Nerosmyfavorite68

Hmm, I guess my assumptions were mistaken. I was under the impression that it was a little bit scarce, although not super scarce. There are only 4 examples of the portrait type on vcoins, and all are expensive.

Very interesting! I found it enjoyable to learn about the city.

It's a handsome, well-presented type; a type which is missing from my collection. This acquisition continues the trend of kicking it up a notch. Nice!

I certainly didn't mean to take away from your topic. That really, really stinks about a customs charge which amounted to more than the coin was worth. However, I thought that a place like Spain would be more coin-unfriendly than it actually is. I've noted that most of the coins that you present are from Spanish dealers. I just assumed that Spain made it really difficult to import coins. I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been some enormous charge on a more expensive coin.

Some lovely examples are shown. I don't have Crawford or Sydenham. How scarce is the type? I consider mine 'good enough' to tick off the box. Personal enjoyment and the learning experience are the things important to me. I'm rather enjoying the Gallus.

That's preferable to coming home to a notice from the city saying I'm now a customer of a small electric company which is the equivalent of Mutual of Steve, and then going through a burdensome opt-out. Whether it be customs or wonderful 'electical aggregation' programs, it's all about the moolah. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Any customs fee on inexpensive items is pretty odious.

The order was originally intended to be built around the Gallus, but things changed when I noticed that an affordable Albinus Bruti, F had popped up. Per the Gallus, perhaps you've noticed the (mostly Antoninianii) coins popping up on vcoins with older museum numbers pasted on the back. I usually avoid these, but I like sestertii from the period, and although I overpaid for the type, I took a chance. The Gallus actually looks better, halfway decent, in person. The Bruti, although the porosity is much less evident in person, looks a little worse in person. It has that 'cir-cam' look and the bust is brighter in person. Oh well, it was cheaper than other examples and not that terrible. Perhaps the number tag on the Gallus was better protected than the others, or perhaps it didn't come from the old number tag lots which Marc Breitsprecher (or is it Incitatus coins? I forget) have. This tag doesn't seem as ancient. I wonder what vintage it is? I thought it was kind of neat to have a pre-1940's find without a stripped patina. This dealer is pretty good about preserving old collection tags. I had hoped that one would come with it, but no such luck. Sestertii of the 12 Caesars are the most attractive in my opinion, but I really love collecting the sestertii of the crisis period, especially of Gallus through Gallienus. I've always enjoyed coins of the later republic with portraits of individuals. Feel free to post any examples of this type, or coins with ancient museum tags. Albinus Bruti f., Rome, 48 BC. AR Denarius (16mm, 3.97g, 3h). Bare head of the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus r. R/ ALBINV / BRVTI • F in two lines within wreath of grain ears. Crawford 450/3b; RBW –; RSC Postumia 14 Trebonianus Gallus. AD 251-253. Æ Sestertius (29mm, 15.07g, 12h). Rome mint, 1st officina. 2nd emission, AD 251-252. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right R/ Felicitas standing left, holding long caduceus and cornucopia. RIC IV 107; Banti 10.

There's many nice coins here, but I really like the Tarsos obol at the very top. What great portraits on each side!

It is a very interesting thread. Did Etruscilla's Antioch tetradrachm coinage also continue? I only have a couple of Treb. tets, but they're significantly more coppery than Philip's. The only coin of said empress that I have is a sestertius, unless I have a Viminacium 'sestertius' hiding somewhere, from the 1990's set. I didn't collect the empresses until recently.

It's another well-presented, beautiful example. Looks like the new philosophy is working out. I guess I've 'took things up a notch' compared to the old part of my collection, but I buy for personal enjoyment. Unless it's a rare or expensive type, I've done fairly well about not buying totally decrepit stuff. I did include a decrepit Valerian lately, but it was for the unusually high weight. I've probably overpaid twice within a recent period, one was probably almost twice what it was worth, but the other parts of the buys more than made up for it.

Uh-oh, that kind of looks like the surface of my recent Albinus Bruti (above). I bought it from a relatively reputable dealer on vcoins. Should I be worried? So far, the only problem from them's been crappy packing. I've bought many lovely and real coins from them. Crystallisation is an interesting phenomenon. I forget which is crystallised, my Sextus Pompey denarius with the Pompey portrait or the pseudo Brutus (the Rufus issue). Perhaps both. I bought them almost thirty years ago, and the crystallised one was cheap because of that, although it's in pretty decent shape. Does crystallisation ever involve actual crystals? One of my earliest coins, an Allen Berman purchase, I think it was the Menander drachm, had some itty bitty crystals, and they glinted. I've noticed that these Indo-Bactrian coins are prone to crystallisation.

