Have You Ever Accidently Purchased Two Of The Same Coin?

[Furryfrog02]

As most of you know, I have a thing for Victory and I am always down to get a different Victory reverse from every emperor possible. Well I got excited last week when I saw a Florian up for auction that had a Victory on the reverse. For some reason, I thought my Florian was a Salus reverse. I checked my records of which I am normally very good at maintaining. No picture of a Florian to be found. Was it all just a fever dream? Well no picture and not in my database means I must not have one. Time to bid, bid hard, and win win win!

I was super excited when the auction closed and I was Victorious (pun intended)! While waiting for my new prize to arrive I was doing a bit of house cleaning. I know I had a Florian. I had to find it and get it into my database. A few flips of the coin binder later and there he was, gazing back at me in all his fat-faced glory. I flipped it over fully expecting to to see Salus and her serpentine sidekick staring back at me. What did I see instead? Why, it was the vivacious vixen Victory.....I had somehow managed to completely screw up and get two of the same coin.  Down to the officina. Oof.  I have no idea how this coin slipped through and wasn't catalogued. 

I won Florian #2 with a bid of almost $70 after shipping and taxes. This is one of the most expensive coins I've ever purchased. I was super excited at first but now I feel like an idiot. 

Has anyone made a mistake like mine? Please tell your stories and make me feel better!

And now for the coins:

Florian 1

Florian AE Antoninianus. Cyzicus mint. IMP FLORIANVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / CONCORDIA MILITVM, Victory standing right presenting wreath to Florian standing left. Mintmark T

 

Florian 2

Florian AE Antoninianus. Cyzicus mint. IMP FLORIANVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / CONCORDIA MILITVM, Victory standing right presenting wreath to Florian standing left. Mintmark T

[panzerman]

YES😏

Recently from Artemide Auction

Etruria/ Uncertain City

AV 10 Asses ND 300-250BC

Unknown Mint

"X"   / reverse blank (3-5 known)

0.74g.    6.25mm.

Picked another one up last year/ same auction house.

0.77g.    7.50mm.

[expat]

On a positive note, the second Florian can be seen as an upgrade. The reverse is a much better, clearer image.

[KenDorney]

I do it all the time as I buy a huge number of coins.  When I get duplicates I simple keep the better and sell the lesser.  Be careful though, its easy to slip into being a dealer!

[Cordoba]

I bought two antimachos tetradrachms with the same monogram. I bought the first, and the second went really cheaply at leu. I had put in a bid and did not expect to win. still pretty happy with both, and they turned out to be an obverse die match.

 

Obv: Diademed and draped bust of Antimachos I to right, wearing flat topped kausia.
Rev: Poseidon, nude to the waist, standing facing, holding long trident in his right
hand and filleted palm branch in his left; in inner right field, monogram

Edited November 17, 2023 by Cordoba

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Possibly, over time.  However, it doesn't bother me to have duplicates.  I mostly buy for other factors; patina, toning, how it looks, etc.

[AETHER]

I have done that with Alexander III AE's, simply because one was an upgrade in style or condition. I have since purged them and any others. This is an expensive hobby and can't afford dupes!

 

[Phil Anthos]

My last purchase was a Tarentine fraction from Roma, which I already had. Well at least I can keep the nicer one and maybe sell the other, right? Except the other is a Vlasto plate coin which definitely isn't going anywhere. 

A year before I bought a very nice provincial from Hieropolis in Phrygia, a type I didn't think I'd seen before. So I added it to my gallery and placed it right next to the one I already had. 🤨  In this case I'll definitely sell the duplicate.

Getting old ain't for whimps!

~ Peter 

[JayAg47]

These two denarius, I actually bought the better one first, but the worn one was only list for 8 bucks so I bought it. 

Not the same coins, but the same type of Aeternitas holding the heads of Sol and Luna issued in the first couple years of Hadrian's reign. The denarius was bought from an Ukrainian seller before the war broke out, and the dupondius I got in a coin lot. 

I have also found a die match to my Julia Domna Veneri denarius and the Lysimachos tetrarachm for sale, but they are really expensive and I have already spent most of my coin budget for this year!

