Groody’s “Top 11” Coins of ‘24

[Grudissius Minimus]

Greetings All,

First off, I hope the Christmas / Holiday season has - and is - treating all the esteemed members of this forum well. All the best to you and your families!

A short preamble:

   My list contains 11 ancient coins, as all of them are near and dear to me since they are my first pieces in my newly started collection. 
   I have gained some valuable insights and knowledge throughout the course of the year. I intend to focus on acquiring some key pieces of numismatic literature in 2025 in order to make better assessments and to better curate my collection. 
This being said, I believe some of this years auction wins were perhaps a bit overpriced and I attribute this to my lack of experience and knowledge. I would be happy and appreciative of any keen observations/ criticisms which may help me going forward!

My collecting is predominantly focused on Roman Imperial Denarii from Augustus to Commodus. My primary objective is to collect some beautiful miniature portraits of these famous characters of history.
Without further ado, here are my coins of 2024! 

1. Marcus Aurelius - Providentia Denarius 162 AD. Rome mint.

Obv: IMP M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG legend with laureate head right. 
 

Rev: PROV DEOR TRP XV COS III legend with Providentia standing facing, head left, holding globe and cornucopia. Ref: RIC 51; RSC 518 Condition: Good very fine.
Weight:3,44g
Diameter:17,3mm

 

2. Domitian (81-96) AR Denarius (Silver, 3.26g, 18mm) Rome, 92-93
Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG – GERM P M TR P XII Laureate head r. 
Rev: IMP XXII COS XVI CENS P P P Minerva standing l. with thunderbolt and spear, shield at her l. side. 
Ref: RIC 741.

 

3. Hadrian (117-138) AR Denarius (Silver, 3.16g, 18mm) Rome, 119-124/5. 
Obv: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder 
Rev: P M TR P COS III, Libertas standing left, holding pileus in outstretched right hand and cradling scepter in left arm; LIB PVB across field. 
Ref: RIC II 128

 

4. Nerva. Denarius. 96 AD. Rome. (3.36 Gr. 18mm.)
Laureate head right. 
Rev. Salus seated left, holding ear of corn.

5. Antoninus Pius (138-161) AR Denarius (Silver, 3.43g, 18mm) Rome, 148
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XI, laureate head right
Rev: COS IIII, Pius standing left, sacrificing from patera over lighted tripod-altar, holding scroll in left hand.
Ref: RIC III 168

6. Lucius Verus (161-169) AR Denarius (Silver, 3.26g, 18mm) Rome, 161. 
Obv: IMP L AVREL VERVS AVG, bare head of Verus right 
Rev: PROV DEOR TR P II COS II, Providentia standing left, holding globe in right hand and cornucopia cradled in left arm. 
Ref: RIC 482

7. Trajan (98-117) AR Denarius (Silver, 3.41g, 19mm) Rome, 114-117. 
Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GER DAC PARTHICO, laureate and draped bust to right 
Rev: P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R, Providentia standing to left, holding sceptre and pointing at globe; PRO-VID across fields. 
Ref: RIC II 365

8. Titus (Augustus, 79-81) AR Denarius (Silver, 3.10g, 19mm) after 1st July 79 
Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, Laureate head r. C/M: NR monogram punch
Rev: TR P VIIII IMP XIIII COS VII P P Ceres seated l., holding corn ears, poppy and torch. 
Ref: C 270. BMC 7. RIC 22

  This is my favorite Denarius acquisition of the year, being the most full of character, despite the heavy corrosion on the surfaces, it still shows a beautiful silhouette of Emperor Titus’ portrait. I also love the countermark (collector’s mark?) that is found on the right side of the portrait. 
It just feels like this coin has been places!

 

9. Pamphylia, Perge AE Commodus (Caesar (175-177) under Marcus Aurelius 
Obv: ΚΑΙ ΚΟΜΟΔΟϹ ΓΕΡ; bare head of Commodus (youthful), right
Rev: ΠΕΡΓΑΙΩΝ; Tyche standing, left, holding rudder and cornucopia
Ref: RPC IV.3 №: 3275 (temporary), Weisser 1142 corr.

