Show your Holiday Haul! (who's the SPQR collection?)

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

My family does the festivities on Christmas Eve.  Dad doesn't buy online, and has only what's on hand at the local coin store, which has limited ancients. He did pretty well. 

By the way, he was really elated about the Nero/Claudius Tetradrachm and the Divus Augustus As I bought him.

There were three coins, the first one I posted before, theDemetrios I Soter Tetradrachm - he gave me some money and instructed me to buy what coin I wanted.

The second is a raw AR Drachm, Rhodes, tag says c. 88 B.C.  Plinthoporphic standard, according to vcoins.  Weight/diameter, none given.  The handwriting on the ID tag is abysmal, it looks like Jen[kins]? 245.  Could be 265, but probably a 4.

My hands are a bit moist, and my coin photography skills are crappy, so I'm typing out the details.

Reverse is a rose and it looks like the official is NIKAgammaOP[A or delta, looks like delta).  Nikagord doesn't sound like a name, so I'm guessing the last one is an A.  VF condition, toned.  I tried to find the exact official on vcoins, but I couldn't find it. I found a Nikephoros or similar.  I pulled out the magnifier and looked at it again.  All except the messy last letter(the A ordelta) are clear.

Last one; a slab.  It's a pretty coin, SPQR collection, whoever that is.  The NGC grade is 'choice VF', but while the obverse could barely squeak by as VF, choice VF, my butt on the reverse.  I graded it aVF/F, not that grades really matter on ancients.  It also has no weight/diameter. I'll have to look up the Sear RCV number.

I'd jailbreak it if I were less of a klutz. 

The NGC verify photo is only slightly less crappy than the horrible pictures I take.

OBV; DIVVS - VERVS

Rx: CONSE - CRATIO

I was very grateful for the family time and the generous presents.  They got me a new car, for corn's sake, so they really didn't have to get me anything else, and these are just the coin gifts.

I'm very blessed to have my family and I really enjoyed the family time.  We did A Christmas Story Christmas again and got Chinese food.

I went from 0 working wine corkscrews to five within two days!  Perhaps 6, if the replacement spiral works.  I won't have to worry about not being able to open the occasional bottle of wine.  The butter knife/screw trick doesn't work, by the way.  The screw might have, but all I had in the short screws were rusty ones from the garage.  I had bought myself 2 openers yesterday, so I could have wine last night.

I hope your holidays are wonderful!  Feel free to show any coin gifts that you got.

Mom's not all that into coins, but she is into history.  I got her that impressive French medallion.  She was more excited to learn about the Youtube channel, Tasting History with Max Miller, really quite excellent.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Nerosmyfavorite68

[expat]

Quite a haul you got between you, nice coins. The 7 coins I am waiting for including one each from my Son and Daughter never arrived this week, so something to look forward to. Coincidentally, a few weeks back I got a slabbed coin from the SPQR collection.

Glad you are having a good Christmas

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Cool, what auction house was SPQR from?

[expat]

It was a VCoins auction by Pars Coins

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Ah, Dad's present was from Pars.  First time I've bought from there, but service was incredibly quick. I was pleased with the coin's quality.

[panzerman]

Really nice coin!

We also do our thing late towards midnite/ Christmas Eve.

I usually win a coin for my Christmas present/ so when postman brings registered letter/ my wife signs for it and keeps it hidden from me. Then I have a "present" under the Tree.

I know what mine is......AV Solidus ND Libius Severus III Western Roman Emperor 461-65AAD  Roma Mint

From Oslo Auction

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

That's quite a nice present!

I was thinking, how lucky we are that ancients are so cheap, relatively speaking.  I looked up vcoins/ma-shops prices for 1790's dollars, and I bet that was cheaper.  I know which one I'd rather have!  Libius Severus, aka Serpentius.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Nerosmyfavorite68
Typo: Serpentius, nickname for LS

[lordmarcovan]

I suspect that "SPQR Collection" is likely one of those NGC pedigree names made up for a bulk submitter, like the so-called "Colosseum Hoard" (which was not an actual hoard, but rather a brand name for the bulk submission.  Confusing!)

Note that both the coin that @Nerosmyfavorite68 posted in the first post and the one that @expat posted in the second post lack Strike and Surface ratings on their labels and show only the adjectival grade.  These simplified labels are the hallmark of a bulk submission.  I'm guessing that if one makes a big enough bulk submission, one can choose a name for it.  That's where the "Colosseum Hoard" or "SPQR Collection" comes in.

Note the strike and surface ratings shown on this regular NGC Ancients label.  (The hoard mentioned there is an actual historical hoard.)

Edited December 28, 2023 by lordmarcovan

[expat]

Sometimes a dealer will have a selection of their coins slabbed as a bulk submission. I think their idea is to try and give the slabbed coins a little exclusivity opposed to the rest and hopefully attract higher prices at an auction. Didn´t work with mine (posted above) as I won it at 70 Euros just over half the estimated price.

Edited December 28, 2023 by expat