Inexpensive Coins

[ComicMan]

What are some interesting coins that you own that can be had without selling one of your kidneys? Something that despite not commanding a premium is a piece of art that you enjoy looking at.

Arcadius - D N ARCADIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right, holding spear and shield, Hand of God above holding wreath / GLORIA ROMANORVM, emperor standing facing, head left, holding standard and resting shield at side, bound captive seated on ground to left, head right. Mintmark CONΓ star.

I got this one for 10 euros, honestly it could have gone for a little more but this is still probably not a hugely expensive coin and neither is it in great condition. Who even cares about Arcadius, am I right?

But I am going to be honest, the reverse just looks nice, and I like the interesting portrait with the hand of god reaching down to crown the emperor. That is something that very few coins have, but manus dei will reoccur for hundreds of years as a symbol in Christian art. Also, I like to see where my coin was minted so it is nice to have that on here, that is something that late Roman bronzes really have going for them in my opinion.

I will leave it up to you to define inexpensive, so what is a budget coin that you got that you are proud of?

[ominus1]

...O' there's all kinds man...:)...ya just gotta be lQQkin'...i gave around 10 bucks for this Greek bronze from Kime i believe....(bought in a lot)...i gave $25 for this Trajan column denarius......

[ComicMan]

16 minutes ago, ominus1 said:

...O' there's all kinds man...:)...ya just gotta be lQQkin'...i gave around 10 bucks for this Greek bronze from Kime i believe....(bought in a lot)...i gave $25 for this Trajan column denarius......

Nice bargains! Thought I am more thinking about coins that are just inexpensive by default, these were definitely nice finds.

[John Conduitt]

I think I can get away with this one being 'Roman Empire' since Cunobelin was a client king of Augustus and it features Janus 😉

It cost $17 including shipping.

Cunobeline Unit, 9-40

Camulodunon (Roman Camulodunum, modern Colchester). Bronze, 14mm, 2.19g. Janiform head; CVNO below. Sow seated right beneath a tree; CAMV on panel below (ABC 2981; S 346; V 2105 'Trinovantian W').

Edited December 15, 2022 by John Conduitt

[LONGINUS]

Thanks for your interesting post, @ComicMan !

I’ve found many Seleukid bronzes that are very beautiful and reasonably priced.

 

[expat]

A lot of late roman bronzes are generally inexpensive. Although, these 3 were very cheap as a lot and unattributed by the VCoins dealer. An hour in distilled water and I was very happy with what I gambled on. Total cost for 3 coins; 15 Euros

 

[dougsmit]

The unfortunate fact is there is only one kind of coin that sells inexpensively and that is the class of coins dealers have no likely sales to people who will pay more.  Most of these are either small, boring, ugly, damaged, worn, corroded or some combination of all of these.  I have about a thousand coins in this category because I do not buy coins that have nothing going for them except they are high grade.  Perhaps my favorite class of cheaper coins is the group worn but still readable and fully identifiable but not corroded or off center to the point that they lose much of the legends.  There are also damaged coin where the damage is not so ugly as to offset what the coins may have going for it.  For example:  This AE15  provincial of Geta from Nicaea gained enough 'points' in my opinion from smooth surfaces, style and the left facing portrait that I was willing to 'forgive' the large slice on the reverse that really does not hit anything important.

The same price brought this Elagabalus which I never would have considered buying because of its roughness but I was attracted to the extremely large flan.  The Geta is more worn of the two and by far my favorite because I like left facers  and better surfaces. 

The secret to paying less for coins you like is to like coins that other people would not want at any price.   No one in today's condition loving hobby would want these damaged or ugly coins of common rulers but I was attracted to them because I like rare coins and rather few people I know have any of these.  One of my goals remaining is to find someone who would see what they are would appreciate them after I am gone (for free even).  Unpopular, ugly and rare are often cheap.  I only wanted these three of Septimius Severus because I specialize in these and am happy other people did not want them.  I would not trade any of them for mint state denarii of the common types.  If you want a cheap collection, specialize in something ugly and unpopular. 

 

 

 

[ComicMan]

11 minutes ago, expat said:

A lot of late roman bronzes are generally inexpensive. Although, these 3 were very cheap as a lot and unattributed by the VCoins dealer. An hour in distilled water and I was very happy with what I gambled on. Total cost for 3 coins; 15 Euros

 

You basically got a family group! Lovely coins, especially the third one.

Man, these Constantinian boys really hated that fallen horseman, just let him get up!

54 minutes ago, LONGINUS said:

Thanks for your interesting post, @ComicMan !

I’ve found many Seleukid bronzes that are very beautiful and reasonably priced.

 

What can I say, I do it for the people 😉

Lovely coins! I really like the first one.

