ValiantKnight

1 hour ago, seth77 said:

Some of those bags look like they could be actually storing a dead body.

Lol why else do you think@JAZ Numismatics wants to use that soil for planting? 😮

Odoacer, Kingdom of Italy
AE nummus
Obv: OD[O-VAC], bare-headed, draped bust right
Rev: Odoacer's monogram (letters ODOVA: “Odovacar”) within wreath
Mint: Ravenna
Date: 476-493 AD
Ref: RIC X 3502

10 mm, 0.85 grams

16 hours ago, rasiel said:

For my part, I sold nearly my entire collection around when Covid hit

I bought this coin from you around that time so I’m guessing it was part of your collection purge. I particularly like it for the fact that it was originally (before it came into your possession) from the same auction as my Athens tetradrachm in 2019, and the Trajan-esque face.

Marcian, Eastern Roman Empire
AV solidus
Obv: D N MARCIA-NVS P F AVG, diademed, helmeted and cuirassed three-quarter facing bust, holding spear over shoulder and shield decorated with horseman
Rev: VICTORI-A AVGGG, Victory standing left, holding long jeweled cross, star in right field
Mint: Constantinople
Mintmark: CONOB
Date: 450-457 AD
Ref: RIC 510
Size: 4.46 gr., 21 mm

On 3/14/2024 at 12:48 AM, ValiantKnight said:

I can’t find the link to The Cabinet; I’ve looked all over. Maybe it’s a mobile issue?

So I’ll post the links to a Nero denarius and Commodus sestertius here in the meantime. And I’ll also post an NGC MS-70 2023 Peace dollar that I’m offering in case anyone is interested in some US silver.

All three auctions end this Sunday 3/17 just after 9 PM EDT/6 PM PDT. 

Nero denarius: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337970661 


Commodus sestertius: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337991929

 

2023 Peace NGC MS-70 (brown label): https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337958474

Just over a day left before auctions wrap up. Thanks for looking.

I can’t find the link to The Cabinet; I’ve looked all over. Maybe it’s a mobile issue?

So I’ll post the links to a Nero denarius and Commodus sestertius here in the meantime. And I’ll also post an NGC MS-70 2023 Peace dollar that I’m offering in case anyone is interested in some US silver.

All three auctions end this Sunday 3/17 just after 9 PM EDT/6 PM PDT. 

Nero denarius: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337970661 


Commodus sestertius: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337991929

2023 Peace NGC MS-70 (brown label): https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337958474

14 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Silver content can range, based on the period between 93.1 % and 91.7% silver, so you don't need to worry about bronze disease with this Spanish cobs or milled coins.  If you see any green or black deposits, they're usually quite superficial, unless the coin is heavily encrusted, as is often the case of coins salvaged from wrecks.

Nice coin, and a scarcer mint (Lima)!

Good to know, thanks again! What are the usual mints for cobs? Potosi? Mexico City?

These two exposed spots look like pure silver (no BD was there)

This area was covered with light BD. Silver underneath but the edges around it have a bit of pink/orange (copper?). 

This spot of metal is pink/orange, but it did not have BD.

I’m thinking that perhaps the dark patina itself has traces of copper that’s attracted BD (assuming it was BD), or maybe the coin was buried/stored with copper coins, and due to environmental conditions those coins leeched some of their copper onto my coin, or possibly these cobs were minted with some copper in them (what’s the usual silver purity of these?). 

So it arrived today. Seems real in hand but I thought it was odd that it had a few minor patches of what looked to be bronze disease. I’ve since removed them. Did Spanish cobs have any copper in them?

@robinjojo

19 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Nice coin!  You're correct about the attribution to Lima, with a blurry by mostly legible "L" in the lower right corner of the "tic tac toe" layout.  The assayer is "H" for Francisco Hurtado.  As for the date, there is a clear "7" and 1", followed by an incomplete number which is likely a "0".  Sedwick, in his cob reference, has two date ranges for this assayer: 1701-05 and 1710, so 1710 for your coin it is.

Your coin has been salvaged, but the corrosion is minimal making this a very desirable coin.  Congrats!

I don't have a 1710 dated cob for this mint.  Here's an 8 reales of 1704, assayer H, purchased from Freeman Craig back in the mid 1980s.

Lima, 8 reales, 1704 H.

KM 34

26.9 grams

Thanks so much for the information and help! And that’s a very nice 8 reales. Definitely a collecting goal of mine to get one of my own. 

So I had recently fallen into a bit of a rabbit hole reading and learning about the Golden Age of Piracy and wanted to acquire a coin that could have circulated in the Caribbean at that time. I conducted some brief internet research in how to identify fakes and also looking up authentic examples for comparison. It still feels kind of impulsive but I ended up buying this 1710 2 reales cob from Lima.
 