This coin was an added curiosity which I tagged on to my last batch of auction wins. For a mere 13 EUR I felt it was worth the spend, especially if the claim to its rarity is true (2 specimens known to RPC?). Fun piece to hold in-hand and my first bronze.

10. Kingdom of Macedon. Alexander III 'The Great' AR Drachm.
Kingdom of Macedon. Alexander III 'The Great' AR Drachm. Kolophon, circa 322-317 BC. Struck under Philip III Arrhidaios in the name and types of Alexander. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; barley grain below throne, spearhead to outer right.
Weight: 4,27g
Diameter:18,0mm

   I happened upon this piece through having to spend a store credit from a previously lost-in-the-mail package. I find these drachms in the name and types of Alexander the Great to be fascinating given the wide variety of styles and mint marks/ symbols present on these coins. 
Perhaps these will be another collecting stream that I will explore in the future.

11.  ILLYRIA. Dyrrhachion. Stater (Circa 350-300 BC).

Obv: Pegasos flying right; Δ below.
Rev: Helmeted head of Athena right; dolphin above, E and club below.

Pegasi 41; HGC 3.1, 26.

Condition: Very fine.

Weight: 8.41 g.
Diameter: 22 mm.

 

This particular coin came into my possession as a complete accident. Being new to auctions and online bidding platforms, I didn’t pay careful attention to my finger placement on my phone - and accidentally placed a bid on this stater. It was a costly mistake, as I didn’t want to spoil my reputation with the auction house. I tell myself it could have been worst, and I could have placed a bid in the thousands of EUR as opposed to hundreds.. I also believe this coin to be of the highest artistic quality in my collection as well as my largest and heaviest coin. 
I was dismayed to see this exact coin on ACsearch had not sold in its last auction placement and now had sold for 70 EUR higher than I probably could have gotten it for on its last go under the hammer.

Regardless, a beautiful piece of Greek silver to contrast my Romans.

Hope this read was enjoyable and thanks for your time and thoughts!

Z.

a.k.a. Groody.

 

 

 

[Hrefn]

Welcome aboard, @Grudissius Minimus.  I like your portrait denarii. They all seem like solid choices to me.  As regards the stater, it demonstrates an important lesson which collectors are advised to appreciate, which is the price of a coin is more variable than one might expect, because the market is small and often inefficient.  Sometimes this will work in your favor, but at other times it will cost you.  You probably had an underbidder on the stater, so one other person at least thought it was worth approximately what you paid for it.  And if you made a mistake bidding on it, at least you got a nice coin for your trouble.  

[Orange Julius]

A great start to a collection! Welcome!

I think my favorites are the Pegasus or the Marcus Aurelius for the portrait. Thanks for showing them off!

[seth77]

Vespasian with the countermark is very interesting.

[ambr0zie]

First - this is not a good start in your ancient journey, it is a FANTASTIC start. The denarii are in nice shape, and one can see you are choosing good examples to ilustrate these emperors in your collection. 

But the Greek coins are excellent too, iconic. And I specifically want to say something about the stater. Even if it is not in your area of expertise, one cannot ignore the peak of Greek artistry. The rugged parts do not affect the beauty of the coin so I agree - even if this was a mistake, in theory, it's a "good" mistake. 

It went unsold indeed a few months before for a smaller starting price, but you will see this in auctions. On both ways. What matters is to buy the coins that are good for you at good prices (for you). Again, in my opionion that was not a mistake. 

I had a similar accident - funny - you had the auction on the 4th of August 2024, my coin was from an auction on 5th of August 2022.

I bought it because I was not paying full attention to the auction.  I was waiting for my targets 200+ after the current coins, and I just noticed in the background "No bid. Going once. Going twice". Knowing they are at the Greek section and I saw some good coins there, I was curious to see what coin has no bidders. Seeing this made me enter panic mode "the opening bid is 10 euros!!! I cannot let this slip!!!!". In fact the opening bid was 100 euros for this so I banged my head to the desk after nobody outbid me, but then I realized 100 euros hammer price is not bad at all. But I am happy the opening bid was not higher. 

