12 Caesars' Set - Advice!

I have bought from this dealer before and I trust them as far as authenticity. I would imagine that each coin would have to be evaluated on its own to really tell you if the lot is worth the money asked. I would suspect a set in the general range of conditions and rarities they sell, would be $5-6K, plus I am sure the dealer has a margin.

IMO the rarest coin is the Caligula which he states is a reproduction. Given that the rest of the coins are real than based on what I see of there condition the most they would be worth is maybe $5,000. Still I would not spend that kind of money unless every coin has been certified.

I'm with med, I think if you want to spend that much, you could put together your own rocking 12 caesars set. even if you don't want to invest lots of time, you could probably buy off vcoins and get some pretty good stuff.
i'd dip my toe into the ancients pool a bit at a time, maybe just start with a nice representative coin of that crew and go from there.

good find 'arnoldoe'

Not really, They can be certified without being slabbed. David Sear for example would certified every coin and issue a certificate.

The traditional 12 Caesars set is of course silver denarii. If you have deep pockets you can go in gold ! But be prepared to spend some substantial lucre. Not being the 'first class' type collector I long ago made the choice to assemble a set in bronze. The primary obstacle of course is that annoying fellow Otho. The Senate never issued any for this guy so after 40 years I am still seeking a decent provincial. Julius too has so far eluded me.
But he can't hide forever !

Now bronze does have one big advantage. Emperors like Tiberius Caligula and Claudius are extremely expensive in silver as Nero had issued a recall on early silver and re-issued the metal at a new standard of 90%. You will pay through the nose for a VF denarius of Claudius. For a fraction of the cost you might pick up an EF As of Claudius that will "knock your socks off". Even a VF sestertius of Claudius will run you half of what a 'buff' denarius will cost.

The same with Caligula. A member here not too long ago picked up a Spanish issued Caligula As. The coin is an absolute joy to see. Exquisite is the best word (Museum quality !). I needed to push him a bit to take the plunge. He has nooooo regrets.
Another member found a near VF Claudius As (Spain again) for $75 !

I would certainly never turn down a denarius of a Julio Claudian emperor if the price were right.
But that's the rub isn't it. The price is almost always insane ! When the alternative is museum quality coins for a fraction of the cost I have no problem with my lowly collection of bronze coins.

Interesting story...thanks for sharing it caesar. I've started searching CNG coins and other auctions. My other hope was that by buying them altogether I might get a better price (like buying 2 cars instead of 1).
Thanks echizento and FR...I would love to collect the set in gold, but I'd have to convince myself that it'd double as a decent investment at the same time (which from what I've read, may not be the most accurate...! at least if you're expecting a reasonable return). Someone posted a set in gold for about 40,000 Swiss francs a while back I think, but the auction was from 2007 or so (?), and from what I can find, the price for a similar set is much higher now.
I have a fairly large set of 142 unattributed denarii coming from a German collector/MD who is retiring...and another set of 50 or so from months ago which I haven't really gone through yet. Maybe I should try to create my own set then...although I'm guessing that there won't be any of the more valuable ones included.

Add 15% buyer's premium and you get $2,760 - quite a difference to the nearly $9K he is asking.