if I only have two Trajan denarii, I might as well make one a nice one

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

While I have plenty of AE's, I just don't have a lot of 2nd century denarii.

I picked this one out from a firm in Switzerland, one which seems to mostly specialize in expensive coins, although this example wasn't very expensive.  The only thing which bothered me is how the bottom left part of the obverse legend is unusually cut off.  I'm hoping that's nothing major.

The coin in hand is pretty true to the photograph, with the toning being very pleasant.  The toning was the deciding factor of this purchase.

Here's the English translation of the listing:  (What is knapp VZ?), 'Just VF'?  Is that the German version of aVF?  I'd say it's at least a decent VF.

Grade: just VZ | Abbreviations

Catalog: RIC 116; RSC 69; BMC 276

Material: Silver Weight: 2.65 g Diameter: 19.00 mm

Mintage: 1

Avs: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P Laurel bust of the emperor facing right

Rvs: COS V P P SPQR OPTIMO PRINC Roma seated facing left, holding "Victoria" in her right hand and staff in her left.

 

Feel free to post your favorite examples of Trajan.

Edited October 20, 2024 by Nerosmyfavorite68

[CPK]

Nice coin. I used to have a couple denarii of Trajan, but have since sold them. So instead, I will post a picture of a denarius I went after but was outbid on (congrats to whoever won the coin!)

NOT MINE 😞 

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=12670591

"The Dioscuri Collection. The Roman Empire. Trajan augustus, 98 – 117.

Denarius circa 103-107, AR 17 mm, 2.97 g. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI Dacian captive, wearing shirt with long sleeves and breeches, seated r. on ground under trophy of arms, in attitude of mourning. C 538. BMC 185. RIC 221. Woytek 190f.
Light iridescent tone and extremely fine

Ex Lanz sale 120, 2004, 311."

[JAZ Numismatics]

It's a beautiful coin, great choice! The start of the obverse legend just didn't strike up fully, no big deal.

[ominus1]

...a nice one..  too bad @CPK...that one was MINT...i have a couple ..my least worn is, of course, in my 'Good 5(6) photo

[Roman Collector]

1 hour ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

What is knapp VZ?), 'Just VF'?  Is that the German version of aVF? 

VZ stands for vorzuglich, what we would call EF. Knapp VZ means "nearly EF."

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Thanks to all!

Ok, I'd agree with the dealer's grade.

The other weird thing was the date the photo was taken (or the file said it was taken).  I couldn't find the coin in my phone's photo gallery, and it took a search to find it.  It showed up at the very bottom, being listed as 2015.  That could just be as simple as the camera's date being set incorrectly.  

I am happy with my sub-$200 buy.  It was actually $20 less than the recent coin which I bought as a Christmas present.

The toning also suggests a somewhat older collection.  It's not as deeply toned as the Domitian but there's a fairly old toning going on.

Regular post from Switzerland was also pretty fast.

It will probably be a few buys down the road but Hadrian's next on my nice (and preferably toned) denarius list. I'd like to get one of the 'big head' issues.

The other Trajan denarius I have is just a decrepit one, nothing to write home about.

Edited October 20, 2024 by Nerosmyfavorite68

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Edit: At the time I wrote the above posts I hadn't opened the coin fully.  It was still in the 2 x 2, unopened.

My review completely  changed after trying to open this thing.  This is the most stupid way of packing I've ever encountered.

It came in a 2 x 2, which I didn't care for. That was pretty much the stand-in for the cardboard inner protector mailer. Other than some fairly heavy paper there really wasn't any padding.  Whatever, it arrived safely.  The flip was not stapled, so I just assumed that I'd pull it apart to free the coin.  The 2 x 2 was held together with some kind of glue, which wasn't too hard  to unstick, but while the cardboard came apart the coin was still stuck in the plastic part.  I carefully cut the cardboard around the coin, but the thing was tightly ensnared in the plastic. 

Twenty minutes after that writing it's finally out.  That involved a lot of cursing and trying to remove the plastic without bending or breaking it.  I ended up just having to poke the edge of the coin out of the plastic and hope it didn't get damaged or spurt out.  I couldn't use scissors at that point.  The plastic was just too close to the edge of the coin.

The coin is nice, and the price was nice.  The shipping was also fast.  But after the packing fail, would I order from them again?  Like Dave Hester used to say on Storage Wars, NOOOOPE!!!.

Picture a coin trapped in the 2 x 2 plastic, with the rest of the stuff cut away.  It's much harder to get out than you'd think.  At least, not without damaging the coin.  I couldn't just take an exacto knife and cut the coin out of the holder - there was no leeway around the edges.

Well, I guess I'm down to 1 good experience out of 3 purchases from ma-shops. The first time was a disaster, but it was due to the USPS, not the dealer. The second time was great. I really liked the German firm.

