My First Roman Coin

From the photo I think I see the reverse off center enough to cut the top of the chariot driver's head. If you bought the coin on the West Coast or Chicago, you probably paid more than if it came from the less pricey areas of the US. We need a better photo to have an opinion worth anything but I'll guess it cost $50-150 considering the factors mentioned.

If you look on acsearch.info there is one like yours for sale at 250 Swiss Francs which equals about $265: http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=575612

I'm not saying your coin is worth this much. Doug may be right and I would presume he would know better than me. A better image though would really help in determining the approx. value.

BTW welcome to the world of Ancients.

Coin prices just are not something we can give simply and accurately. I have seen equal coins at the same show owned by different dealers with prices 4x different. Some dealers go to a show with 100 overpriced coins and sell 10 of them to make a profit. Others will sell 90 out of the 100 because their prices were lower and make a better profit assuming they can buy replacements in time to have stock for the next show. Some dealers attend shows mostly in the hope of buying coins that the public brings in or from other dealers so they really don't care whether they sell or not. I know at least one dealer who buys a table because shows are his hobby but selling too many coins would mess up his taxes. Not everyone is in it to make a living. Be careful not to believe in prices asked as indications of value. Prices of things actually sold might be better but there is no guarantee that someone not knowing better paid the marked price from a dealer who greets customers with, "Hi, I'm J****, I can do better on the prices." Bing's link was to a coin sold by Numismatica Ars Classica whose customer list includes people who don't ask the price. They would get 50% more than a dealer at the San Jose show and double what a dealer in Richmond VA would expect. It is a strange market.

I really suggest that, if you intend to participate in this or any online group, you work on coin photo skills. I good image makes a good answer much, much more likely.

I assume you are using a cell phone. One trick is to hold a small magnifier over the cell camera lens to make it focus closer. Of course, a proper camera does better but either of the photos below would allow someone here to ID the coin.






This coin came from the show group I'll not need to upload on another thread. I wondered how bad the photo would be from a free cell phone (not Smart) and the answer was pretty bad.

That is correct, and many people try to collect the entire series which are many. These denarii were debased by Mark Anthony and thus people didn't keep them for long. They saw a lot of circulation and so are hard to find in good shape. But even in poor condition, they seem to sell for premium prices. Once in a while you can find one for sale in good condition for under $100. When you are searching, make sure you find coins with a legible Legion number. I own several of these, but this one is my best and I've shown it here many times.

Beautiful coin, congrats on finding that one. I absolutely love that coin. I would love to find one with detail like that. I was unaware theres an entire series, is it a series with different designs or just different legion numbers?

Ive seen a few online but the decent ones seemed to always be close to a thousand which I was told a while back is high for those. I got lucky today with the dealer at the show who was real nice about prices, he gave me some good deals on some more modern capped bust and Seated Liberty coins so I figured he wasnt going to take me for a ride on the Beabius coin. He had a larger hadrian coin too which I really liked that was about the size of a large cent but he said he was keeping that one for his collection. I didnt catch the name of it, once he said he was keeping it I didnt want to look into it to much or Id be sad to leave without it.

There was 1 guy who was selling ancient coins and seemed to have a good selection, but everything was 1500 or higher and I wont even consider spending anywhere close to that without doing a lot of research on it first.

Lol you got that right. I cant even count the number of sets that have come from me saying I just want 1




That and pricing are my biggest concerns. I know theres not set prices for coins but you can usually get ballpark figures for moderns if there an ancient equivalent of a site like numismeadia with approximate values?

Im fairly certain ancient collectors also hate TPGs since you can handle ancients and not have to worry like with moderns, but as far as theyre concerned are they at least accurate with determining authenticity? I wont buy raw coins on ebay over a certain value because of all the fakes but certified ancients would make me more comfortable using ebay.




I wouldnt let that baby go either. Is there any particular history that you know of behind that chop mark on the reverse, at least I think thats a chop mark? I think you just sold me on that series, Praetorian I like a lot and my father was navy for a naval denarii will be a must if possible.

Thanks for all the information and the help and the welcomes from everyone

Eng thank you for the welcome. I have a feeling ill end up with way more than I thought in about a years time as well. I really need to start finishing some sets before starting new ones

Learning new things will definitely be happening here. I've started ancients for about 8 hours and Bing already has sold me on a set, I dont see this ending well