Kazuma78

5 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

Nice one @Kazuma78! I’m love the staters of Sikyon! So historical! Yours is beautiful and related to the AtG!

Mine is a Peloponnesian War issue.

Yours is also a beautiful example! I like the design of the crouching Chimera. 

I was very excited and blessed to be able to pick up this well detailed Sikyon Stater not too long ago. I've been after an example since I first saw the type about 3 years ago when I got seriously into ancient coins. Please feel free to post anything you feel is relevant! 

SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 335-330 BC. AR Stater (25 mm, 12.23 g, 3h). Chimaera standing left; wreath above, ΣE below / Dove flying left; N to left; all within wreath. BCD Peloponnesos 218; HGC 5, 201. Superb EF with brilliant lustrous surfaces. NGC CH AU Star Strike 5/5, Surface 5/5 Fine Style.

9 hours ago, Curtisimo said:

That is a fantastic coin Steve. Very much an ex6 coin with an animal on each side! I do very much like the coins of Sikyon. Mine has a connection to the Peloponnesian War and yours has a connection to Alexander the Great. Pretty sweet coins.

Thank you sir!

Thank you! Very true about rosewood being hard to come by. When I saw that my hardwood supplier had some I snapped up most of the usable pieces I could get from them which wasn’t much. Even in its unfinished state I think it is a beautiful wood and it is very dimensionally stable. Most of my stash is used up now. Maybe I’ll make some coasters from the off-cuts.

Yes please do! I would love to see that beautiful shelf in use. That is a fantastic project. Anything with the word “ambrosia” in it is very appropriate for ancient coin books!

Your shop looks very nice and very spacious. I also enjoy working in the shop but like you said I find myself having less and less time to work out there.

Well said. There is just something uniquely enjoyable about building / creating / modifying something that is useful.

Here it is in all its buried glory right now lol 

I still have a small supply of some rare woods, including some rosewoods but I haven't earmarked them for a project yet. I want to make sure the use is suitable for the scarcity of them so I can do them justice. 

I've been told by several extremely experienced and reputable sources that they play a lot of games with shill bidding and things of that nature and can also be very difficult. I would avoid them. 

That is a beautiful shelf and wonderful craftsmanship! The dovetails are nice and I really like the contrast of the wood. I think Brazilian rosewood is very difficult to get ahold of now because it was put on the CITES list a few years back. You don't see it used much anymore as people run out of supply and more can't be imported, so that makes it extra special. Again, beautifully done project! 

Here is a bookshelf I designed and built while it was still in the shop back in 2016. It's now the bookshelf I store all of my reference books on and also all of the auction catalogs I have bought coins from. I'll have to update this post with a picture of how it looks currently with everything on it. Its made from ambrosia maple and has a good bit of curl in some of the boards. 3 of the shelves are adjustable with peg holes in the sides of the shelf to adjust height. I really enjoy woodworking, but have so little time for it these days. 

This is pretty funny, yet sad at the same time. I think one of the most disturbing aspects besides questionable ethics is the vast quantity of items in storage that are never displayed or enjoyed by anyone, many stored since they were acquired by the museum decades ago or longer. 

1 hour ago, Al Kowsky said:

Great score Josh ☺️! That coin definitely deserves the NGC *. Excellent provenance & knowing the find spot gives it historical importance 😉.

Thanks Al! I am very happy to add this one. I figured you would approve, as you have a great eye for good coins too! 

3 hours ago, NewStyleKing said:

I love them too the abstract are so modern  Ans that is why they get little real attention.................there is nothing to say about them. If it wasn't for where they are found  they would not have any "home"  , but who knows  how accurate that really is.  The truth is very little can be said about them. Look at the descriptions  of a lot of them, only descriptive in the sense of purely classifying them and not the actualite. No one will know what they mean or signify  ever!  The Celtic world is lost

I don't believe that is necessarily true. There is a decent amount of history and backstory in Van Arsdell's book and also in Chris Rudd's book. I think there is a decent amount known about pieces like the Ambiani staters and the like also. 

10 minutes ago, panzerman said:

Very nice coin😀  Celtic coinage is very diverse/ their coinage spreads all thru Europe right down to the Black Sea region of Kolchis.

John

Thanks! I figured you would like that one John! I like the abstract designs of the celtic coinage and I have a soft spot for them, though they seem to get much less attention than Greek and Roman. 

Just now, Edessa said:

Outstanding example!

Thank you! 

Here is a new pickup I was very excited to add this week. I've been wanting a well detailed celtic gold stater for awhile and was able to secure this one. 

