Romancollector

J is for Julia Domna

My most recent acquisition. AE Sestertius of Maximus

G for Galba!

Congrats on your pickup! A great addition of historical significance! And thank you for the compliment, I wouldn't consider my coins exceptional by any means...The issues of Augustus are my favourite across all areas of Roman coinage and I would like to add as many as possible. Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck this year! 😞 I was outbid on one in Kuenker and I had to forgo a few others in recent auctions so that my bid on the Nero & Agrippina denarius would be adequate. Here's my denarius depicting the Curia Julia on the reverse.

Some of my Lugdunese coins 1. AE Follis of Constantius I 2. AE Double Centenionalis of Magnentius rv. Chi-Rho 3. AR Siliqua of Valentinian II

My only two coins of Severus Alexander

I can't say that I have a general price threshold for all coins...instead, I have thresholds for certain categories of coins. This is necessary because I'm building a targeted collection on a somewhat limited budget. For example, there are four 1st-century denarii for which I have a threshold of $5,000 USD give or take. Currently, I have two out of four of these types. While I'm willing to spend a decent amount on specific and/or exceptional types from the 1st century, I'm not willing to spend a similar amount on 3rd-century antoninianii or 4th-century folles. I generally like to keep it under $300 for coins in these categories, although there are some exceptions. To put things simply, I establish thresholds based on what I determine to be the most significant or essential for the narrative of my collection.

@kapphnwn and I discussed this coin as I was debating whether I’d go after it. I didn’t and wouldn’t have won it anyways. I believe that a die match is plated in RIC. It is definitely a unique variety, but I wouldn’t question its authenticity for this reason.

At the moment, this is my only coin of Vespasian. I do think it has a nice portrait, perhaps not as realistic as those of the Rome mint, but it is certainly artistic. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.39 g). Antioch mint. AD 72-73. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, Laureate head left / VICTORIA AVG, Victory standing right on globe, holding wreath and palm branch. RIC II 1547. RPC II 1921 (this coin in RPC online). Ex Viggo Collection of Flavian Imperial Coins from provincial mints. Ex Dr. Martina Dieterle Ex Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 125 (24 June 2021), lot 518. Ex Helios Auction 4 (14 October 2009), lot 292. Ex Gorny & Mosch (14 October 2002), lot 500.

Ohh… I totally glossed over the fact that it’s not a travel series denarius… oops! I thought it was an aegyptos like mine! In any case, I would assume that it is less common and therefore adjacent to the travel series price wise. As for grade, I can’t say that I only go after superb ef/mint state pieces or whatever you’d call it, but rather I go for what I believe has the maximum eye appeal! Here’s the coin I won today! Definitely not ms, but it is eye appealing and well-pedigreed nonetheless.

Not saying this was inexpensive by any means, but it is a fair price considering the going rate of Julio-Claudian denarii. I have yet to see any near ef/ef examples under the $2,000-3,000 mark. The Augustus denarius I wanted hammered for close to 4,000 euros, which in my opinion is too high given the fact that it was o/c and lacked a pedigree. As for the Hadrian denarius, I think that the price is also in line with the going rate rather than an exception. I say this as someone who is actively pursuing (unsuccessfully) travel denarii. If I recall correctly, the ones CNG had in their previous feature auction fetched similar hammer prices. Unfortunately, high-grade examples seem unobtainable below $1,000. 😞

@Mucius Scaevola It was the Nero/Agrippina Jr. denarius I also believe I won my third target but will have to confirm with my rep! So two Kunker wins beat my personal record of one!

