Rand
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Fakes- what's the reporting etiquette when you spot them here (or elsewhere)?
Rand replied to Deinomenid's topic in General
Fakes are becoming a major issue. The coin industry and academics must lead the fight against them, and both can do more. I put effort into learning about fakes and, over the years, have made a small (well, not that small) registry of reported fakes in my collecting area. Staying away from them is my way to reduce the risk. Many fakes are apparent, and the detection of dangerous fakes requires expert knowledge. I have seen plenty of comments about fakes, which were inaccurate and weary of forum 'experts'. NCG does its best not to slab fakes, but it does not provide a warranty for authenticity. The slabs are no excuse for dealers to abstain from responsibility. Some dealers could have been more responsive to information about fakes. However, a major auction house investigated a previously unknown fake and confirmed the suspicion in response to my reasoning. I no longer see this fake on the market (there are a few from the same dies). Still, this fake never appeared in fake registries known to me. -
That is a fair comment, @Hrefn. Also, putting pictures of pre-Columbian objects next to a Christian object was insensitive of me. I must admit being astonished by art does not excuse history. However, if anything, we need to learn more about history. Humans tend to repeat the same mistakes. I can not remember without shivering visiting a WWII concentration camp in Poland. Still, I think everyone should see it. Irrespective of what motivated the production of the pre-Columbian objects, the level of their sofistication amazed me and changed how I see those civilisations. PS. If I only collected coins of holy people, I would have to give away my whole collection.
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After being unable to find the Doubarton Oaks Coin collection at Harvard last year, I learned that even though it belongs to Harvard University, it is in Washington. Finally, I had a chance to visit the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington. It is a small but breathtaking museum. The presented coin collection shows a few masterpieces, but next time, I would contact the museum in advance about the possibility of seeing some coins in the main collection. The exposition shows Byzantine art masterpieces, including a few ivory icons and plaques of great beauty. However, the most amazing part was the pre-Columbian section. I did not expect the art of the ancient America to be so beautiful. I was particularly surprised to see colourful pottery from the first millennium - predating Chinese porcelain.
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I keep coming back to the list and videos… Breathtaking coins, especially those from Sicily. It is incredible how, over 2000 years ago, people cared about art and about leaving memories about them. They did achieve immortality, even though many names are lost.
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I want to express huge thanks for rNumis! I have found many rare types and specimens that have not been for sale for decades. Just found a sale listing my coin - Jacques Schulman. Auction. 07/06/1937 - bought from Heritage Auctions, Inc. Auction 3037. 04/01/2015
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Amazing coins! Issuing coins in three metals supports their use for circulation. Even if some of the common types were produced for payments to the Romans, they still may have been used locally by Romans. If Romans only needed them as buty bullion for melting, they could find an easier way to receive the payments. Celtic staters were hardly high-quality gold. The recent find of Corieltavi staters in Anglesey tends to be interpreted as a refugee hoard, but Corieltavi did not seem to fight Romans. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66471319 Arguably, if there were cross-tribe circulation, mixed finds would be expected. Interstingly, a Corieltavi stater was found as far as in Scotland Iron Age coins in ScotlandSociety of Antiquaries of Scotlandhttp://journals.socantscot.org › article › download The Celtic gold coins are unique in that they were likely minted from new gold, as opposed to gold from melted old coins or imported gold. This opens an opportunity for interesting numismatic research.
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Have You Ever Accidently Purchased Two Of The Same Coin?
Rand replied to Furryfrog02's topic in General
@Hrefn Thank you for checking Ratto's calatlogue. I do not recall it having one missing officina, but I may be wrong. I tried to reconstruct Anastasius part of his collection from modern sales and could not. I probably have one of his coins, but old images from casts with crops make it hard to be certain. For the type discussed I have officinae A, B, E, S (reversed), Z, and Θ. Will need to return to it to complete. The one with missing officina is the most difficult (along with E, and Z). Going back to the topic of the post, I have a die-match triplicate for this series with a forth coin linked by reverse. Not exactly bought by mistake - a small hoard (likely) was sold and I bought some of the coins.
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Have You Ever Accidently Purchased Two Of The Same Coin?
Rand replied to Furryfrog02's topic in General
Two volumes of Hahn's book have been published in English. I do recommend them, even though they may not add much to your extensive knowledge of the gold coins of the period. These are probably the best books on the early Byzantine coins. Hahn W, Metlich MA. Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire (Anastastius I - Justinian I, 491-565). Vol 1. 2nd edition, revised, was published in 2013 Hahn W, Metlich MA. Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire (Justin II - Revolt of the Heraclii 565-610). Vol 2., 2009. The 1975 German-language version of the book has three volumes, still popular and expensive. I remember my Euro 400 bid was outbid before the English version was published (which is better for me as I am not interested in later coins). Below is your coin from the book and my copy of the two volumes.
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Have You Ever Accidently Purchased Two Of The Same Coin?
Rand replied to Furryfrog02's topic in General
@Hrefn This is a very nice Anastasius solidus without an officina letter, published in Hahn W, Metlich MA. Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire (Anastastius I - Justinian I, 491-565). Vol 1. 2nd edition, revised, 2013. There are few of these, I missed one in 2019, and have to wait for another to appear. -
Thank you, @Tejas Following the post, I initially bought it on Amazon in German and realised that I had lost whatever little German I knew. English readers would love to know that the book was released in English this year. I got it from both Apple Books and Audible (but it is also available for Kindle). So far, the book is excellent, with a good balance of factual details and a critical perspective of the events. It is very well-referenced, has good maps and even a few coins!