CELTIC, Trinovantes & Catuvellauni. Addedomaros. Circa 40-30 BC. AV Stater (18mm, 5.43 g). Spiral type (Trinovantian J). Six-armed spiral of wreaths / Horse right; pellets-in-annulets around, 'cornucopia' below. Van Arsdell 1620-1; ABC 2517; SCBC 201. NGC AU Star, Strike 5/5, Surface 5/5.
Ex. Chris Rudd List 69, Lot 55 (Sold in 2003)
Found in Kings Langley, UK September 17, 2002

7 minutes ago, idesofmarch01 said:

Well, since you asked...

My one and only coin was, well, the #1 auction coin:

Yet another work of abstract art by the Celts, and I couldn't resist.  The "stylized" portrait of Apollo on the obverse is the feature that really enticed me, especially since most other examples of this fairly common coin don't contain the entire head are are very hard to visualize.

Plus the provenance is long and impressive:

This coin published online at Portable Antiquities Scheme: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/707502;
From a private Californian collection;
Ex Chris Rudd Ltd, Auction 160, 13 August 2018, lot 21;
Found in Burwell, Lincolnshire, 7 February 2015.

Yes, that's right, its provenance dates all the way back to 2015!  Those were the days!  

Does anyone have a shorter known provenance on an ancient coin?

Very nice win! I love the abstract Celtic coins. I picked one up at Roma yesterday and unexpectedly bought this one somewhere else yesterday also- mostly because it's decent in quality but was super reasonable in terms of cost. 

1 hour ago, El Cazador said:

I was actually suppose to bid on that Bactrian Tetradrachm, but missed the call by 4 min as I was at the meeting. before live bidding i think this one still had an affordable pre-live final bid

Congratulations @Kazuma78

Thanks! I was super lucky to not get tied up and not be able to bid. 

Here are the 2 coins I won:

6 minutes ago, El Cazador said:

Great, were those Tetradrachms by any chance?

One was and one is a gold piece 

4 minutes ago, El Cazador said:

@Kazuma78do you mind showing us what you won?

I will after my account shows I actually won them for sure. But I can tell you in live bidding it said won when both lots closed. 

10 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

I placed a pre-bid on one coin that is higher than the hammer price, but when I sign in , there's no trace of my bid in my account information. So I have no idea if I'm the winner or not.

I don't think they update until next day. I won 2 lots, but it doesn't show them for me either. 

Here is my only Syracuse Tetradrachm so far, but it's one of my favorite coins:

Tetradrachm circa 474-470, AR 17.40 g. Slow quadriga driven r. by charioteer holding kentron and reins; above, Nike flying r. to crown the horses. Rev. ΣV – RA – KOΣ – ION (partially retrograde) Head of the nymph Arethusa r., wearing pearl diadem, single pendant earring and pearl necklace; around, four dolphins swimming clockwise. de Nanteuil 322 (these dies). Randazzo 487 (these dies). Boehringer 320. Wonderful iridescent tone and about extremely fine Ex Ira & Larry Goldberg sale 72, 2013, Hunter, 4014.

4 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Awesome 😳😍

Thanks! I also picked this one up on the side for fun a couple of days ago since it was very inexpensive. 

Here is an updated and better (in my opinion) photo of the RR Denarius I picked up a couple weeks ago. 

I wish I could be there to peruse the bourse floor and meet up with people! I look forward to hopefully making it next year! 

I was not able to attend the ANA Worlds Fair of Money in Rosemont this year and I'm dying to know how it is and if anyone has got any good coins or deals there as the show progresses. Any updates or reports are very much welcomed!

43 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

Thank you. I never pay attention to those auctions for the same reason I never look at Heritage auctions: the coins are all slabbed, and I would assume that the prices are inflated accordingly.

A lot of the time it is a waste, but every once in awhile one slips through the cracks- as happens in most auctions eventually. 

1 hour ago, El Cazador said:

Bidding yesterday was brutal, i had my eye on 5 coins, managed to win my prime target though.

Caesar Elephant denarius had a strong  going for it, same with Lucania with glue residue 

I was trying for the Lucania. I think its sell price was close to market value, maybe a slight discount. I would have cracked it and removed the residue. If the crest at the bottom had been struck up better or the reverse legend, I would have bid higher and bought it. It probably also has an old provenance out there outside of the listed one. 

Which did you win? 

8 minutes ago, Prieure de Sion said:

I see your posting on Facebook, but I see it after I wake up in this morning at my mobile phone 😄 

Gratulations! This is an fantastic Coin. My (positive) envy will haunt you.... 😉 
Fantastic coin - enjoy it! 

 

Thanks! Sorry for outbidding you (kind of). I'll post stuff there and then on this forum which is where I get most of my ancient fix by talking to and learning from other collectors.