It weighs 5.58 grams, around a gram under full-weight examples, but I attribute this to its corroded state which indicates it could have been sea salvage. It looks like it might have some small spots of horn silver as well (can silver coins develop horn silver underwater?). And the strike looks uneven (more noticeable underneath the pillars on the reverse). The shape resembles a few authentic examples I saw and the legends match up so I’m fairly certain it is authentic, but given my very limited knowledge some doubt remains. Thanks for any help with this.
 

(Seller’s photos, will update with my own when it arrives)

Closing in on a month with my coin. Stuck in ISC NY since Jan 29.

Here’s my only Umayyad dirham for reference.

Under Yazid II, Umayyad Caliphate
AR dirham
Obv: (center, in Arabic) "There is no God but Allah. He has no equal"
(in margins, in Arabic) “In the name of Allah. this Dirham was struck in Wasit in the year two and one hundred” (AH 102)
Rev: (center, in Arabic) "Allah is One God. The eternal and indivisible, who has not begotten, and has not been begotten and never is there His equal"
(in margins, in Arabic) “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the true religion to reveal it to all religions even if the polytheists abhor it”
Mint: Wasit
Date: 720-721 AD
Ref: Klat 695

The style looks more Umayyad to me, but that’s all I know. The year it was struck is on the obverse, that can narrow it down for sure. 

9 hours ago, Tejas said:

The three coins below are currently offered in an auction by a respectable auction house. However, to me these coins don't look right. The coins are rare nummi of Ricimer, Anthemius and Odovacar. 

I think the style of these coins is odd and it even looks as if the same person has cut the dies for all three and in particular the last two coins. What do people think?

 

Lol I saw these three also and I thought, “No way CGB believes these are authentic. They must have made a mistake.”

Researching these a bit it seems the standard weight for these should be 4.25-4.3 grams, but what is the overall normal tolerance/range for Abbasid-era dinars that are not clipped or otherwise damaged? I see many that are like 4.15, 4.17, etc that at most have a bit of wear but don’t look damaged or at least to me don’t looked clipped. Thanks for any information on this!

A big thanks to my Secret Saturn for their generosity and taking the time and effort to find coins that fit well with my collecting interests (among others) of Alexandrian and late Roman coins. Both are very nice and types I did not have before. The Licinius is particularly interesting in that it is part of a specific emission from Cyzicus during 316-317 AD that also included coins of Valerius Valens! Thanks again Secret Saturn!

21 minutes ago, Xeno said:

Wow 93 grams!!! I absolutely love it! I wonder if someone has one over 100...

I think @Alegandron might have a Carthaginian bronze that’s at or around 100 grams IIRC.

Ptolemy III Euergetes, Ptolemaic Kingdom
AE octobol
Obv: Diademed head of Zeus-Ammon right
Rev: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠTOΛEMAIOY, eagle with open wings standing left on thunderbolt, head right; E between legs
Mint: Alexandria
Date: 246-222 BC
Ref: Svoronos 446; SNG Copenhagen 142 (Ptolemy II); Lorber series 4
Size: 48 mm, 93 gm

50,000 coins of King of Italy/Holy Roman Emperor Berengar I from the early 900s AD. But they all are broken and glued back together but still have a chunk missing. But this ruler is very rare, so I am not really complaining. Then again, Berengar would not be so rare anymore if 50,000 suddenly popped up in my possession.

The last non-coin purchase however… I’d suddenly have 50,000 memberships to my local gym. 

The tiny Greek fractional silver coins, around the 10mm and less size. I have a couple and I’d like to get more but it’s hard to see myself paying money for tiny scraps of silver. At least rare late Roman AE4s have, well, that rarity, and that history I love.

Also, new style Athenian tetradrachms. Would very much like to have one but the prices right now turn me off. Which is annoying because they aren’t hard to find.

I know these are rare but around how often does this type come up for sale/auction?

Hi @Curtisimo. I sent a reply to your message.

Count me in! Thanks for hosting this again! 

Thanks for the comments and glad you guys enjoyed the write-up! And great coins @Tejas! Just curious did that lot fly under the radar or did it seem like other bidders noticed the Constantine as well? 

Title says it all. After several years, I was finally able to obtain a rare Constantine III siliqua (407-411 AD). As a late Roman collector he was high on my list of rulers and other coin types to acquire, so he was definitely a white whale. And Constantine III is but one part of a handful of white whales that I have acquired so far in this successful collecting year. The few times he popped up over the years, given how expensive coins of Constantine III are, I simply didn't have sufficient funds at those times. Unfortunately though, around the time that I found my Constantine III siliqua for sale, I was already watching a coin of another ruler that I really wanted and I knew that I would not have the funds for both, plus this other ruler was in an auction and there was a real possibility that the bidding would go past what I had budgeted. And I was also worried my siliqua would sell while I was waiting/debating with myself on who to go for. So I made what I thought was the safest decision and bought my Constantine. The other coin I was watching did end up going for more than I was able to pay, so in hindsight my siliqua was the smartest choice. 