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For my eyes, of all Ostrogothic tremisses, those from Milan under Theodoric had the best style.
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It's a nice coin. It has similarities to the first coins, but the lettering, chest flaps, and the reverse have different styles - they could have been produced some time apart?
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Aha. Now I know who got it. It was quite a bidding (I did not bid). I liked this coin - the same style as Ratto's no. 247, but Ratto's photo did not let seeing all details.
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Amazing coin. I have never seen it. Must have been in your posession for some time. It also has similarities to the coins mentioned in the previous post. This seems a nice little cluster.
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The third coin must be from the same series as my first two. Given the time gap between Anastasius and Justinianus, they must be from Baduila. Their style differs from the usual Ticinum tremisses - likely from another, more established mint. As Ravenna makes little sense and coins from Rome had very different styles before and after the Justinian conquest, Milan seems the most plausible choice?
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Very interesting. I suspect that Tejas (as a king's name) also has a history. It is also spelt variably. The period since Totila started putting 'Anastasivs' on his coins and till the end of the Ostrogothic Kingdom has produced many interesting varieties of solidi and tremisses. At least Totila likely minted coins gold coins in different mints, possibly following his victories. I have tried to find a way to attribute it, but I have had little success so far. Below are some coins probably from the period, but they do not have such a clear attribution, such as the nice coin above. This one has a Justinian's Ravenna tremisses style. But Justinian would not put 'Anastasivs', and Totila did not take Ravenna (as far as I know). This one was found in Mersham, Kent in 2018. https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/908451 This one can be from Ticinum under Totila.
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Congratulation. A very nice win today! (I was not an underbidder)
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@Hrefn Apologies, if my line of thinking is confusing or if I made a mistake. I cannot spot the problem to fix it, sorry.
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@Tejas, I agree. Indeed, we have: AD 493, proposed by Arslan and favoured as 'most likely' by Metlich in his 2004 book. AD 500, favoured by most, which Metlich admitted. AD 509, celebrating the victory over the Burgundians and Franks - has a strong argument. Each date can be supported now by more arguments than those listed by Metlich in 2004. Let me argue for 511 - not that I claim it is necessarily correct. In 511, Theodoric took control of the Visigothic Kingdom after deposing Gesalec and nominally installed his grandson Amalaric, a minor. This year, the two Gothic nations were united under a single rule. This would be the most appropriate occasion for the VICTOR GENTIVM legend. Even though also uncertain, 511 could be the year when the siege of Arles was over ending the war (rather than 509), and even may be the year when Clovis died. 511 was a glorious year for Theodoric. Let us assume the VPW tremissis above were produced for the same occasion as the Senigallia Medallion: They were the only Ostrogothic coins with the VPW effigy. VPW was a standard Visigothic tremissis type, and taking over the Visigothic kingdom was an excellent reason to produce some VPW tremisses. The Senigallia Medallion has both Victoria looking left (on obverse) and right (on reverse) - fitting the two types of the Ostrogothic VPW tremisses. Metlich's view that these VPW tremisses were the first tremisses of Theodoric does not fit the existence of Burgundian ANASTASIVS PERP VPW tremisses. It does not explain why Theodoric would stopp producing them changing to VGC, and the Gaul would follow the short emission for decades. Now we have this possibly unique tremissis, which has both the Visighotic style of Victoria and close stylistic similarities to the Ostrogothic tremissis pictured underneath. The Theta points to Theodoric. This implies the tremissis was minted in the Visigothic domain under Theodoric's authority, which is unlikely to be before 511, and so was the Senigallia Medallion. I bought it from a Spanish auction, which indirectly supports Gallic or Spanish rather than Itallian minting.
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The similarity of Victoria with the palm and wreath on the Senigallia Medallion and the tremisses shown above makes me think that they (and other denominations) were produced at the same time. Their scarcity may indicate their donative nature. The nature of the occasion is a matter of speculation but could be the celebration of the victory over Odovacer and becoming the ruler of the new Ostrogothic Kingdom.
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I think the original of the Senigallia Medallion is now in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_B-11479 BM has an Electrotype facsimile of the medallion, made when it was in Gnecchi's posession.
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I am glad the period is increasingly seen as more colourful than the 'Dark Ages'. The political links within the previous Empire had not completely disintegrated until the Justinian invasion. I see this period as the Roman Commonwealth and the gold monetary system as a franchise I can not call Theodoric or Gundobad barbarians; they were well educated, better than, say Zeno or Justin I (as far as we know)
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Sorry. It was still a bargain - much cheaper than the first two. Last Roma's auction pained me more, but I was lucky with a few similar (but not same) in the previous Roma auctions and decided it was time to share and did not push bidding.
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A stunning coin @Tejas! Wow. The reverse is very close to the elusive tremissis below, which I only know from the Metchlich's book. It is cited as a Berlin piece, but it is not in the online part of the National Museum collection in Berlin. You are well familiar with the coins of the period, and you have come across this type. I would be grateful for any info. Metlich MA. The coinage of Ostrogothic Italy. Spink, London, 2004
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This half-siliqua was likely part of the celebratory issue by Theoderic that included other denominations. Below are three very rare tremisses likely from the same series - probably the only ones in private hands. The first two were bought from the NAC Auction 93 above. The third coin was bought recently and is still in post. Except for these three, museums have three tremisses with Victoria looking left and four tremisses with Victoria looking right.
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