to hips, standing right, resting left elbow on column, transverse scepter in left hand, helmet in outstretched right hand

@John Conduitt I don't think insurance costs explain the high shipping costs. I believe that all of my purchases were on the smaller side. Definitely <$500. In fact the latest purchase from Roma was my smallest purchase at 40 GBP. @Deinomenid The numbers I listed should cover shipping, insurance and any associated shipper's fees. It does not include payment fees for using PayPal or credit cards. @Nerosmyfavorite68 I guess I will have to start doing the same. I stopped buying from German dealers a while ago because their shipping costs where so high, at least when I was going through MA Shops. Thanks, Rasilon

Hello, Over the last several years I've acquired most of my ancient coins from auction houses. Initially I looked at the shipping costs for each house before making a purchase but eventually stopped as they all seemed to be in the same general range. A recent auction purchase that came with an unexpectedly high shipping costs made me reassess that assumption. As a result of that experience I decided to plot the shipping costs for all of the auctions I had won in the last year. I should mention that I am located in the US (MA) and that most of these shipping costs were valued in various currencies so I converted them to USD using the average exchange rate for that one-year period. I found that most of the shipments were in the same general range, with the average being $24. This is about what my gut check had been telling me. The one outlier (my most recent purchase) came from Roma Numismatics. At $43 it was almost twice as expensive as the average. Their website says alternatives shipping methods can be requested but when I contacted them about alternative options I received the following reply: "I am afraid that our shipping costs are fixed and cannot be altered as they cover not only the cost of freight, but also packaging, labour costs and insurance. " The one part of their response that jumped out at me as a possible explanation for the abnormally high shipping costs was that they included labor. Is this normal for the industry? I would have thought that would be baked into their overhead rate somehow. At any rate, this makes it far less unattractive when making small purchases. If anyone else has data on typical shipping costs I'd like to see it. Thanks, Rasilon

Thank you all for the information on these coins! Rasilon

Hello, So this weekend I picked up a Commodus for my collection at the Aquila auction. I checked back in on the bidding a couple hours later and saw that they were up to the lots. On a whim, I entered the minimum 20 EUR bid on the lot shown below and won. All of these coins are unfamiliar to me. Can anyone provide some idea on what I actually purchased? This is the only image provided by the auction house. I've numbered them for ease of reference. Thanks, Rasilon

Very cool find indeed. As a metal detectorist in the US, even a simple musket ball constitutes a good find. I can only imagine how cool it is to find coins and artifacts from these periods in history.

Hello, I was recently eyeing this denarius of Nero in an auction but ultimately decided to give it a pass. I couldn't really put my finger on what bothered me about it but I just had a bad feel about it. The only things that I could possibly point to were: - the apparent raised crack line on the obverse running from the side of the M in "IMP" (6:00) up to Nero's chin. I think it just reminded me of coins I've seen in "known fakes" forums. - The pair of indents on the edge of the coin at approximately 5:00. I am curious to know what others think. Thanks, Rasilon

I did manage to pick up an Otho at auction today so I guess all's well that ends well. R

Yeah. I decided to call it quits at 600. Oh well. On to looking for an Otho I guess. Thanks for the feedback everyone. R

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The weight is 3.64g.

Hello, I recently came across this denarius of Claudius online. It looks to me like the reverse is tooled but I don't have a lot of experience with this sort of thing and would welcome your input. I'm seeing the sharp outline of the snake but slightly above it is a fainter silhouette of the snake's top coil. It's like someone was tooling the snake's outline but messed up on the top bit. In contrast the sharp outlines of the snake, the caduceus is extremely faint. The legs of Pax-Nemesis also seem oddly sharp. Thoughts? Thanks, Rasilon