An auction rep is someone who goes and inspects coins you are interested in and bids on your behalf. The idea is that a rep will tell you if there are any issues with a coin not disclosed by the auction house (i.e. tooling). So I tend to use my rep for higher ticket items and sestertii. My auction rep is Shanna Schmidt who represents multiple members on this forum. If you are interested, I'm happy to pass along her contact info or discuss how representation works. The coin I won was a Nero (hopefully not one you were bidding on).....the coin I lost (so far) was an Augustus. I wouldn't feel too bad...you one two coins in a Kunker sale....the most I've ever won is one

So far I lost my first target and won my primary target…from what I can tell, close to my max bid. Once I have confirmed with my auction rep, I will post the coin! I will say that having an auction rep is helpful considering Kunker’s odd photos. She sent me her photos from the lot viewing, which was very helpful as they were similar to how I take my own photos and therefore accurate representations of the coins. Since I won my primary target I cannot pursue my equally pricey (if not pricier) backup…. However there is still one more (hopefully cheaper) coin that I’m still targeting so we’ll see how that goes!

I only got 1 coin....which wasn't even one of my main targets..... AR Tetradrachm of Demetrios II from Sidon mint I don't actively collect Greek coins, but when I saw this piece was very impressed with it and thought why not just throw a bid or two at it? I won it at only two increments above the pre-bidding...so I was very happy! I was very disappointed to have lost my primary target (which I will not share) because I had discovered an exceptional pedigree for it a while ago. It was listed with no pedigree, but I suspect that the other bidder was aware of the pedigree as the bidding was quite aggressive compared to the coin's previous hammer price. I knew that this coin was auctioned a few years ago because I previously contemplated bidding on it, and discovered its provenance by chance a few months ago. I made a note to myself to go after it if it popped up again and I was very excited to see it in this sale. However, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment when the coin went for a few bids over my max. 😞 Oh well...I guess you can't win everything

Just thought I'd share something I haven't shared before! I picked up this antoninianus of Tacitus from CNG at the NYINC show. While it isn't an extraordinary coin by any means, I thought it was sharply struck and had decent silvering. Tacitus (AD 275-276) AR Antoninianus (23mm, 4.24 g, 6h). Rome mint, 1st officina. 2nd emission, November-December AD 275. IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / PROVIDENTIA AVG, Providentia standing left, holding baton over globe set on ground at feet to left and cornucopia; XXIA. RIC V 92.

H for Honorius!

Since we've moved on to Gordian III, here's my only coin of him as Augustus. AV Aureus - rv Victory

Augustus denarius - rv bull

My only coin of Aurelian, AR Antoninianus rv RESTITVT ORBIS

And finally, coin #3..... I picked this coin up at this year's NYINC as a part of CNG's fixed-priced list. It popped up in a few recent auctions, but it didn't have the greatest photographs because it was slabbed and I passed on it on more than one occasion. When I held it in hand at NYINC, I was very impressed with it and decided to purchase it even though the markup was steep and it lacked a pedigree. Having lost my primary target in Triton, a coin from the Prince Waldeck collection, I thought why not!!!! Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180) AD 161-180. AE Sestertius (31mm, 23.19 g). Rome mint. AD 145. AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS II, bare-headed bust right, drapery on left shoulder / HILARITAS, Hilaritas standing facing, head left, long palm in right hand, cornucopia in left; S-C across fields. RIC III (Antoninus Pius) 1242a. Ex T. R. Fehrenbach Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Review. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Feature Auction 118 (14 September 2021), lot 1079. Ex Heritage Auctions NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum & Signature Auction #3089 (22 January 2021), lot 33202. A few weeks after finding pedigrees for my Volusian and Claudius/Agrippina coins, I decided to have a look at the Munzhandlung Basel, Prince Waldeck collection catalogues on RNumis. Sure enough, there was my coin; I acquired a Waldeck coin at NYINC after all. Essentially, this coin went from having no pedigree to having the oldest pedigree in my collection. Perhaps the Prince Waldeck collection is not as old of a pedigree as the Gonzaga or Apostolo Zeno collections, but it is a superb pedigree nonetheless. I would like to know where this coin has been in the intervening 87 years...so the search continues! Ex Munzhandlung Basel Auction 3 (4-5 March 1935), lot 513. I would like to conclude my post by thanking @rNumis for providing this invaluable resource to collectors such as myself who otherwise lack the necessary resources for this research. Feel free to continue posting pedigrees you discovered!

