My Roman Twelve Caesars collection as of January 2025

lordmarcovan

This is my recently completed Twelve Caesars set.

I'll likely do a more in-depth writeup on another site later- maybe even a YouTube vid if I'm feeling ambitious.

But for here and now, just a quick image dump.

This was my second time doing the Twelve Caesars. I did it on a much smaller budget, a decade ago.

The goal this time was to have them all be at least Fine or better. Julius Caesar had to be a lifetime portrait issue. Tiberius had to be a Tribute penny. The first time I did this collection I had resigned myself to never being able to afford a gold aureus. Now, a decade later, I actually own two. Never say never!

TwoKopeiki

Awesome set, Rob! Love you presentation!

Boosibri

Cool! Congrats! Which was the most difficult?

coinkat

Well done

OnlyGoldIsMoney

That Claudius Sestertius is particularly attractive.

lordmarcovan

@Boosibri said:
Cool! Congrats! Which was the most difficult?

In terms of expense, the Titus gold aureus struck for the opening of the Colosseum was the costliest. I paid $3,500 for it, which might or might not have been too much, depending on whom you ask. I was willing to do it.

But in terms of difficulty in finding and acquiring...

The Julius Caesar one is a lifetime issue, struck just a week or two prior to his assassination. It's a type that's sometimes referred to as "the coin that killed Caesar" (putting your own living face on a coin broke with Republican tradition and was a step too far). Competition for those is pretty fierce, so I had to be the underbidder in several auctions. (You can forget about venues like Heritage, unless you want to pay truly insane money!) Finally I spotted that one in a Belgian auction (Elsen), and won it. And then I had to wait for it to cross the Atlantic, then submit it to NGC, and wait for that. It's no "trophy coin", but it's solid and respectable enough. It met all my criteria: decent portrait, name and titles visible, etc. I accepted a scratch or two and a banker's mark and a somewhat ragged flan on that one. It is a nice middling example.

Caligula was also challenging and any decent one always brings competition. I struck out on several at auction. I even won one which I became disenchanted with and sold. As with the Julius Caesar coin, I wanted a nice, wholesome middle-grade example that was nice enough without being TOO nice. Too nice, and these Caligula VESTA asses get stupidly expensive. They're reasonably common, but always in high demand. Finally I found the one above at fixed price (Zuzim on VCoins), and bought it. It is pedigreed to the late Tom Cederlind. Again, it's a nice middling example.

The Claudius sestertius and the two gold aureii I bought already slabbed, but all the rest I submitted myself. I have found it's better to buy ancients raw and submit 'em yourself, if you're the slabbing sort (and most collectors of ancients aren't). The already-slabbed stuff that's offered at auctions is usually overpriced, and sometimes of lower quality, too. So I prefer to hand pick mine and then submit them myself.