1 hour ago, John Conduitt said:

I think I can get away with this one being 'Roman Empire' since Cunobelin was a client king of Augustus and it features Janus 😉

It cost about $12.

Cunobeline Unit, 9-40

Camulodunon (Roman Camulodunum, modern Colchester). Bronze, 14mm, 2.19g. Janiform head; CVNO below. Sow seated right beneath a tree; CAMV on panel below (ABC 2981; S 346; V 2105 'Trinovantian W').

You can post non-Romans it is just that I needed to pick something for the flair 😆

[ComicMan]

4 minutes ago, dougsmit said:

The unfortunate fact is there is only one kind of coin that sells inexpensively and that is the class of coins dealers have no likely sales to people who will pay more.  Most of these are either small, boring, ugly, damaged, worn, corroded or some combination of all of these.  I have about a thousand coins in this category because I do not buy coins that have nothing going for them except they are high grade.  Perhaps my favorite class of cheaper coins is the group worn but still readable and fully identifiable but not corroded or off center to the point that they lose much of the legends.  There are also damaged coin where the damage is not so ugly as to offset what the coins may have going for it.  For example:  This AE15  provincial of Geta from Nicaea gained enough 'points' in my opinion from smooth surfaces, style and the left facing portrait that I was willing to 'forgive' the large slice on the reverse that really does not hit anything important.

The same price brought this Elagabalus which I never would have considered buying because of its roughness but I was attracted to the extremely large flan.  The Geta is more worn of the two and by far my favorite because I like left facers  and better surfaces. 

The secret to paying less for coins you like is to like coins that other people would not want at any price.   No one in today's condition loving hobby would want these damaged or ugly coins of common rulers but I was attracted to them because I like rare coins and rather few people I know have any of these.  One of my goals remaining is to find someone who would see what they are would appreciate them after I am gone (for free even).  Unpopular, ugly and rare are often cheap.  I only wanted these three of Septimius Severus because I specialize in these and am happy other people did not want them.  I would not trade any of them for mint state denarii of the common types.  If you want a cheap collection, specialize in something ugly and unpopular. 

 

 

 

Oooh, nice coins! Where did you get these, I would love a Geta like that, especially with a test cut(?). Well, just to clarify I wanted to show off my coin, and see what other bargains people picked up. I don't want to specialize in anything right now. In the first place I do not own anything rare at the moment. I am still figuring out what I want to collect, I definitely don't want to go for ugly and damaged things in particular, but I would not mind something that other people don't appreciate as much and condition is not a dealbreaker for me.

I do find value in some of my less impressive coins like this Julian that I showed off a few weeks ago,I think that it has a lot of character. I like the big flan, the imperfections, and whatever was going on with that strike.

And one thing that I doubt I will ever care about is rarity. I like the idea of holding something that ancient people also could have held, and collecting rare things kinda goes counter to that. No, give me something that gives an ancient Roman the same feeling that I get when I look at a 10 eurocent coin 😇

Fel Temp Reparatio also happens to be one of the coolest reverse types in my opinion even though it is probably one of the most common. I just like the idea that the happy times included horsemen being stabbed, no matter how common those types are that will never get old for me.

What is going on with the first Septimius Severus by the way, why is it so green?

[Furryfrog02]

My kids and I specialize in the inexpensive. It's really the only way we can enjoy this hobby of kings as a mere pauper and his offspring. 😛

The bulk of our collection is sub-$20, some in the $20-$50 range and only a couple that are more than that. Nothing over $100.

There are great coins that are inexpensive. Here are some favorites:

Victorinus - $9.99

 

Titus - $5

 

Antiochos I - $12.21

 

Rudolph I & Ludwig IV - Bavaria Ingolstadt - $15.00

 

[expat]

To add to the content of this thread, I am more than happy when paying only a little, and hoping the actual coin is better than the dealers photos, because condition and/or rarity are of no concern to me personally. Coins that worked for a living before being "lost" for a couple of millennia give me much more pleasure, also being able to discern the portrait is a bonus. Of course, there are also Emperors that just aren't popular enough to garner higher prices. This for example is in my mind a far better coin than the  25 Euros cost suggests

 

[Orange Julius]

I love cheap coins! Here are a few recent buys under $25 including shipping. I have more cheap goodies but not yet photographed:

$17.50

$22.50

$18.00

$20.00

$10.00

Edited December 14, 2022 by Orange Julius

[Furryfrog02]

@Orange JuliusI love that bust of Quintillus! I've noticed that he tends to have very strong portraits and then the rest of the coin is junk. Yours is nice on both sides.