Let's just hope this experience was an outlier and the more expensive coins aren't shipped in an impossible-to-open 2 x2.  They have a 100% positive rating, so I'll be nice and I won't leave a Simon Cowell review. I'll just refrain from leaving one if asked.  Perhaps it was a fluke that the plastic became so tightly adhered to the coin.

The coin *seems* to be okay after the unboxing disaster.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2024 by Nerosmyfavorite68

[ambr0zie]

Bad experience with the packing .... never encountered this. The houses I buy from usually send the coins in "small plastic bags" or 2x2 flips but without glue or any other nonsense. Very poor choice in your case. The coin could have been easily damaged. 

It is a nice, attractive coin, with the usual later style Trajan portrait amd long legend. I really prefer these instead of early Trajan denarii, where the portrait is generic and Trajan is more like Nerva. 

I always remember that, 7-8 years ago, when my knowledge about ancient coins was zero, I was discussing with a seller at a numismatic show and I told him my dream would be to own a Trajan coin, although I will never be able to afford one and he had no idea why I'm saying this. Of course, I was under the impression Trajan coins are extremely rare and expensive. 

Now I own 28 Trajan coins. 22 are Imperial and from them 15 are denarii. 

I also recently acquired 2 denarii and I am happy with them. 

This is the one that made me participate in that auction because I found the artistic style for both the reverse and obverse excellent. 

20,4 mm, 3,09 g.
Trajan 98-117 AD. AR denarius. Rome. Struck 116-117.
IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC, laureate, draped bust right / P M TR P COS VI PP SPQR, Mars advancing right, carrying spear and trophy
RIC 337; RSC 270; BMC 536.

Second was a "safety net" in case this one reaches the roof in bidding (but it didn't). It was covered in horn silver and cleaning was satisfactory. Good portrait, interesting reverse (but not the best strike)

19,2 mm, 2,45 g.
Trajan 98-117 AD. AR denarius. Rome. Struck 111 AD.
IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V DES VI, laureate head right, with drapery on left shoulder / S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI / AET AVG, Aeternitas, draped, veiled, standing front, head left, holding out head of Sun in right hand and head of Moon in left.
RIC 229 var (laureate only); RSC 4a.

[expat]

Trajan denarius

Trajan 109 AD Rome .

IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP, laureate bust right, draped left shoulder / COS V PP SPQR OPTIMO PRINC, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and leaning on column. RIC 120s, RSC 81b. Woytek 286a.

AR Denarius, 3.61gr, 19mm

[expat]

and another

Trajan AR denarius, 116 AD. 

 

Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GERM DAC, laureate, draped bust right.

Rev: PARTHICO P M TR P COS VI P P SPQR - Fortuna seated left, 

holding rudder and cornucopiae. FORT RED in ex. 

 

RIC II, 315; RSC 150; BMCRE 634; Sear 3139 var

[Roman Collector]

5 hours ago, ambr0zie said:

Now I own 28 Trajan coins. 22 are Imperial and from them 15 are denarii.

You're turning into Tom Buggey! 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

I've had time to sleep on it and look upon the matter more calmly.

At least the coin didn't arrive snapped in two, although this place probably would have refunded my money without too much trouble.  I pretty much ceased ordering from a former favorite dealer (and they have many lovely coins) after an infamous snapped coin experience.  There were twenty minutes of grief, but the coin's now sitting in a flip, and when my hands are sufficiently dry, I'll write up a card for it.

The coin was a pretty good deal, $173, for a lovely, toned denarius in nice shape.  The obverse field cracks don't really show in normal viewing, unless viewed under a magnifier. 

If I had to order from them again, I'd simply contact them and ask them if they could send it in a flip, within a cardboard coin mailer.  Heck, even a baggie. I had no problem with the product or the shipping time. Had this been a solidus or a fragile siliqua, the 2 x 2 disaster would have been a real problem.  If it had been in a 2 x 2 one size up I could have just cut it out.  Surface cracks on the obverse suggest that the coin might be fragile, so I got lucky.

I'd give them the grade of:

Quality of product strong A

Price (on this particular one) A.  Upon investigating, there were quite a few nice, under $150 coins listed there. 

Quality of packing (aside from the 2 x 2): C-.

Speed of shipping: A

[Gallienus]

9 hours ago, expat said:

Trajan denarius

Trajan 109 AD Rome 

AR Denarius, 3.61gr, 19mm

Wow: Very nice.  I actually have a Trajan denarius I bought 44 years ago in Northern Israel at an antiques shop for ~$ 32. to $40.

I'll post a pix when get to puter.

 

Edited October 20, 2024 by Gallienus
correction

[Croatian Coin Collector]

[-monolith-]

I haven't started collecting Trajan's yet. However, I do have a couple that I purchased in a group lot so they only cost me $57.50 each. Both have great natural toning.