After a few months I almost made a similar mistake, with the same scenario, but the coin in question was 1. a modern gold coin with no importance for me and 2. starting bid 8.000 euros. So I managed to avoid bidding =))

[ominus1]

...fantastic portrait coins Groody...:)

[Grudissius Minimus]

12 hours ago, Hrefn said:

Welcome aboard, @Grudissius Minimus.  I like your portrait denarii. They all seem like solid choices to me.  As regards the stater, it demonstrates an important lesson which collectors are advised to appreciate, which is the price of a coin is more variable than one might expect, because the market is small and often inefficient.  Sometimes this will work in your favor, but at other times it will cost you.  You probably had an underbidder on the stater, so one other person at least thought it was worth approximately what you paid for it.  And if you made a mistake bidding on it, at least you got a nice coin for your trouble.  

Thanks kindly!

Yes, it’s a learned lesson for sure. 
I believe there were 2 bidders on the lot, and I was the surprise 3rd.

The coin is absolutely beautiful and skillfully detailed. Particularly the fine hairs coming off the Pegasus’ mane.

Cheers!

[Grudissius Minimus]

6 hours ago, seth77 said:

Vespasian with the countermark is very interesting.

It really is!

The intrigue is real.

Heres a short clip as a reference for viewing with the naked eye. 👁️ 

 

 

[Grudissius Minimus]

1 hour ago, ominus1 said:

...fantastic portrait coins Groody...:)

Thank you very much!

[seth77]

22 minutes ago, Grudissius Minimus said:

It really is!

The intrigue is real.

Heres a short clip as a reference for viewing with the naked eye. 👁️ 

 

IMG_9292.mov 16.97 MB · 0 downloads  

 

To me it reads like it could be AVR?

[Grudissius Minimus]

3 hours ago, ambr0zie said:

First - this is not a good start in your ancient journey, it is a FANTASTIC start. The denarii are in nice shape, and one can see you are choosing good examples to ilustrate these emperors in your collection. 

But the Greek coins are excellent too, iconic. And I specifically want to say something about the stater. Even if it is not in your area of expertise, one cannot ignore the peak of Greek artistry. The rugged parts do not affect the beauty of the coin so I agree - even if this was a mistake, in theory, it's a "good" mistake. 

It went unsold indeed a few months before for a smaller starting price, but you will see this in auctions. On both ways. What matters is to buy the coins that are good for you at good prices (for you). Again, in my opionion that was not a mistake. 

I had a similar accident - funny - you had the auction on the 4th of August 2024, my coin was from an auction on 5th of August 2022.

I bought it because I was not paying full attention to the auction.  I was waiting for my targets 200+ after the current coins, and I just noticed in the background "No bid. Going once. Going twice". Knowing they are at the Greek section and I saw some good coins there, I was curious to see what coin has no bidders. Seeing this made me enter panic mode "the opening bid is 10 euros!!! I cannot let this slip!!!!". In fact the opening bid was 100 euros for this so I banged my head to the desk after nobody outbid me, but then I realized 100 euros hammer price is not bad at all. But I am happy the opening bid was not higher. 

After a few months I almost made a similar mistake, with the same scenario, but the coin in question was 1. a modern gold coin with no importance for me and 2. starting bid 8.000 euros. So I managed to avoid bidding =))

Thanks for sharing that story!

   I had definitely done the same thing with my first Roman provincial. There were consecutive lots with „no bid”, and so I fell victim to my temptations haha. 
can’t go wrong with a 2000 yr. old relic for 13 EUR. Your Lysimachus Tet for 100€ seems like a great deal!

   Glad to read you didn’t place the bid on the 8000€ Gold modern. Were it me in your shoes - it would be hard to explain to my wife 😅..

 

Lastly, I greatly appreciate your comments on my choice of coins. 
I really am trying to acquire quality pieces! 
 

Cheers!

[Grudissius Minimus]

1 hour ago, seth77 said:

To me it reads like it could be AVR?

