Romulus Augustus

[rasiel]

Do I do it? DO I DO IT?

Rasiel

[rasiel]

I did it

[JayAg47]

Why would you share this? I was planning on bidding! s/

[rasiel]

2 hours ago, JayAg47 said:

Why would you share this? I was planning on bidding! s/

Go for it! I'm not a serious bidder on this one. Good luck :-)

Rasiel

[JayAg47]

1 hour ago, rasiel said:

Go for it! I'm not a serious bidder on this one. Good luck 🙂

Rasiel

While I was just joking, I would’nt mind a Romulus Augustulus. It would nicely complement my Basiliscus minted from the same period. 

Obv: Basiliscus in Military dress standing facing. DN BASILISCVS PP AVG

Rev: Victory standing left supporting long jeweled cross. In right field star.
VICTORIA AVGGG Δ. CONOB in exergue.
Weight: 4.45g 475 - 476 AD RIC 1003

Ex Diana Numismatica Rome October 2014.

Edited December 23, 2024 by JayAg47

[Hrefn]

For only 100,000 more you could have won this solidus.   https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=11722376

[Gallienus]

14 hours ago, rasiel said:

Do I do it? DO I DO IT?

Rasiel

Yes, but you'll never get it at 32.5K.   Many (5-6) years ago I bid on a damaged Romulus Augustus tremissis.  I also bid on a superb Valerian sestersius.  Anyhow I missed both coins.  My dealer representative didn't believe going above a few hundred was worth it for the Valerian.  On the Romulus A., it ended up going for an insane sum.

It may not be worth that today given all the research about Zeno being the last Roman Emperor.

[mcwyler]

Call him an emperor? Couldn't even spell it. AGVSTVS indeed!

[GregH]

Any idea how many Romulus Augustus coins exist? Are there any in silver or bronze?

[ominus1]

6 hours ago, Gallienus said:

Zeno being the last Roman Emperor.

..is this true?...idk and really never heard that but i dont get out much...:P

[rasiel]

1 minute ago, ominus1 said:

..is this true?...idk and really never heard that but i dont get out much...:P

I think he meant Julius Nepos (Zeno was Byzantine). Nepos was deposed by his own pointman but he ran away and still called himself emperor until his death in 480.

Rasiel

[rasiel]

2 hours ago, GregH said:

Any idea how many Romulus Augustus coins exist? Are there any in silver or bronze?

Yes, a siliqua is known but definitely no AE.

49 records in my database: https://coryssa.org/coins?p=13&s=all&c=158

Rasiel

[savitale]

22 hours ago, rasiel said:

Do I do it? DO I DO IT?

Rasiel

If you win the coin you have a standing offer from me at $60k. That should give you a few more fantasy bid increments. 😃

[savitale]

1 hour ago, rasiel said:

Yes, a siliqua is known but definitely no AE.

49 records in my database: https://coryssa.org/coins?p=13&s=all&c=158

Rasiel

Wow, that is an AMAZING database. Is that 49 unique examples or 49 auction records? 

[Gallienus]

The last Roman coin and the first Byzantium coin (not as simple, of course).

https://www.numisforums.com/topic/8002-the-last-roman-coin-and-the-first-byzantium-coin-not-as-simple-of-course/

Here's the link to the discussion on this forum about possibly the last Roman Emperor. 

================================================

This is a nice coin! 
We do not have comprehensive studies on Western Zeno's coins. Your coin is likely from North Italy or South Gaul, possibly South East Gaul. Where exactly and who minted them remains a mystery. Western coins bearing the name Zeno used to be extremely rare, but they have started appearing since Rome (possibly he meant Roma Numismatics) started dispersing the so-called 'Mare Nostrum Hoard'. The number of coins with surfaces similar to those in the hoard has now exceeded the number declared by Roma. Whether the coins are coming from the same or separate hoards, we do not know. 

@Hrefn and @Tejas have interesting collections of Zeno's coins from Western mints.

