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 Replies: 19 / Views: 2,798 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3443 Posts |
To celebrate former President Barack Obama's birthday I bought myself a coin today (well its actually also my daughters 19th birthday but she isn't as high on my list ..... little beastie) I had been tipped off by a fellow CC member up in Canadia that my "missing link" was available at auction from that venerable German seller whose name ends in Z Not only that but ebay is offering an 8% kickback until midnight tonight ! Well ....... when the planets align like that a world class cheapskate like myself just can't lose Not the prettiest Otho I have ever seen but all in all I believe it is better than it might seem at first glance. This has been a common experience with my purchases from Mssr "Z". Ę24 Emperor Otho SYRIA (Seleucis and Pieria) Antioch Obv IMP M O-THO CAE AVG Laureate bust of Otho right Rv S  C with above all within wreath 9.04 grams 24mm AD 69 RPC I 4319   So here goes "nothing" ......  Julio Claudian DynastyJulius Caesar Ę Dupondius   Augustus Caesar Ę As   Tiberius Caesar Ę As   Caligula Ę As   Claudius Ę Sestertius   Nero Ę Dupondius (Lyon)   Galba Ę Sestertius   Otho Ę24 Vitellius Ę As   Flavian DynastyVespasian Ę Dupondius   Titus Ę Dupondius   Domitian Ę As   The "Adoptive" EmperorsNerva Ę As   Trajan Ę As   Hadrian Ę Dupondius   Lucius Aelius Ę Sestertius   Antoninus Pius Ę Sestertius   Marcus Aurelius Ę Dupondius   Lucius Verus Ę Sesterius   Commodus Ę Sestertius   Honorable MentionAs Julius Caesar issued no portrait in bronze I will offer Statilius Libo Caesar's Roman Governor in Hispania My brother argues that the portrait represents Julius Caesar   Livia Ę As   Drusus Caesar Ę As   Germanicus Ę As   Antonia Ę Dupondius   Britannicus Caesar  After 43 years I am fairly exhausted and am sorely in need of a nap ! It ain't easy being a cheapskate ......... |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
WOW!, very impressive. Glad you where finally able to add the last piece. Outstanding collection, congratulations.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Wow, what a truly impressive group of coins. Bronze is beautiful, no doubt about it.
That Nero dupondius is amazing...but, then, so are the busts of Vespasian, Domitian, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Geez, what a set. You can pick 'em, FR. Thanks for sharing.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1475 Posts |
Impressive collection  Very nice.. Now you can take a week off  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5029 Posts |
That is a fantastic looking collection! Nothing else to say except WOW |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3098 Posts |
That was a delight to look at!
What a nice collection of early bronzes.
Paul Bulgerin
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
1194 Posts |
interesting and beautiful , congrats. albert
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3443 Posts |
Forty three years of (relatively) patient collecting
I feel I finally achieved the primary goal of assembling the "Rise" of the empire
The great Edward Gibbon sets the "Decline" with the reign of Commodus
Alone among the historians Gibbon sets the "Fall" as August 9 AD 378
The place Adrianople where "the Empire of the Romans came to an end"
Looks like I have another date to celebrate !
Thanks all for viewing
I hope you might noww understand it when I caution others that patience is a necessary ingredient
Now if only I hadn't sold off my Didius Julianus !
I would be one Pertinax away from something really impressive ..........
Edited by FVRIVS RVFVS
08/05/2018 1:48 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
It ain't easy being a cheapskate? For me, it ain't easy being green (with envy).  That is quite some achievement, and deserves congratulations. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3443 Posts |
I have oft fantasized about what it might be like to go into the NYC International Show with a briefcase stuffed with cash and spend the weekend at the auctions and prowling about the floor
A person might acquire all of the above in a single weekend and leave feeling they had accomplished some goal of sorts
But then what ?
The items might simply end up being buried in a vault
Would I have gained by the experience ? Materially yes .........
The first purchase here was the Trajan
I was 18 years old and it set me back $48
That was big money for a kid in high school working in a factory part time for $1.85 an hour !
The last here was Otho and that was a mere 178
Nero was the only one that broke the magic 1000 mark and of all the only one that I ever felt I might have over paid was Caligula
I left the NYC back in 1992 and could not get him off my mind
The next day (Sunday) I called up the seller (J Kern) and struck a deal
Just under $500
That sounds quite reasonable today but in 1992 that was serious cabbage !
But we had no internet and Caligula was hard to find in a sharp state
It was actually the reverse that sold me
VESTA ........ If you look closely it is obviously the emperor dressed in "drag".
Madness overcomes us all on occasion
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2637 Posts |
Obama's birthday? But he looks like the Donald.
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Valued Member
Canada
204 Posts |
Congratulations on this amazing set FR! Truly outstanding! Glad you ended up getting the Otho, I was keeping my fingers crossed for you |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1120 Posts |
Impressive - most Impressive - Now I see why you like collecting bronzes so much!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3443 Posts |
My attraction to bronze is twofold
While in all honesty I can affirm my preference for the larger "format"
provided by the larger denominations
I can also affirm that of the coins shown above (20 Caesars plus 6) not one of them gives me the slightest doubts as to its authenticity
On a scale of 1-100 I am squarely in the 99.999% region
Due to my suspicious nature
I seriously doubt I would feel the same comfort level with 26 pieces of silver
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
1194 Posts |
Everybody has the coins he loves , bronze or silver and I think , if you are a serious collector , after 40 years or 50 years (my case) , you are sure what you buy for about 99 % . End eighties beginning nineties there was an exposition in the British Museum with doubtful pieces ,first considered as real ,then fake and then again doubts. if these experts can change of mind , I think we can never be sure , even knowing the origine . This said , when I buy a coin , for me it is not a fake but a real ancient coin that circulated 2000 years ago from hand to hand and I enjoy this coin every time I have it in my hand . This said , what you present here is really amazing , for the idea of building a part of a collection and for the many beautiful coins . I think that presentations like this one give a motive to start coin collecting to non familiars .albert
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3443 Posts |
Thank you Albert
I respect your 'learned' opinions
Some things can only be acquired by many many years of study
Patience being an excellent example !
I always try to caution new collectors against haste
And when given a choice ....... always buy the 'prettiest' one
No one ever said "I should have bought the ugly one"
Of the emperors shown above
Some (Caligula Trajan Hadrian) are not even my favorites in the collection
But they are rather pretty
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,798 |
Posted 08/04/2018 10:31 pm