It very well could be!

   I’ve searched a couple online countermark collections and have not come across an NR monogram punch. 
The AVR possibility is compelling.. the hunt continues! 

[panzerman]

Beautifull top "11" Grudissius Minimus!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

John

[DonnaML]

Those are all excellent portraits. My two favorites are the Marcus Aurelius and the Antoninus Pius. I also very much like both the portrait and the reverse of the Trajan. Congratulations!

Edited December 28, 2024 by DonnaML

[Ryro]

Groovy coins, Groody, and welcome aboard!

Nice denarii *Marcus A and Nerva jump out, but your #11 is my #1! That stater is a stunner. #happyaccident

[CPK]

An attractive group of coins @Grudissius Minimus! I like that Marcus Aurelius; it can be hard to find his portraits in fine, naturalistic style like that. Congrats!

[Grudissius Minimus]

43 minutes ago, CPK said:

An attractive group of coins @Grudissius Minimus! I like that Marcus Aurelius; it can be hard to find his portraits in fine, naturalistic style like that. Congrats!

 @CPK This has been my observation over the past year as well! I appreciate the acknowledgement.

Here’s another one that I won at auction back in January, which ended up getting lost in the mail.. very upsetting. 
I also thought this portrait was fantastic.

[Qcumbor]

A great start for sure !
I would have liked to start my collecting journey with half of what you got on year one.

I'm pretty sure your bid on the stater was a Freudian slip ("un acte manqué" en français). It's a fantastic coin and in ten years from now you will probably think (I mean really think) it was one of your smartest purchases of 2024 🙂 

Other than that the Marcus Aurelius is terrific (much better than the one lost in the mail), and the A Pius is kind of funny with sort of a snobbish/stiff facial expression, very unusual

Best
Q

Edited December 28, 2024 by Qcumbor

[Grudissius Minimus]

6 minutes ago, Qcumbor said:

A great start for sure !
I would have liked to start my collecting journey with half of what you got on year one.

I'm pretty sure your bid on the stater was a Freudian slip ("un acte manqué" en français). It's a fantastic coin and in ten years from now you will probably think (I mean really think) it was one of your smartest purchases of 2024 🙂 

Other than that the Marcus Aurelius is terrific (much better than the one lost in the mail), and the A Pius is kind of funny with sort of a snobbish/stiff facial expression, very unusual

Best
Q

I’ll admit, I jumped in rather enthusiastically. My 2nd son is on the way now, so I do believe my subsequent years will have a more conservative budget. 😬 

Also, thanks for making me feel a bit better about the lost Denarius. It was my first auction, and in retrospect I think it was a runaway price. It’s replacement cost me €100 less and I was able to pick up my Alexander drachm with the remaining credit.

Cheers!

Groody.

 

[JAZ Numismatics]

Lovely collection, congratulations! As far as overpaying for coins goes, eh...who cares? It's only money

[Amarmur]

I like the stater and the pius portrait. The Aurelius is quite good too. I found a lot of Marcus Aurelius imperials tend to have poor craftsmanship and look cartoony. However, your Aurelius looks decently made.

[Di Nomos]

Those are impressive portraits, you've made a great start to your collection. However, my favourite is the Illyria stater...... I'm biased though as I collect Greek coins.

[Grudissius Minimus]

9 hours ago, JAZ Numismatics said:

Lovely collection, congratulations! As far as overpaying for coins goes, eh...who cares? It's only money

Thanks man!

I really hope I can adopt this attitude some day. 😂 

 

[Grudissius Minimus]

11 hours ago, Amarmur said:

I like the stater and the pius portrait. The Aurelius is quite good too. I found a lot of Marcus Aurelius imperials tend to have poor craftsmanship and look cartoony. However, your Aurelius looks decently made.

Thanks!
I agree with the cartoony assessment. I have also noticed that realistic looking portraits of his son Commodus are hard to come by.

Was it a prevailing artistic trend during that time or an unskilled/unmotivated batch of die engravers under the employ of the Rome mint? 
I would be curious to know.