Is that a U.S. vs. UK thing or is it really crytallised in all forms? I was unsure.

Another question: Are all crytallized coins lighter than normal? Is porosity necessarily a symptom of it being in that state?

Crystallized! And sadly, my only Hadrian denarius, unless there's some hanging out in the old section of my collection. Are there any photographs of fakes said to be crystallized? I'm hoping my Hadrian is flawed, but real. It was a 2022 Zurqieh purchase. It would have been a nice coin if undamaged. It came that way, and wasn't a result of shipping mishaps. Were I a better photographer, I could offer up a picture of my broken Nero, which would show the insides poking out of the crack.

The portrait is allegedly the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus. That's scary that crystallized fakes are showing up.

That's a good question. I had also wondered how long the process takes. Well, I guess the coin I just ordered is authentic (probably crystallized) and my poor, broken Nero is, too. The above is 3.97g. The weight is normal, but the porous surfaces led me to assume the coin is probably brittle.

I recently moved those bookmarks, obliterating the original saved date (and I don't know if I can modify the viewed folders in Firefox's bookmarks window), but the bookmark for that seems to go to a dead URL. I'm pretty sure it was the same coin, the same reverse is noted, but my bookmark said it was even higher then.

The DHL was a bit of no confidence tax for me. I didn't have confidence in the floppy mailer. Is there a significant premium for Philip sestertii with (more or less) round flans and a full circles strike? I normally would have bought it, but it's around $200 for F+. It's been sitting around for quite a while.

Perhaps it's crystallized and brittle. There's already a chip.

I happened to order a denarius (star of the order) and a snack sestertius. I would normally go with the post with most dealers, but I wanted to lessen the prospect of a squished denarius, so I went with DHL. Savoca must have a sweetheart deal with FedEx - the cost is much less than normal. I had to beg another German dealer, back in 2022, to send a gold coin via the post. FedEx would have been about 80 Euros.

I think that's a good plan. Congratulations are in order for picking up such a nice example!

I believe so. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Anonymous Byzantine Class A Folles The sub-numbers on the Forum table correspond to the DOC numbers. For example, table #2 would be DOC A2.2.

Shipping and speed does matter to me. While I don't expect them to ship out budget coins lightning-fast (although they often do), if it's a month or more total transit and/or the shipping is egregious, I won't order much from them. Most of my exceptions fall into the former category. There's also a couple whom I wish would charge a little more for shipping. The shipping is so low that they can't possibly be breaking even on that. There's a Dutch dealer with delightful Byzantines, but it took a long time on both orders. I really liked the coins, especially the first time, so I guess it was worth it, but it did greatly cut down on my orders. Circumstances beyond a dealer's control can also play a factor. I have only ordered once from Austria. I don't like waiting for the ridiculous export permit. That's also scared me off from even attempting an order from Spain. Savoca's the only dealer whom I frequent who 'forces' me to use a non-postal option, although their FedEx rate is much lower than the others, and it's very fast. Does it decrease the frequency of my orders from them? Yes, a bit. I usually only order from them if there's something I really want or a few liked coins have built up. A 2015 incident with FedEx really traumatized me, but I've come to prefer FedEx over DHL Express for coins, although both are good. My examples are from fixed-price dealers/houses.

That's really interesting. I like learning about new aspects of numismatics. Sadly, the only Athenian owl I have is a contemporary eastern old-style imitation.

It does matter to me. I usually won't buy from a firm if the shipping is outragous or the service is super slow. I've only bought one coin from Austria. This wasn't the dealer's fault, but I had to wait two or three weeks for the ridiculous export permit. Through no fault of their own, that firm went into the only-if-I'm-really-desperate category. The coin itself was pretty darn nice and a fairly decent bargain. Then there's a Dutch dealer. I'm very pleased with the coins, but both times it took forever. Other people have reported normal shipping from this dealer. Perhaps I was just super unlucky. Being a Captain Slow is better than a broken or lost coin. I do wish that Savoca offered more than one shipping option, but their FedEx is lower than other dealers and it's fast. Does it cut down on my orders from them? Yes, a teeny bit, but not tremendously.