Nerosmyfavorite68

Those two aren't really anything to be ashamed of. I have plenty cruddier than that. I remember doing that at some coin shows, although it would usually be a bargain buy or a pick bin, as not to go away empty-handed. When I first started, I would even buy LRB's, and not nice ones, at that. It's been 20 years since I've knowingly bought (not counting group lots/blind pick bins) since I've bought a two soldiers or a Fel Temp.

I suspect it came from handling the corroded Didia Clara sestertius, or one of the coins from the bag o'asses. I wore gloves, but whatever got on the gloves. I don't recall the malachite lump being too bad.

Wow, I just looked at the 'choice XF' Caligula as. That's EF????! The surfaces, the halo where they smoothed it on the obverse, etc. I would have run far away from that one. What do they mean by altered surfaces on the green one two lots down; 22073? Fake patina? I'd rather have the greenie than the 'choice XF" one. The 'XF' one would qualify for Van Meter's definition of VF.

And there's photography space. While my junky 1940 Philco chairside radio makes a good workspace, I'd have to get a lightbox and lighting.

Like I mentioned, it's a pre-2008 buy and not photographed. Until such time that macro photography improves to such a point that it's foolproof or I get a pre-made photography stand, there's not much point in cataloging them. It was purchased in 1997 for around $500. I remember being very pleased with myself. I did manage to make a not terrible scan on my college's flatbed scanner, but that's long gone. My current scanner doesn't scan coins well.

Yes, the backgrounds were a giveaway of the seller's ID. I threw in that paragraph because I didn't want anyone to think that I was throwing shade on him. I'm happy with the great majority of buys from him. The $200-something was quite the bargain price, even then. Yours is nicer than mine, and I agree per the observations about current prices. Thanks for the kind words concerning my JC. I'm slightly ashamed of my recent broken Nero, but I have more anger than anything else, since it was never satisfactorily addressed. It was my fault for not pressing the issue harder at the time. I'm only out $80-something on that. I'm also ashamed that I lost the bag o' asses. Purchased in bulk from the same seller as the Aureus, at $1.50 each, these certainly weren't bad for the price. Happily, the 'best' were put in one of the bags I didn't lose. When I was moving, I transferred the bag to here and hid it too well. I looked everywhere, but to no avail. It could also be languishing in a box, I suppose. I found the bag o'provincials.

Wow, the Caesaraugusta coin is nice! You tried, though. I'm not sure what the appropriate price would be for a nice example. It has a very similar look (the patina) to the $225 example I mentioned, except this piece was maybe a nice Fine plus. I forgot about my 'barbaric' Caligula as, which is muled with an Agrippa reverse. It was a victim of the Great BD Outbreak of 2000 (which is why I barely handle my coins since then). I didn't have the information I do now, and while I got the bd to stop, it left a small malachite lump.

While I have a decent example, I do have one which is worse than that. That's an easy one to upgrade, so it shouldn't be too hard. The obverse isn't *that* bad. Definitely a face-up example.

What's the gunk on the reverse of the Artemis?

I've been collecting for 30 years, and while I have many decrepit coins, there's only a small handful of which I'm truly ashamed of. I'm fully in the budget collector class, and I only had a small budget for a very long time. My coin budget is larger than ever before, but with the price inflation of a Caesar portrait denarius, an example would be fairly tough to get; life gets in the way. The bushes alone cost $1100 to trim. It's almost impossible to get rid of brush; I had to spend $770 on a junk removal company. Due to my lack of coin photography skills (which would probably be fixed if I could buy a pre-built stand for a cell phone), my pre-2008 collection (i.e. coins bought which featured a picture) are unphotographed, and given the massive amount of effort it would take to catalog and photograph them, probably never will be. The Claudius Aureus is the first coin of shame. Purchased circa 1997, ex-jewelry, it's VG and mushy. I purchased an Aurelian double sestertius, honestly described as heavily tooled, from the same dealer, yet I don't really have any shame about that one. It's my only known toolie, and as I don't participate in auctions, it's unlikely that one will ever show up in my price range at vcoins. The second coin of shame is my only Julius Caesar portrait denarius. I picked it up for $200-something in 2010 and while I was quite excited about my budget purchase at the time (it got me in the door of JC portraits), alas, it's probably one of the worst known. The price was certainly not bad. For the price, it should be one of the worst known. ULIUS CAESAR AR silver portrait denarius. Lifetime issue, struck Jan-Feb 44 BC. CAESAR DICT PERPETVO, Laureate head of Caesar right. Reverse - SEPVLLIVS MACER, Venus standing right holding Victory and scepter. RSC 41, RCV 1414. 17mm, 3.1g. Very worn, several small surface scratches. TRAJAN DECIUS AE double sestertius. Rome, 250 AD. IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right, drapery on far shoulder. Reverse - FELICITAS SAECVLI, Felicitas standing left with long caduceus & cornucopiae, SC in fields. Cohen 40, RIC 115c, RCV 9395 34.5mm, 21.3g. Reverse slightly double struck. The Trajan Decius is the only coin I have which actually brings me a small level of distress. While no one has ever definitively answered this point, it's my theory that the ghastly eye (or lack thereof) was due to corrosion removal. One can see residual corrosion still left on the face. I'm told that it was originally from France. I'm still not sure if the residual hair left on the back of the head is tooled in or not. A couple of recent coins from this seller are high on my joy list. It was just coincidence that these two were not.

That's a very nice first post, with a coin featuring a fascinating backstory. Well done!

