Rand

1 hour ago, Tejas said:

So it is possible that these signs indicate minting years. 

Interesting, thank you. It is good to have a theory to build on, even if it later evolves into something else. The most likely alternative theory is that the marks were used for the mint production/quality control, which would be less interesting numismatically and historically.

There are good reasons for Rome to produce coins regularly during the period, and no obvious disasters would require mint closure. So, the annual output from the mint is possible. The style transition linking with the coins of Tejas may help the chronology of the series.

If the marks describe a year of production, there are likely to be multiple dies with the same mark linked to each other, adding credibility to the theory. If a mark is linked to 3 or more other marks through die links, the theory could be rejected.

27 minutes ago, Deinomenid said:

Is this definitely so?

Typically UK universities have a requirement for all doctoral theses to be submitted electronically. The thesis is then available open access through university repository and the British Library's EthOS repository. I expect, there would be embargo clauses, but cannot see a reason for secrecy in the field of our hobby.

https://bl.iro.bl.uk

PS. 1980 thesis might be considered prehistoric/ancient.

This is a nice coin. As for die signs above the CN, it is not easy to get evidence what they meant. However, a die study may be sufficient to disprove the theory for the symbols being year marks if the die links do not show continuity from one mark to another and crosslink. I fear the coins are too rare to find enough die links, though.

1 minute ago, rNumis said:

They can have mine for that kind of money. Signature thrown in. It's taking up valuable shelf space 😄

I am sure this will be a good investment. Future bidders will fight for it.

I imagine original bound copies of a PhD thesis would be very rare, likely personal copies of the author or supervisors, perhaps with the author's signature. The author may be personally known to the buyer. Otherwise, PhDs are now freely available from university repositories.

Amazing coins, @Al Kowsky. Beautiful and such pristine states with high straight grades! Particularly love the nummus of Galerius.

There is a fundamental difference between the professional restoration of a painting and tooling a coin. The first aims to preserve, the latter to deceive buyers, increasing selling value. Unlike books coins do not decay to dust.

Painting restorations are typically commissioned by owners/museums intending to keep their possession. Coin tooling is done for sale, as can be seen from the quick turnaround of these coins from a sale in original and tooled states.

I am well aware than many on the forum dislike the concept of independent third-party grading (and slabbing that comes with it). While I dislike the offered slabs and see them as merely packaging, I do see the merit of TPG, including in putting off the ‘restorers'. The proportion of modified coins in sales is shocking in my opinion. When dealers laugh about buyers voting for plastic, the truth the buyers are voting for original coins, often in lesser grades and not dealer’s FDCs for tooled coins.

It is for everyone to decide what kind of coins they collect and how much they pay. My vote is also firmly for ‘no tooling’ of any kind.

9 minutes ago, Tejas said:

The did reply about 6 months later and changed the description accordingly.

Pleased to hear this (I mean BM). Not every museum is responsive to such information. For example, I recall the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow saying they would correct an attribution (Burgundian rather than Constantinople solidus) and show the other side of the coin which was mismatched, but were busy at the moment. Later they removed the coin from the online display instead.

It would be intersting to know the BM reply, please.

CGB.fr is a certainly reputable company. Still, they, like essentially all big deallers are not immute of mistakes and fakes do slip into their inventory.

A few example for Anastasius - from dies widely accepted and published as not genuine. Note. None of these are my coins and I have not examined them myself.

MONNAIES 28. 25/01/2007. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=354777

Live Auction Mars 2018. 06/03/2018. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5066623

Internet Auction October 2020. 27/10/2020. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7458577

MONNAIES 28. 25/01/2007. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=354778

MONNAIES 28. 25/01/2007. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=354779

This proportion of new coins also depends on the collection area. Historically, some coins were more likely to end up in a melting pot than others. Now, nearly all ancient coins are preserved for sale. The exception could be finds from countries with restrictive rules when converting coins to bullion may still be safer.

Newly discovered types of Roman aurei are unusual, but for the coins of the migration period new types appear all the time and they were not known to academics 25 years ago or so.

Rare Roman aurei remain rare, while some Byzantine/migration period 'rarities' keep such a designation only as a tradition kept by dealers.

Very nice @Tejas. It would be good to know weight/size.

Spink published a few books about old numismatic books and catalogues. I intended to trace the original books in persuit of the ealiest ever described coins of my interest. I have not got to this yet... as evident with some books still never opened. There are a few more books on the topic from Spink.

Nice coins and an interesting period of history. Are there any recommended books about the history of the Holy Roman Empire?

They are so beautiful.

My worry for the postage would be the humidity. It must be pretty humid in Slovakia now.
Why have you decided to stop collecting them, if I may ask? Your butterflies do not look like those typically bred for collectors and decorators. And they are so pristine.