Constantine III, Western Roman Empire

AR siliqua

Obv: D N CONSTAN-TINVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Rev: VICTORI-A AAVGGG, Roma enthroned left, holding Victory on globe and spear

Mint: Lugdunum (Lyons)

Mintmark: SMLD

Date: 407-411 AD

Ref: RIC X 1529

Nothing is known of Flavius Claudius Constantinus' early life. He is reported to have started as a common soldier in the Roman field army stationed in the province of Britannia. Britannia had been on the decline for some time; raids by barbarians were more frequent, and the imperial hold on the island had weakened in the past decades in part by the Great Conspiracy (a coordinated attack by several barbarian groups in the 360s) and Magnus Maximus taking troops from the island as part of his usurpation in the 380s. There were also concerns that the barbarian invasions on the continent would spill over into Britannia. The general instability, and the fact that the Roman troops in Britain had not been paid for several years, caused them to rebel in 406 and elevate a soldier named Marcus to the purple; he was executed a few months after by those same troops when he did not produce results. A man named Gratian was then elevated but also suffered the same fate shortly afterwards. The dissatisfied army turned to Constantine, and declared him emperor in 407.

Constantine had grander designs than just being the ruler of a rebel province. Through maneuvering he was able to acquire help in taking over Gaul and winning the support of the Roman army stationed there. Constantine then moved to Gaul and took with him all of the mobile field troops from Britain, essentially leaving the local population to fend for themselves. The barbarians ravaging the Western Roman Empire had had free reign after crossing the Rhine at the end of 406 due to the central Roman authorities having neither the time or the resources to respond adequately. As a result, Constantine took it upon himself to deal with the invaders. He achieved a small victory against the Vandals, and secured agreements with other Germanic groups.

After cancelling a planned campaign against the Eastern Roman Empire, the Western emperor Honorius sent some of his forces to Gaul to put an end to Constantine's revolt. They were beaten back into Italy, but not before killing two of Cnstantine's main commanders in Gaul. With this victory, Constantine consolidated his position in Gaul and made Arles his capital. In 408, he recalled his oldest son from the monastery he had cloistered himself in and declared him Caesar and later co-Augustus; his son took the regnal name Constans (II). Constans and an important general serving Constantine, Gerontius, invaded Hispania and conquered it from Honorius' officials. 

Central Roman infighting (that included the death of the influential general Stilicho) and conflict with the Visigoths prevented a focused, coordinated response to Constantine's rebellion, and so in 409, to ease his own burden, Honorius recognized Constantine as co-emperor.

While Constantine had the trappings of power, he also experience the downsides of it. His general Gerontius, while stationed in Hispania, gave Constantine a taste of his own medicine by rebelling against him. Gerontius then declared one Maximus as emperor, who possibly was his son and very much under Gerontius' control. To have a better fighting chance against Constantine and Constans, Gerontius made an agreement with the barbarian tribes sacking Gaul to support him militarily.

Meanwhile in Britannia, despite Saxon successes against the token forces Constantine had left behind, the local Romano-Britons managed to organize and defeat the Saxons in 409. The failure of Constantine to defend them lead to a general expulsion of his officials from the province, and in doing so, Britannia became independent of the Roman Empire. Only a year had passed before the Romano-Britons, continuing to suffer depredations by the barbarians, requested aid from Emperor Honorius. However, busy with his own troubles, Honorius rejected their plea and informed them that they were on their own with their defense. This marked the official end of the almost four century-long Roman rule over Britain.

In the same year (410) as the abandonment of Britain, Constantine gathered his army and invaded northern Italy, with the possible intention of joining Honorius in fighting the Visigoths that had invaded Italy. But the falsely-reported death of a friendly ex-Honorius general triggered Constantine's early withdrawal back to Gaul. During these events, Constans had failed in his mission to defeat Gerontius in Hispania. Constans soon attacked again but was defeated a second time, causing Gerontius to counterattack and pursue him, killing Constans in a subsequent battle in 411. Gerontius then laid siege to Arles, trapping Constantine in the city.

Gerontius's fortunes changed for the worst, when Honorius tasked his general Flavius Constantius in putting down Constantine once and for all. Constantius arrived in Arles while Gerontius was besieging the city, causing most of the latter's army to switch over to Constantius' side. Gerontius subsequently retreated to Hispania, where he died by suicide soon after. Constantine's fortunes had also worsened; a now-larger army under Constantius' command was besieging Arles. Adding to his deteriorating situation, Constantine had received word that his forces defending the Rhine frontier had declared their support for another usurper, Jovinus. Facing a seemingly insurmountable situation, Constantine surrendered to Constantius, on the condition that he would be spared and allowed to retire as a clergyman. Constantius made this promise, but immediately broke it by having Constantine beheaded (a fate shared by his only remaining son, Julian), which occurred in August or September 411. As a warning to other would-be usurpers, Constantine's and Julian's heads were sent to Carthage to be displayed there.

History: Wikipedia

Maps: OmniAtlas