==============================================================================

There seems to be a discussion about certain coins (Solidi) bearing the name of Zeno being issued by Odovacar and having a officina letter denoting such in the reverse legend.

As I lecture to 6th-grade classes about The Roman Empire as shown by coins every year I wanted a coin of Romulus Augustus.  After missing the aforementioned damaged (on both sides!!!) tremissis 5 years ago (it went for 80K), I settled on a very nice Julius Nepos tremissis offered at fixed price (10K) by Ed Waddell. 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2024 by Gallienus
adds

[Croatian Coin Collector]

Do you plan to bid on any other coins at Triton?

[Coinmaster]

A must hear podcast for anyone who wants to understand better 'the fall of Rome': 

 

It surely wasn't the way you once learned at school...

[panzerman]

Would be nice to go back in time machine with 2024 $$$$ and bid in 1936 Münzhandlung/ Basel AV( Solidus) auction for it.😎

[Bannerknight]

On 12/24/2024 at 3:04 AM, rasiel said:

Yes, a siliqua is known but definitely no AE.

49 records in my database: https://coryssa.org/coins?p=13&s=all&c=158

Rasiel

An absolutely stunning database, @rasiel ! Thank you for making it available.

[panzerman]

On 12/24/2024 at 8:34 AM, Gallienus said:

The last Roman coin and the first Byzantium coin (not as simple, of course).

https://www.numisforums.com/topic/8002-the-last-roman-coin-and-the-first-byzantium-coin-not-as-simple-of-course/

Here's the link to the discussion on this forum about possibly the last Roman Emperor. 

================================================

This is a nice coin! 
We do not have comprehensive studies on Western Zeno's coins. Your coin is likely from North Italy or South Gaul, possibly South East Gaul. Where exactly and who minted them remains a mystery. Western coins bearing the name Zeno used to be extremely rare, but they have started appearing since Rome (possibly he meant Roma Numismatics) started dispersing the so-called 'Mare Nostrum Hoard'. The number of coins with surfaces similar to those in the hoard has now exceeded the number declared by Roma. Whether the coins are coming from the same or separate hoards, we do not know. 

@Hrefn and @Tejas have interesting collections of Zeno's coins from Western mints.

==============================================================================

There seems to be a discussion about certain coins (Solidi) bearing the name of Zeno being issued by Odovacar and having a officina letter denoting such in the reverse legend.

As I lecture to 6th-grade classes about The Roman Empire as shown by coins every year I wanted a coin of Romulus Augustus.  After missing the aforementioned damaged (on both sides!!!) tremissis 5 years ago (it went for 80K), I settled on a very nice Julius Nepos tremissis offered at fixed price (10K) by Ed Waddell. 

 

 

 

Thats a beautifull Tremissis! Congratulations!

[Gallienus]

?llp opp

16 hours ago, panzerman said:

Thats a beautifull Tremissis! Congratulations!

Thanks so much Panzer. Ed graded it VF but probably most today would've graded it higher.

You can see more of them at the Bosen numismatic museum in Berlin. As mentioned I did try to buy a damaged Romulus as I like late Empire.

[Gallienus]

As it turned out, that tremissis of Romulus Augustus did not bring what was expected. I was told by one of the major auction firms that a lot of the high grade gold was bought up by Chinese investors, not collectors.

So maybe this piece was not spectacular enough for them?  They bought the Caligula aureus at $500K.

[panzerman]

So sad/ when speculators ruin the hobby. 

[Gallienus]

On 1/22/2025 at 2:39 PM, panzerman said:

So sad/ when speculators ruin the hobby. 

To clarify I was told that the coins being bought by Chinese investors were "finest known" specimens with prices in the 6-figure area.  They didn't bother with 4 or 5-figure coins. Hence nothing I, or most other people who post on forums, is likely to be affected.

Edited Thursday at 10:13 PM by Gallienus

[panzerman]

I guess these are Communist Party higher ups! Maybe Xi himself.