[Tejas]

6 hours ago, Orange Julius said:

I love cheap coins! Here are a few recent buys under $25 including shipping

Wow, this is an amazing selection, especially for under USD 25 per coin. Price correlates strongly with condition, but the Aurelian is superbe.  I could see the Aurelian easily fetching USD 80 at auction. The Quintillus should be in a similar range. The others perhaps a bit cheaper, but well about USD 25 including shipping.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Tejas

[Parthicus]

Here's a couple of inexpensive coins I bought at the Whitman Baltimore show in October.  A small Kushano-Sasanian bronze of Hormazd Kushanshah (c. 270-300) for just $15:

 

And a square AE trichalkon (22 x 22 mm) of the Indo-Scythian king Azilises for $25:

I bought a bunch of other inexpensive coins, but those two stand out to me in terms of detail-to-price ratio.  In general, a lot of Eastern coins sell cheaper than their Greco-Roman equivalents, due to fewer competing collectors.  Of course, you really have to do your homework, but isn't that the fun part?

[dougsmit]

7 hours ago, Parthicus said:

Of course, you really have to do your homework, but isn't that the fun part?

Can you possibly mean there is more fun in a thousand coins to be studied than one that you are afraid to touch for fear of smudging its surface?  I would love to know the statistics on how many people are in this hobby for the fun as opposed to the profit.  I used to know quite a few people who had fun but now we see more questions about worth and fighting with shipping companies.  

[ComicMan]

1 minute ago, dougsmit said:

Can you possibly mean there is more fun in a thousand coins to be studied than one that you are afraid to touch for fear of smudging its surface?  I would love to know the statistics on how many people are in this hobby for the fun as opposed to the profit.  I used to know quite a few people who had fun but now we see more questions about worth and fighting with shipping companies.  

Idk about anybody else, but if I wanted to see returns on my money I would be doing literally anything else. As with any other hobby I consider every cent that I spent lost (as in I am never getting back the money itself).

It is the experience that I love!

[Limes]

16 minutes ago, dougsmit said:

 and fighting with shipping companies.  

Well, I dare say rising fees, lost shipments etc, should be termed casus belli! 😁

Edited December 14, 2022 by Limes

[shanxi]

Misattributed by the seller. A Faustina I (lifetime) from a rare city for 20€. Category: Fun

Faustina I
Phrygia, Hyrgaleis
Apollodotos (archon and strategos)
Obv.: ΦΑVϹΤƐΙΝΑ ϹƐΒΑϹΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina I, r.
Rev: ƐΠΙ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ Α Ϲ ΥΡΓΑΛƐΩΝ, cult statue of Artemis of Ephesus standing, facing, wearing kalathos, having supports; between crescent (on l.) and star (on r.)
Ae, 3.60g, 21 mm
Ref.: RPC IV.2, 1823

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by shanxi

[Briac]

hello guys, my new cheap find with this antoninianus of Gordian III minted in Roma with error in reverse legend 

CONCORDIA MLIT (Sic!) instead of CONCORDIA MILIT, second specimen known (same reverse die)

got it in auction for 30€+ fees (around 45€ all included)

[rvk]

On 12/13/2022 at 3:47 PM, dougsmit said:

The secret to paying less for coins you like is to like coins that other people would not want at any price.   No one in today's condition loving hobby would want these damaged or ugly coins of common rulers but I was attracted to them because I like rare coins and rather few people I know have any of these.  One of my goals remaining is to find someone who would see what they are would appreciate them after I am gone (for free even).  Unpopular, ugly and rare are often cheap.

I do this as well to be able to have a bigger collection on my budget. Recently picked up a Vespasian elephant for $50.

[mc9]

With time, patience, and a touch of luck,one can sometimes find great offers.
Here are some coins bought in the last 3 years, all came from different lots. 
All pieces were more than worth their price (lot price + shipping / number of pieces).

4,5 euro

4 euro

3 euro

7 euro

9 euro

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by mc9

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

ter that many inexpensive coins this year but these uncleaned Sasanian Drachmae were only $15 each, and the shipping 5 or 6 dollars.

[Marsyas Mike]

I do enjoy a cheap-o thread, though I tend to get a bit jealous about missing some of these great bargains.  That being said, bargain-hunting is the closest thing I have to a collecting strategy, pretty much channeling my Aunt Judy and her garage sales, but I use eBay.  

Most of my collection would qualify for this thread, but I'll share a sestertius of Marcus Aurelius that I got in a lot of cruddy AEs a few years ago.  Nobody bid on the lot, so I got them for a dollar - two bits apiece.  I think the melt value of copper/brass might cover a lot of that price!  