Has anyone had luck accessing the off-display Numismatic Museum of Athens collections?

I received a reply from them several years ago, which I initially thought helpful. It included a list of publications where their coins were recorded. After checking the publications, I was to contact the museum to make further arrangements to photograph the coins.

I soon realised I would need to find numerous hardly accessible annual publications starting from the time the museum was created. Those I found were in Greek, with no pictures and limited descriptions. The person who wrote to me must have known I would unlikely complete this task, and I fear this could only be the first of my Heracles labours to access the coins.

I tried contacting the museum twice over the years and have not received further replies.

This is a good news and thank your for sharing. I am looking forward for the results.

The scope seems huge with a least four centries seem covered. The context would be different in second century central Italy and fifth century Balkans. Find provenance would be crucial, so hopefully they involve Italian museum and museums in the Balkans, Eastern Europe/Ukraine. It would really ineresting if they could get access to Greek/Turkey collections. 

I had my coins at home today and noted a few interesting marks/grafitti.

This has an inverted cross with two horizonal bar - all three lines are very precise.

Auktionshaus H. D. Rauch GmbH. Auction 103. 23/03/2017

This one has grafitti, which could be a character or a set of characters on obvesrse (the reverse marks look like scratches).

 and rotated 

Roma Numismatics Limited. E-SALE 21. 31/10/2015

Thanks a lot. A tragic history to be remembered.
I have a couple of coins from the Mark Salton and Lottie Salton Collection with similar envelopes (which were identified on another thread). This post puts a different perspective on the coins and adds value to provenance research in general.

Some of the markings/graffiti are likely from metal testing. 

Gold-plated coins are known for even less common semisses, for example:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4636407

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9035608

Making a cross-like scratch would no be inconceivable for testing. However, making multiple testings seems excessive and, as mentioned earleir in the thread some look deliberately made symbols.

21 minutes ago, Tejas said:

may show runes or pseudo-runes

These are quite cleary runic style. Is it possible to decipher any meaning from them?

1 hour ago, John Conduitt said:

Presumably, they weren't meant as currency as such

Their use for a kind of distribution is a possibility. This could be needed to reflect the ranks of recipients. There were a few designated Constantinople donative uses during the Anastasius reight, both as solidi and 'aurei'. Smaller denominations possibly did not merit special designs as they were expected to enter circulation. Semisses are found in mixed hoards, and most are in a circulated condition.

Such 'drawings' are very common on coins of the period, particularly on tremisses.

We discussed a possibiity of them being 'runes' on another thread and could not find good evidence to support this.

It is thus likely they are a kind of personal markings of unclear purpose, possibly owners had to justify the coin belonged to them?

This is an interesting post. Indeed, semisses are so much less common that other denominations that this raises a question why they were needed at all.

For example, for the 491-492 Anastasius Constantinple mint coins, my obverse die projections are:

• solidus - 40
• tremissis - 8
• semissis - 1

Several my semisses:

Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung. Auction 253. 05/03/2018

Numismatik Naumann (formerly Gitbud & Naumann). Auction 40. 07/02/2016

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. Electronic Auction 435. 02/01/2019

Heritage Auctions, Inc. Auction 3045. 12/01/2016

Why does the rise happen? Is there a lack of competition? Or is there a parallel reduction in seller fees?

With sales moving online and no need for published catalogues, as some companies do, cheaper photo technologies, and better processing software, shall we expect lower overheads? 

I envy old collectors with 10% buyer fees in old catalogues. I'm not sure what seller fees were like, and not all coins had photos, though.

I have been looking for a good contemporary book on Merovingian coins and could not find one. Also, I do not see many books with great photos, like those in auction catalogues.

Moreover, I see few journal publications with good photos. Poor photos often illustrate good written material.

I think the main issue is getting the images and it is hard to resolve.

For example, to reproduce a photo of a coin from the British Museum, one has to pay £45 for 1,001-2,000 total combined print runs and downloads (ex-VAT). I am not even sure if this is for one side or two.

If a good book on Merovingian coins had 1000 images, this already costs $68,000 with VAT; providing separate payments is unnecessary for obverses and reverses.

But even this would be relatively easy. The authors would need to work with many museums in many collecting areas. Many museums may not have adequate photography services. Visiting them to take photos would be even more expensive, and some museums (including the British Museum) would not allow this.

Many auction houses have excellent photos, but they may also want to charge for commercial books (I am unsure). Even if they agree to do this for free, there will be a lot of work and agreements to do with individual dealers.

A book on Merovingian coins should be relatively easy, though - due to a small area of circulation and few museums and dealers involved. Bibliothèque nationale has photos already.

Even doing quality photos personally is not a bargain. I am considering buying a setup, which would cost c. $6,000 even without a camera.

So, any book with good colour plates is an appreciated effort, which may not be commercially lucrative.