CPK

Nice! Wish I could be there. Never was at a coin show before.

Thanks everyone! @ambr0zie, great score on that Otho AE - that's a great portrait! And I like your COL IVL AVG from Philippi - it's a type I'd like to get someday. @Roman Collector, congrats on that very respectable Faustina II AE! One of the fun things about ancient coins that you don't have with moderns is that there's so much unknown. There's always the possibility of discovering a new type!

You know how sometimes you see a deal that looks so good, you just buy it without doing your research? Yeah, most times that doesn't end well - but occasionally you get a happy ending. I was browsing MA-Shops and spotted a coin labeled as a "Trajan As" but was unlike any type I'd seen before. The coin was worn and rough, but the price was so low - after doing some lightning searches on OCRE and ACSearch without results - I decided that whatever it was it must be rare enough to excuse an impulse buy. After the coin was safely secured I started digging in for some serious attribution research. And I got nowhere - couldn't find anything even remotely similar. Then I realized that I'd been looking in the wrong spot - the coin was a provincial issue. It still took me a long time searching but then, I found an entry on RPC Online - a perfect match! And no wonder the coin's identity had eluded me for so long. The coin is apparently a just-identified type, with the first specimen sold by Rex Numismatics in September of 2023. The auction house listing suggested it might be the first known example and it was submitted to RPC online, who created a post-publication entry for it: Vol III No. 2906A. It would seem that RPC also could not find the type in any other reference; at least none were given in the RPC listing and I assume they would check available references. All RPC did was note that it was missing from "Dalaison & Delrieux, Néapolis-Néoclaudiopolis". Aside from the extreme rarity, it's an interesting type design, depicting a bound captive (which RPC identifies, logically enough, as the personification of Dacia.) This motif of a bound, seated captive is found on a few other provincial coins of Trajan but it is not common. (Imperial issues are another matter.) The portrait is also decent. Although the coin has seen better days, I am happy to have acquired such a rare piece for what was essentially the price of a McDonald's meal! Thanks for looking! Feel free to post your own "happy ending" impulse buys, lucky rarities, or any other comments you deem appropriate. 🙂 GALATIA-CAPPADOCIA, NEOCLAUDIOPOLIS Time of Trajan AE (26.02mm, 11.44g, 6h) Struck AD 109/10 Obverse: ΑΥΤ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ ϹΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚΟϹ, laureate and cuirassed bust of Trajan right, seen from rear Reverse: ΝΕΟΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΠΟΛΕΙΤωΝ ΕΤΟΥϹ, Dacia, bound, seated on rocks right; ΡΙΕ in exergue References: RPC III 2906A.2 (this coin) An interesting and extremely rare type, apparently unknown except for this coin and one other specimen, both cited by RPC Online.

Though, in his defense, I do see a couple extremely rare off-center 'mint errors' in there.

Better let me dispose of it for you...😜

That is an impressive provenance! Remarkable that it managed to remain under the radar. The coin is a beauty, too!

And what's especially crazy about that is a one or two point difference on the scale can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars difference in price.

Question has been answered! Thanks @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix!

I'm currently researching a coin, and I was wondering if anyone who has access to the printed volumes would be so kind as to look up an RIC Vol. I reference for me - if so, please send me a PM! Thanks!

Is that the prequel to this? 😜

Great finds, especially the Britannia as!

No kidding. Also, what kind of bag is that? Speaking as the father of young children, it looks more like an - ahem - unpleasant surprise, rather than a bag of coins.

Wow, gold is guaranteed! Sign me up!

Great little coin. There's definitely something appealing about those little quadrantes!

Thanks! Not in RPC?

I agree. I think you did the right thing @kirispupis in forwarding your concerns. What happens next is up to them. I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like this is a coin where attribution isn't as decisive as, say, a Roman Imperial issue, and where there can be room for other opinions. In such a case it's hard to see how the auction house is obligated to overwrite its own attribution in favor of what to them is probably a random emailer, even though it may seem pretty cut-and-dried to you. No disrespect intended, of course - just trying to see it from their point of view. 🙂 I'd be interested in seeing the coin, and your arguments, if you feel like posting it!

That's a superb example!

Thanks! I had my eye on one in an auction a while ago, but passed because the reverse was too off-center. Glad I waited! Thanks! Wow! I've never seen that type before. That is a terrific coin! What time period was it struck?

Nice consolation prize @Ryro. That was a good chance at a low-cost Ostia sestertius, but seems too many people had the same thought! Here's an SPQR coin, struck a couple hundred years after Trajan made it so popular. That middle standard looks suspiciously like a basketball hoop. CONSTANTINE I, AD 306-337 AE2 (23.15mm, 4.51g, 12h) Struck AD 312-313. Rome mint Obverse: IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG, laureate and draped bust of Constantine I right, seen from behind Reverse: SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, legionary eagle facing with wings spread between two standards; RS in exergue References: RIC VI 348a, RCV 16128 A scarce variety. The reverse on this coin is a revival of a similar design employed by the emperor Trajan some two hundred years before.

Interesting way to put it. A little hard for me to answer since I don't know much about cleaning ancients, but I would imagine that some 'smoothing' would be inevitable on some coins as the dirt and deposits are removed. So, I voted 'yes'. Personally, I'm with Aaron Berk on this one. I don't mind coins that are lightly smoothed.

That is an astonishing pendant, @JeandAcre! A great acquisition!

Thanks all! 🙂 @Roman Collector That is a great tigress - I love that you can see the stripes! I'd love to add one to my collection someday. @ambr0zie Oh that is a nice one! Thanks for posting!

As many of you know, I enjoy collecting coins with animals on them - particularly African animals. One of the more interesting animal coin types are a small assortment of Roman provincial coins, struck in the 3rd century, featuring an ostrich either standing or running on the reverse. These types are rather scarce to begin with and their popularity means that they are even scarcer on the market. Good specimens rarely stick around long. So when I spotted this coin come up for sale at a reasonable price, I did not hesitate! THRACE, HADRIANOPOLIS Time of Gordian III AE (16.83mm, 3.35g, 7h) Struck AD 238-244 Obverse: ΑΥΤ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟϹ, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III right, seen from rear Reverse: ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ, ostrich standing right References: RPC Online, Vol. VII.2, No. 806.12 (this coin) A rare type, with good detail and a beautiful emerald green patina. This coin has its flaws, but overall I am very pleased with the purchase. The ostrich is clearly identifiable, well-centered on the flan and even has some feather details left. The obverse is also in good shape and the coin has a vivid, if somewhat patchy, emerald green patina. Thanks for looking! Please feel free to post your own ostrich coins, animal coins, or anything else you consider relevant.

Indeed!

That's a lovely coin!