The Marcus Aurelius (top right) puzzled me somewhat, and I posted it on Coin Talk back in 2018, not garnering much enthusiasm:  https://www.cointalk.com/threads/marcus-aurelius-sestertius-virtus-rare-does-it-matter.321327/

That was a few years ago and I've read a few books and learned a few things about using the Internet since then so I decided to look into this coin again - turns out, yeah, it's still ugly - but it is also rather scarce (the British Museum doesn't seem to have one).  It also turns out I had the attribution wrong back when I posted it on CT - it is indeed Mars, not Virtus.  Although the Mars reverse types are abundant for Aurelius, they almost all seem to have been issued around the time of the Armenian campaign (ARMENICVS obverse legend).  This one was issued later - it is very hard to "see" thanks to a botched patina-stripping job that basically gives it a military camouflaged  look, but almost all of the obverse legend is legible:

Marcus Aurelius  Æ Sestertius (171-172 A.D.) Rome Mint M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVI, laureate head right / [IMP VI COS III], S-C, Mars standing right, holding spear and leaning on shield.  RIC III 1042; Banti 144; MIR 18, 231-6/30; BMCRE -. (25.79 grams / 30 x 28 mm) eBay Aug. 2018 Lot @ $0.25  

 Notes:  Found only 4 examples, the single OCRE example is Freiburg, Seminar für Alte Geschichte der Universität, Inventory No. 02398 https://ikmk.uni-freiburg.de/object?id=ID5349 http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.m_aur.1042  See Roma Num. ("Very Rare"), CNG auctions and Wildwinds.  OCRE describes Mars as "advancing right" which is not the case since the shield is resting on the ground.  

Sure, I like bargains, and paying very little something that is actually valuable (I'm not saying that's the case with this coin), is appealing to most people.  But the real pleasure for me with ancients is figuring out things.  Or, in this case, re-figuring things out after I did it wrong the first time!  

Edited December 15, 2022 by Marsyas Mike

[ComicMan]

2 hours ago, Marsyas Mike said:

I do enjoy a cheap-o thread, though I tend to get a bit jealous about missing some of these great bargains.  That being said, bargain-hunting is the closest thing I have to a collecting strategy, pretty much channeling my Aunt Judy and her garage sales, but I use eBay.  

Most of my collection would qualify for this thread, but I'll share a sestertius of Marcus Aurelius that I got in a lot of cruddy AEs a few years ago.  Nobody bid on the lot, so I got them for a dollar - two bits apiece.  I think the melt value of copper/brass might cover a lot of that price!  

The Marcus Aurelius (top right) puzzled me somewhat, and I posted it on Coin Talk back in 2018, not garnering much enthusiasm:  https://www.cointalk.com/threads/marcus-aurelius-sestertius-virtus-rare-does-it-matter.321327/

That was a few years ago and I've read a few books and learned a few things about using the Internet since then so I decided to look into this coin again - turns out, yeah, it's still ugly - but it is also rather scarce (the British Museum doesn't seem to have one).  It also turns out I had the attribution wrong back when I posted it on CT - it is indeed Mars, not Virtus.  Although the Mars reverse types are abundant for Aurelius, they almost all seem to have been issued around the time of the Armenian campaign (ARMENICVS obverse legend).  This one was issued later - it is very hard to "see" thanks to a botched patina-stripping job that basically gives it a military camouflaged  look, but almost all of the obverse legend is legible:

Marcus Aurelius  Æ Sestertius (171-172 A.D.) Rome Mint M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVI, laureate head right / [IMP VI COS III], S-C, Mars standing right, holding spear and leaning on shield.  RIC III 1042; Banti 144; MIR 18, 231-6/30; BMCRE -. (25.79 grams / 30 x 28 mm) eBay Aug. 2018 Lot @ $0.25  

 Notes:  Found only 4 examples, the single OCRE example is Freiburg, Seminar für Alte Geschichte der Universität, Inventory No. 02398 https://ikmk.uni-freiburg.de/object?id=ID5349 http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.m_aur.1042  See Roma Num. ("Very Rare"), CNG auctions and Wildwinds.  OCRE describes Mars as "advancing right" which is not the case since the shield is resting on the ground.  

Sure, I like bargains, and paying very little something that is actually valuable (I'm not saying that's the case with this coin), is appealing to most people.  But the real pleasure for me with ancients is figuring out things.  Or, in this case, re-figuring things out after I did it wrong the first time!  

You know, that top left one actually looks pretty cool! If you showed the obverse to a non-collector I am sure that you could wow them with something like that. I feel like the older collectors are really desentisized to the fact that we are holding thousands of years of history in our hands, and even if the coin is not in mint state that is still impressive on the face of it. The one that you highlight is also interesting, I doubt that I would really want it in my collection, but I am sure that figuring it out was fun.