Moving on to coin #2. This is one of my holy grail coins and without question my current favourite. When I picked the coin up from the Spring Kunker auction, it came with a 1983 Vinchon pedigree which is decent enough. Claudius (AD 41-54) & Agrippina Jr (Augusta, AD 49-54) AR Denarius (19mm, 3.57 g). Rome mint. AD 51. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG GERM P M TRIB POT P P, laureate head right / AGRIPPINAE AVGVSTAE, draped bust of Agrippina Jr right, wreathed in grain. RIC I 81. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Auction 112 (September 11, 2019), lot 594. Ex Cederlind BBS 172 (18 December, 2013), lot 226. Ex Vinchon (9 December 1983), lot 276. About an hour after I found my Volusian, I found this coin in a subsequent Schulman catalogue from 1930. Needless to say, I was very pleased. Ex Vierordt Collection Ex Jacques Schulman Auction 173 (5 June 1930), lot 332. Until I get around to coin #3, please feel free to post what you feel is relevant.

Hi everyone, As the title suggests, I would like to share some of the pedigrees that I found for coins in my collection. I have only 75 coins, so I didn't expect to be very successful in finding old pedigrees. I would like to highlight three coins beginning with my sestertius of Volusian. I bought this coin because I inspected it at the Triton lot viewing and thought it had a decent portrait of Volusian. The references provided were as follows: Ex Jack A. Frazer Collection. Ex Philip DeVicci Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group E-Auction 460 (29 January 2020), lot 739. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Auction 54 (14 June 2000), lot 1774. Volusian (AD 251-253) AE Sestertius (28.5mm, 19.60 g). Rome mint, 6th officina. 2nd emission. Late AD 251-252. IMP CAES C V VOLVSIANO AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / PAX AVGG, Pax standing left, holding olive branch and sceptre; S C flanking. RIC IV 256a. A few months ago, I was scrolling through various NFA catalogues on the Newman Numismatic Portal and found the following pedigree. Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Summer Mail Bid Sale (27 June 1986), lot 1023. I noticed a reference to the Vierordt collection in the listing. As I wasn't familiar with this collection, I googled it and discovered that it was auctioned by Jacques Schulman beginning in 1923. I looked through the Vierordt catalogues on RNumis and found my coin in the second Vierordt sale. Ex Jacques Schulman (5 March 1923), lot 2297. I have since found two other auction listings while I scrolled through catalogues on RNumis. Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Fixed Price List 28 (1984), no. 143. Ex Glendining (23 September 1979), lot 128. Coin #2 to follow..... In the meantime, please post your coins from the Vierordt Collection OR any coins whose pedigree you discovered.

Okay, so now that I'm back from Chicago I thought I'd share my ANA purchase. Overall, I thought the ANA was a good show, definitely better than what we have in Canada...but it wasn't as great as the NYINC show for ancients. I had hoped to pick up a bunch of high-grade 3rd-century material, or one nice 1st-century piece, but nothing really appealed to me except this coin which I picked up from Gorny & Mosch. Constans (AD 337-350) AR Siliqua (21mm, 3.48 grams). Trier mint. FL IVL CONSTANS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right / VICTORIAE D N AVG, two Victories facing each other, holding between them a shield inscribed VOT X MVLT XX. Also, I thought I'd share some of my photographs from the Art Institute's Greco Roman gallery. Feel free to post any recent show purchases!

I spoke to Dave Michaels, who said that this would be the "best" non-Triton feature auction CNG has ever had. Apparently, there will be something for everyone, but I also heard there will be a very comprehensive Byzantine collection. I don't really collect Byzantine...but just FYI for everyone who does!