My first ancient I've ever bought (Licinius I) - Did I do okay?

Prethen

Today, I broke down and bought my first ancient. I'm crossing my fingers that I got something real. I like the dealer that I bought it from and I've talked with him numerous times.

The coin is documented as Licinius I, 308-324 AD (AE - copper? bronze?) "follis" with Jupiter on the reverse. It's a Sear 3798 (right attribution?). He thought it noted it as XF, but both of us taking a good look at it seem to feel it's a nice AU. It's about 7/8 inch in diameter. The white spot next to his nose is on the scan and not on the coin. However, there is a little bit of green (corrosion) on the reverse that I felt I can overlook (but I never would on a U.S. coin) due to its age and state of preservation.

What do you think fair value for this coin is (wholesale and retail)?

Since it's my first...please be gentle!

Sapyx

The coin looks an excellent example to me, and the attribution seems fair enough. It's number 3699 in my older (3rd ed.) copy of Sear - the type with AVGG NN at the end of the legend. Mintmark is STS, Thessalonica.

Value? No idea - the 3rd edition Sear deates from 1981. Can't wait for the final volume of the Millennium edition to come out, with coins of this period in - even if it does cost AU$200 or so.

Steve27

I would get that coin into an acetone bath ASAP; that green may be PVC damage.

CIVITAS

Nice coin. It's usually hard to get ALL traces of corrosion off an ancient bronze, so some green encrustation is pretty standard on high grade bronzes.

If it's a small module bronze (18-20mm) I would expect $40-$60 retail. Maybe more if it were larger module (22-24mm).

291fifth

When I sold my Roman coins of this period last year (on eBay) realizations were very, very soft. If you bought it retail you may be buried. I sure was. Procede with great caution when buying coins from this late Roman period.

Prethen

<< <i>When I sold my Roman coins of this period last year (on eBay) realizations were very, very soft. If you bought it retail you may be buried. I sure was. Procede with great caution when buying coins from this late Roman period. >>


After speaking with someone else that haunts these forums, he basically told me I screwed the pooch on this. I spent $40 on the coin and he says it ain't worth $5. The reason is because the coin appears to be "dipped and stripped". I cannot argue that it has the appearance of a cleaning. The reverse appears a bit glossy. I got really caught up with the fact that the coin was so well detailed and not corroded to death that I didn't realize what I ended up with.

Aethelred

I bought a London Mint coin of Licinius I this weekend:

Sapyx

Virtually all ancient coins, particularly bronzes, will need some form of cleaning once they're dug up. Remember, that is where they will all come from - there are no coins that have been sitting in a collector's cabinet for 2000 years.

The main things to watch for, then, are how harsh have the coins been cleaned, and whether anything was done to them besides cleaning.

Two particular issues are "retooling", that is, the "conservator" re-carving details he assumes were originally there but have disappeared with the corrosion and subsequent cleaning, and re-plating (with silver) a coin such as yours which was originally produced with a thin silver wash.

Obviously this one has been cleaned (when it was dug up, the whole coin probably looked like what you see in the green patches) but it hasn't been re-silvered. It may have had some re-tooling, particularly around the hair, but all in all I still think it's not too bad.

CIVITAS

<< <i>

<< <i>When I sold my Roman coins of this period last year (on eBay) realizations were very, very soft. If you bought it retail you may be buried. I sure was. Procede with great caution when buying coins from this late Roman period. >>


After speaking with someone else that haunts these forums, he basically told me I screwed the pooch on this. I spent $40 on the coin and he says it ain't worth $5. The reason is because the coin appears to be "dipped and stripped". I cannot argue that it has the appearance of a cleaning. The reverse appears a bit glossy. I got really caught up with the fact that the coin was so well detailed and not corroded to death that I didn't realize what I ended up with. >>



Whoever that guy was should sell me all the coins he gets like that for $5.00 each as I will buy bucket loads at that number. He obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.

ALL ANCIENT COINS ARE CLEANED. Would anyone really expect a coin to come out of the ground after 1700 years looking like that? Ever see what a wheat cent looks like after just 50 years in the ground? You bought a very nice piece for a fair price, don't let anyone convince you otherwise. (Unless you're going to sell me the coin for $5.00 ).