The first one is superior, in my opinion. It's nice to have two, however.

It's exciting to see that your 12 Caesars collection is close to completion! My best one, a 1990's gift from my dad, a purchase from the local coin shop is similar, though I haven't looked at it in years, although I recall it's a a bit bolder. I'm still kicking myself for not buying the nice one with green patination from the local coin shop for $225. It's not really worth me trotting out my corroded ex-Waddell Sestertius again. It's nothing too special. I have all 12 Caesars, except my Caesar portrait denarius is much too shameful to show again. It's one of the 3 or 4 coins I'm ashamed of; pretty horrible.

Good to see you here! What can one say, the coin is absolutely wonderful! It has fine toning and a super provenance.

Nice detective work! It looks much better out of the slab. The patina on the Tranquillina is really something. Wow! I have less than 20 slabs, so there's probably not many bad misattributions. Most were of the bare bones description slab types.

I love gold. Except for my shamefully bad Claudius Aureus I get a lot of joy from my gold issues, even the recent budget ones. Ah, the 'Jerusalem' mint. I picked up one at a 2009 or 2010 coin show from Jon Kern, flipped from Pegasi. There was a small finder's gash, luckily just obscuring the first couple of letters, which knocked down the price. Well done!

I don't know how I missed this one - perhaps that's when the server went down. It's certainly an example worthy of excitement! I have a couple or three Galbas, but they're all low-grade sestertii.

Do fixed price dealers count?

He mostly only collects ancients, yes, with the probable caveat of really neat medieval or early modern coins. Most were 1970's purchases from a now-defunct downtown department store. He's been buying up $20 examples which the coin store currently has, which aren't terrible for the price, but I always try to get him something nicer. I picked out a very nice republican denarius last year. He was slightly disappointed with it. He prefers coins of emperors or some individual. He did really like the ex-CNG Divus Augustus As for Christmas. He also really liked the Louis XIV medal I bought for mom, although I suspect that found its way into his binder. She's interested in history, but doesn't collect coins.

It sounds like you have some very qualified volunteers. I myself would be willing to opine. I totally avoid auctions so I wouldn't be competition.

I hope I picked a decent present. This dealer had some coins I wanted, so I bundled. I considered the left-facing tet to be neater, but this one was prettier. A Louis XIV medal was the initial target from Numiscorner, but perhaps I'll do that for Christmas. Their descriptions (although they do seem to have better ones on their website, perhaps I'll just look there) are sparse, and I really don't know how to pick an old/fairly original one, other than picking the oldest-looking medal. He said he prefers coins which will fit in his binder. The Louis medal is HUGE. Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch. Gordian III. 238-244 AD. BI Tetradrachm (12.20gm, 27mm). Obv.: ΑΥΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC CΕΒ, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right seen from behind. Rev.: ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞΟΥCΙΑC, eagle standing facing, head and tail left, wings spread, wreath in beak, standing on exergual line; SC in exergue. Prieur 282

I wouldn't consider Tiberius III to be super-common, but he's not super-rare, either. For whatever reason, AE coins of that general period from Constantinople are far scarcer than Sicilian issues. It would be much harder to find a decent Constantinople follis.

Ewomack has a delightful example. Is it tiny? My horrible AE Sicily example is tiny. I'm so glad that I bought my solidus; it's by far the most mirror-like gold coin that I have. I missed out on buying a lovely Divus Augustus as, and the dealer kindly offered me a discount. It was either that or a somewhat unattractive example of a Syracuse Tetradrachm.

Low weight? It's 23 grams. I'd be more concerned about the 18gram one on vcoins. The patina's probably phony and it has some smoothing going on (which may have been corrosion removal). I've seen far worse. Unless it's super-obvious, I leave the authenticity to others; I don't want to be wrong. i've noticed that many Savoca and some German dealers tend to have that patina. Here's my humble example: (the green has been stable since 2011). Ugly, but no smoothing here! SH54869. Orichalcum sestertius, RIC I 37; BMCRE I 38; Cohen 24, F, rough, Rome mint, weight 24.698g, maximum diameter 34.9mm, die axis 180o, 37 - 38 A.D.; obverse C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT, laureate head left; reverse S P Q R / P P / OB CIVES / SERVATOS, legend in four lines within Corona Civica oak wreath; ex Edward J. Waddell; (ex Forum)

Yes, I agree. My definition of looting would be something like the German occupation or digging up a place like the Parthenon or Palmyra, not circumventing some ridiculous laws. However, the false provenance would put any such vendor in my 'buyer beware' category, insofar as high-end coins. However, since those coins are out of my league and I would research such a provenance even if it were affordable, that doesn't really matter to me. A provenance would never make me pay more than 5 or 10% more, at best. I'd rather buy from Roma than my formerly favorite UK dealer. At least I'd probably get a refund if something went wrong, especially on an inexpensive coin. On a smaller level, I'm sure the inexpensive coins from a certain middle eastern dealer aren't fresh digs! And per Athena (not the dealer whom I was referring to), what was that dodgy place in New York City which sold fake antiquities, circa 2010? Something Gallery. The proprietor might have just had a similar name, but somehow that name stuck in my head. The horrible, fake patinas/toning drive me away from Athena. I do sometimes see silver offered which doesn't look like poo. The Zurqieh fake patinas usually don't affect me. I usually go for the silver. Do they end up being badly cleaned sometimes? Yes. One constant in life; probably five years from now the politicians going after Beale will probably have been convicted of something. That's how it goes with most big city politicians.