More Ancients From The Bottom Feeder

One of you called me that and it is a badge I'll bear with pride. I won a coin on ebay for $16 but you don't get that because it is going on my almost complete Falling Horseman page. What you get are the other three coins I bought from that same dealer's website. I had never before bought from Victor's Imperial Coins but I see the possibility of dropping by every so often to see what is new. Like many dealers he had several coins I considered overpriced. What was unusual was he had some I considered reasonable and a couple I thought were good deals. Most unusual, I agreed with the relative prices on most coins. The $10 coins were nicer than the $5 coins. The coins over $100 were nicer than the $10 coins. This is not a given situation these days. Reasonable examples of common coins were reasonably priced. What I fail to understand is why some dealers seem to make a living selling $5 coins for $50. Here is what I bought:

Constans 17mm AE3 Galley type FEL TEMP REPARATIO $5
The flips included full RIC identification and texts of the legends as well as weight to .1g and diameter including min-max on the one that was oval. The ID's checked out as correct and my scales agreed with the given weights except that I have been weighing to .01g since I bought my new scales. The flips were the archival models that would not damage the coin. Presentation Grade A (for all). Ordered Sunday, arrived Thursday - Service Grade A.

The coin in the photo was a light green and the online image matched the coin well. The patina is a bit thick obscuring some detail just a bit and the green was chippy around the edge probably accounting for the $5 price rather than $10 which I would have considered fair had the patina been perfectly intact. However the coin weight is only 1.7g and RIC says it should be 2.6g making me wonder if it could be barbarous but the style says the weight is probably due to the strange patina and chipping. Is it a great coin? No! Is it worth $5? It is to me. Value Grade A-.

For the bunch there was $3 postage charge for the group so add a dollar to the given prices for each to get the true price.



The second coin:
Constantius II Falling Horseman from the middle period with III in reverse field a bit worn but still F+ $5

The worst part of this coin is the mintmark is only half on the small flan but it is readable (BSIS Siscia). The surfaces could be better but what do you expect for a $5 coin? Value grade A.



Coin 3:

Constantius II Falling Horseman Thessalonica VF $10
Another FH but this has delta in the obverse field making it ever so slightly smaller than the previous one so I'll call it a large AE3 or small AE2. It is somewhat sharper and includes all the TSA mintmark justifying the double price. My photo is not quite as pretty as the coin. It is very common in RIC but nicer than many delta series coins I have seen. Value A- because of the soldier's head being AWOL.


Here is the point: If you prefer to pay higher prices to a dealer who will tell you how rare his coins are, go right ahead. These are common coins appropriate for beginners and guys like me buying their 120th Falling Horseman. The seller is a specialist interested only in Late Romans. Don't ask if he has a Caligula --- he doesn't. The only possible cheaper coins would be to buy them from each other buying unwanted duplicates. Regular dealers don't have time for $5 sales so they will mark such coins up a bit. Some of us here obviously have time to throw away so $5 coins can sell for $5. Sellers who are also students can have time to kill,too.

http://www.victorsimperialcoins.com...um/index.php