I strongly disagree!

SYRACUSIAN

What about the Athenian decadrachm?

The Most Famous Ancient Coin Of All



The most famous ancient coin in existence, the "Ides of March" silver denarius struck by Julius Caesar's assassin Marcus Brutus, celebrating the infamous deed, will return to its longtime California home this summer for display before heading to the auction block as part of Heritage Auctions' Sept. 7 Long Beach Signature World & Ancient Coins Auction at the Long Beach Numismatic Expo, where it is expected to bring $500,000+.









Most famous Roman perhaps, but not most famous or priciest ancient.

bronzemat

I think there is alot that qualify as the most famous ancient. This one is definitely in the top 3.

I know I would love to own one, heck even a portrait coin of caesar.

JCMhouston

I'm with Dimitri, the Athenian is my top pick.

IloiloKano

Simply inserting the words "One of" at the beginning would have been enough qualification to make the statement true.

What is this "Athenian decadrachm" you speak of?

JamesMurray

<< <i>What is this "Athenian decadrachm" you speak of? >>



Exactly , ive heard of the Ides of March coin but not the other.Perhaps it's what is meant by most famous.

JCMhouston

Linky

A PCGS description, a really fine owl on the reverse of these.

SYRACUSIAN

Thanks for the link, it's just that the prices mentioned were realized 20 years ago. There was a very nice example sold in the last Gemini-Heritage auction. Their mintage is extremely small, I have no idea about the survivors and I need to check the realized prices for that last example, one of the finest, but I'm almost certain that it exceeded $1 million, maybe $1750000.

It's a matter of taste, all the members provided an excellent reply.

IloiloKano

<< <i> Exactly , ive heard of the Ides of March coin but not the other.Perhaps it's what is meant by most famous. >>

Sorry. I meant my question as a joke, not to be taken seriously.

The link was very interesting & informative, though I do have one comment.

<< <i>Athenian scholar E. L. Davis who is currently working on a catalogue of the Bronze coinage of Athens says, "The decadrachms of Athens are a monument to the innovative and resilient spirit of the Attic people. It's not easy to make a coin that large and still remain within the bounds of simplicity and good taste. Texans would have made Athena's hair bigger." >>

I didn't realize Athenian scholar E. L. Davis was such an ass.

TwoKopeiki

Fame is an interesting definition. Often correlated with value, or scarcity, but not always. for example, widow's mite is famous, but not necessarily scarce or worth millions. Ides of march is famous first for the event surrounding the creation of the coin. Athenian could be famous for it's numismatic history that include montage numbers and previous auction sales (I am also not very familiar with that coin other than the wonderful owl design).

I am with Dimitri in the sense that it is impossible to say that one coin is the most famous of all times. Adding "one of the" to the description would've been more apt. But at the end of the day, auction houses influence the price with a nice description. If heritage was selling the Athenian decadrachm, they would've probably used the same language to describe it (or hired an independent 3rd party to do it for them)

SYRACUSIAN

Roman, excellent and astute post.

We've had a thread about that recent lot 45, Athenian decadrachm at Gemini, CICF 2011. Only now I'm looking at the printed catalogue, and I thought that it was sold, but Gemini's online archives show it unsold. And I can't locate its image on the net, it disappeared. It had made the cover of that sale catalogue with pages 15 and 16 entirely devoted to it. Sorry for being too late, and for me being too tired to not be able to post its image. Why was I convinced that it sold for $1750000, I don't know, old age has its tricks.

In my search I've located the Athenian owl thread, another fine DPOTD material, but it seems irrelevant right now, two very different coins, tetradrachm and decadrachm, not so much in design on one side at least with the owl, but in fame and value.


Edited to add: It's the previous lot, number 45, but, like I said, it disappeared, image and description.

JCMhouston

I believe that is the one determined to be a forgery and pulled a couple of days before the auction.

SYRACUSIAN

<< <i>I believe that is the one determined to be a forgery and pulled a couple of days before the auction. >>







I have lost chapters and chapters!


Thanks so much for the update AND the link previously, which had after all, the only image of the decadrachm in this thread.

IloiloKano

<< <i>Thanks so much for the update AND the link previously, which had after all, the only image of the decadrachm in this thread. >>


Actually, that was am image of a tetradrachm, which has a similar but not identical design.

Here are some examples of the decadrachm.

From CoinNews.net (I think this may have been the one determined to be a counterfeit.)
Heritage and Gemini CICF Auction to Offer Ancient Coins Valued at $3.5M+


Four other examples from Antiquities Project on flickr.com
A Rare Greek Silver Decadrachm of Athens (Attica), Undoubtedly Among the Most Prestigious of All Greek Coins



The only known fragmentary example...

SYRACUSIAN

Thank you IloiloKano! Great job on the pix and the fragmented example.

To be honest, I clicked and left that link very quickly, assuming everything in it was about the decadrachm.

I only glanced at the text that wast referring to 1990 sales. I assumed everything in it was ok. NEVER ASSUME.


Now that's what I was talking about and looking for last night. The counterfeit I must admit that looks damn nice!

From the real ones, I prefer the last two before the fragmented. Well centered, and all. I like them all.



Idles of March vs the decadrachm. Even the Syracusian decadrachm beats the Idles, hands down. Look mom, no hands.