Ancienti

I got this for a song off eBay (from a reputable dealer):

I wanted one to put next to the “alternate” one I have on my monitor stand, to stare at and feel up. Pretty sure I got this for such a low price because the photo on the listing was just terrible. I wasn’t expecting it to look as good as it does when I purchased it. This photo is one I took. Not bad, eh?

Here’s a Marcus Aurelius I just sent to an old friend:

I realized recently that these are the ideal gift coins, because everyone knows the name (esp. since Gladiator) and they’re pretty reasonably priced for nice specimens in silver. I’m going to pick up a couple more, I think.

Here is that Trajan cleaned a little more:

That’s all I want to do with it, I think. On the cusp of whether I want to keep it or not.

Click on pic for the eBay auction.

I’m selling this because I don’t really collect from this region, and once again, don’t really remember why I bought this in the first place. No reserve! Happy bidding.

I almost broke my promise to myself not to make any more big purchases by putting an offer for a gold coin on eBay. Fortunately, the seller declined my offer and in fact raised their “Buy It Now” price. I had thought with the very recent decline in the price of gold that I might be able to get a bargain, but it seemed that the seller hasn’t checked the spot price today. So it worked out, and I’ll try to keep my word and not get anything of that scale now. I just couldn’t pass up the thought of a bargain. Shopaholic. I did get the silver “version” of that coin, however, so I am not empty handed, for $10. So it goes. In other news, I am trying to clean better that one coin in the upper left of the “Lot of 3″ that I posted before. It’s now soaking in Griggott’s #1. Otherwise, not doing that much coinwise. But I suppose that’s all relative.

This is a Philip II Quarter Stater (father of Alexander the Great):

It was not cheap. It’s tiny, but beautiful, quite smaller than a dime. This will be the last big thing I buy for some time to come. Must work out stuff in my real world for me to buy large again. I got it off eBay, but can reference that it was previously sold on auction at CNG, so I know it’s real. For the foreseeable future, I’ll probably not buy anything over $50 or so.

OK, here are the other 3 of 7:


Once again, if you know what these are, please leave a comment. Cheers.