[kirispupis]

I certainly didn't mean to own two coins of Alexander I Molossos, though I believe they're different types (note: the reverse on the second should have been rotated 90 degrees). However, I like both and have no intentions of parting with one.

 

Alexander, King of the Molossians
Epirus, 342-330 BCE; c. 334-332 BCE
AE 15.5-16.5mm, 3.57g
Obv: Eagle standing r. between tripod and laurel spray.
Rx: ΑΛΕΞA /ΤΟΥ ΝΕ above and below thunderbolt; all within wreath.
BM-6, SNG Cop-90, Sear-1987.
Ex Mark Gibbons Collection

Alexander the Molossian
Bruttium, Croton 334-331 BCE
AE 12mm 3.37g
Attianese, Calabria Graeca, 267,510
Ex Collection of M. Weder
Ex Münzen & Medaillen GmbH

[Furryfrog02]

Well now I feel a bit better that I'm not the only one 😛

[Bailathacl]

Sadly I’ve done it a few times.  The last time it was 2 of the same coin within a month of each other.  That was a hard lesson.  I always consult (and update) the collection spreadsheet now before buying anything.  

[Roman Collector]

Yes, but I always justify it afterwards by finding little differences between the coins. I already had this one ...

When I fell in love with this one ...

Now, I realize that it's an upgrade, but I had forgotten that I already owned the first coin. But I justify it to myself that they are two different coins because the first coin depicts Cybele without a lion but there's a lion on the second coin.

[Prieure de Sion]

Funnily enough, when this has happened to me, it has always been with Gordianus III specimens. I don't know why - but always with this emperor. Like with these two pieces, for example. I think it happened to me 7-8 times with Gordianus, if I remember correctly.

 

 

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Not yet but I can easily see it happening. I almost bought an emperor I already had but had forgotten about. IIRC I remembered at the last minute. For example, I almost bought a Licinius II because I forgot that I already had one.

[David Atherton]

Yes, it has happened to me as well.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=156618

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=177977

It taught me to always consult my database or Forvm gallery. 

Other 'duplicates' I have were acquired for minor variations or whatnot. 

[thejewk]

Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[ambr0zie]

In my first lot of ancient coins there was RIC VII Siscia 161 twice. 

 

Not too much to complain about. Rather than that,  I never bought two of the same coin. Instead, I bought 3. 

#1 

 

#2 (thinking it was a different mint, wrong)

 

#3 (intentionally, as I found the double strike spectacular)

[Furryfrog02]

57 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

In my first lot of ancient coins there was RIC VII Siscia 161 twice. 

 

Not too much to complain about. Rather than that,  I never bought two of the same coin. Instead, I bought 3. 

#1 

 

#2 (thinking it was a different mint, wrong)

 

#3 (intentionally, as I found the double strike spectacular)

Buying multiples of "Judy Booties" as I like to call them is not a mistake. I call that a wise investment 🙂

I love that double strike! So cool.

[DonnaML]

19 hours ago, Furryfrog02 said:

Well now I feel a bit better that I'm not the only one 😛

You certainly aren't the only one, @Furryfrog02, as the comments prove. It happened to me quite recently, because I had forgotten to enter the first specimen in my catalog back in March, and proceeded to buy another example in September, only six months later.

The later specimen: 

Cornelia Salonina (wife of Gallienus), Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint, 4^th Officina. Obv. Diademed and draped bust right, on crescent, COR SALONINA AVG / Rev. Antelope [Wolkow], doe [RIC & Sear], hind (female red deer) [Cohen], Capreolus (European roe deer) [Cunetio], or European elk (moose) [Münzen & Medaillen] walking left, IVNONI CONS AVG; in exergue (offset to right), Δ [Delta = 4th Officina]. RIC V-1 16, RSC IV 70 [doe or hind], Cohen 70, Sear RCV III 10643, Wolkow 29aa4 (ill. p. 98) [Cédric Wolkow, Catalogue des monnaies romaines - Gallien - L'émission dite "Du Bestiaire" - atelier de Rome (BNumis, édition 2019)], Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 725; Cunetio 1418-1419 [Besly, E. & R. Bland, The Cunetio Treasure: Roman Coinage of the Third Century AD (London, 1983)]. 20 mm., 3.01 g. Purchased Sep 2023 from Münzen & Medaillen GmbH, Weil am Rhein, Germany; acquired from Münzen & Medaillen AG Basel, Switzerland (before 2004) (with coin tags from both)*; ex Collection M. Wedel.  

 

*See https://www.muenzenundmedaillendeutschland.de/de/de_wir.html: “Münzen & Medaillen GmbH was founded in 1997 under the name Münzen & Medaillen Deutschland GmbH as a subsidiary of Münzen & Medaillen AG Basel, which had been based in Switzerland since 1942. . . . In 2004 the location in Switzerland was closed. In Germany, the company continues to operate from its headquarters in Weil am Rhein.”

I was quite chagrined to discover the earlier specimen when I went to put the newer one in the appropriate tray. Same description, except:

21 mm., 2.91 g., 11 h. Purchased from Leu Numismatik AG, Winterthur, Switzerland, Web Auction 25, 14 Mar 2023, Lot 2465.

 

I had actually checked my catalog before buying the second specimen, but the Leu specimen wasn't there.

I still feel like an idiot.

I have no desire to keep both, but still haven't made a final decision as to which one to keep and which one to try to sell. I'm leaning towards keeping the Münzen & Medaillen GmbH and trying to sell the Leu, even though the latter was the more expensive  example, and certainly is in better overall condition. I just kind of like the antelope (or whatever it is) on the M & M specimen a little better. I am taking the opportunity to solicit other opinions once again!

Edited November 18, 2023 by DonnaML

[seth77]

”Accidentally”

 

[seth77]

”Accidentally”

 

[robinjojo]

I won't even post all of the owls in the collection, so here are a couple of East Arabian tetradrachms that I purchased recently, because of their stylistic differences plus the hope that I have that at least the obverse of one will be selected for the cover of the next issue of Vogue!

Eastern Arabia, Oman, Mleiha Abi'el, BI tetradrachms, 1st century BC - 1st century AD.

14.98 grams (l), 15.01 grams (r) 

[Hrefn]

I incline toward buying a coin or variety unrepresented in my collection over buying an upgrade, so I rarely end up with duplicates for that reason.  Sometimes a coin will just be so attractive that I will buy it even though I have a nice example already, in which case I generally end up with two fine coins.  In this case, I tend to keep both of them.  

I have inadvertently obtained duplicates when pre-bidding on several similar coins in an auction, hoping to win one but winning both.  I have also placed an opening bid on a type of coin I already owned because I wanted to keep track of the auction and see what the winning bid would be, only to win the coin myself at the opening bid. 

Lastly, I have found that it is easy to keep a mental record of emperors whose coins one has, until about AD 800 with the profusion of Constantines and Leos, all of whose portraits look the same.  Even on a worn coin, one can differentiate Trajan from Hadrian from Marcus Aurelius at a glance.  I defy anyone to do the same with Leo III, IV, V, or Constantine V, VI, VII etc.  Caution is required.  Also, when one starts to collect sub varieties like light-weight solidi which differ minimally from the standard variety, keeping track becomes harder for me.  

Despite my best efforts I have accumulated eight duplicate solidi and a duplicate tremissis (not shown.)   Each obverse is above its respective duplicate’s reverse.  None of these coins is especially rare.  I have never looked at them displayed like this and must admit there is a certain museum-like quality in being able to essentially see both sides without having to flip them over.  But, I would much rather have eight examples of coins I do not presently possess.  Still, eight or nine duplicates collected over almost 40 years is not that bad, they are pretty, and they have not been horrible investments - though not bought for that reason.  

[Rand]

@Hrefn This is a very nice Anastasius solidus without an officina letter, published in Hahn W, Metlich MA. Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire (Anastastius I - Justinian I, 491-565). Vol 1. 2nd edition, revised, 2013.

There are few of these, I missed one in 2019, and have to wait for another to appear.