There are many reasons for my interest in the coinage of this Era. “The Death Throes of the Republic” feature some of the most famous & infamous characters of the Ancient Word (Caius Julius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, Gaius Octavius, Marcus Junius Brutus, Marcus Tullius Cicero, etc.) many of which are represented directly, but quite often via the ‘iconography’ on the coins. The turmoil of this Era was a catalyst of some very interesting and diverse coinage designs.
Bud
I wanted to take the time to reply properly to your vocation in
Imperatorial coins, and your new found evangelistic zeal for same. Needless to say, I am unable to add any encouraging words that would improve your motivations, you are already there and there's nothing to improve on. What I can do is give some practical advice on collecting
Imperatorial coins, which I've accumulated over a long time.
This is, unusually for me, the first time, ever, that I've written on this subject, so bear with me whilst I disentangle various confused and random thoughts, in no particular order.
1. Most
Imperatorial coin
types are very common because they were struck in vast quantities to pay armies
2. Because they were struck in a hurry in vast quantities, most
Imperatorial coin
types are badly made,
engraved in
poor style, offstruck and flat struck
3. Because of
military necessity, many issues were struck in slightly debased silver that selectively corrodes, often resulting in
poor surfances
4. Because of this,
Imperatorial coins in
fine style, centred, fully struck and with
good surfaces, are often very
rare and fetch very high prices.
5. Some specific
Imperatorial coin
types that relate to the losing sides in battles (
Pharsalus, Phillipi, Thapsus) are commonly found in fresh struck condition ex
hoards. This applies to nearly all the
Brutus and Cassius
types, and the
types of the Pompeian forces in
Africa, but also some Caesarian issues, e.g. the
Venus,
Aeneas and
Anchises type. It doesn't apply to the Antony and
Octavian types as they generally evade direct confrontations in battle during their triumvirate
6. Most of the late
moneyers fractions, quinarii and
sestertii, are very
rare. But not all. The three C's:
Considia,
Carisia and
Cordia, each issued
sestertii that are common enough. The quinarii of
the Imperators (not
moneyers) are also common enough
7. There are a few exceptionally
rare Imperatorial denarii types, probably a couple of dozen. These are a tiny proportion of the many hundreds of
denarius types, most of which, including most of the
Julius Caesar portraits, are very common indeed. But there are some
scarce Caesar portrait types hidden among the mostly common.
So, what to make of this. A
wise collector will accumulate
his own reserve of information about the coins and their condition and availability, and use it to guide purchases. Here are some of my takeaways
8. Because
Caesar portraits are usually badly
engraved, flat struck and offstruck, seek out worn but well centred specimens of reasonably nice
style or a flat struck coin where the flatness is at the back of Caesar's
head or the lower
part of the
Venus reverse. I attach below a picture of a perfect
Caesar portrait for a collector, which I bought recently. It's worn, actually in
Fine condition, but perfectly centred on a large
flan in
good silver, with a bold
portrait of
Caesar and the
reverse flatness is concentrated on the unimportant lettering behind
Venus, whereas
Victory is nicely struck up. Compare that to the EF, or perhaps
Mint State Caesar below it. The
reverse flatness is in the worst place, cutting across the
Victory and the top of
Venus, the offstrike both sides is unattractive and the bright surfaces and flatness on Caesar's
head obscures
his portrait. The
Fine condition coin is not only the nicer, it was also much the cheaper, and you can make such choices too.
9. Find out which
Caesar portraits are actually
rare, including the seated
Venus on the
denarius of Buca, the Maridianus
denarius type with
Venus (surprisingly, the Maridianus AAAFF crossed
legend is much commoner), the Cr.485 Flaminius issue, and of course, the Mettius Dict Quart issue with
chariot. Be prepared to bid strongly for a nicely worn example of any of the rarer
types. Most collectors are clueless about which these are!
10. Try find reasonable
sestertii of the 3 C's
Considia,
Cordia,
Carisia, and don't worry about the rest. Don't believe dealers fluff if he says these
types are
rare, they aren't. If you see any outside these three
types (also
moneyers quinarii) they are usually genuinely
rare and worth going all out for
11. Metal
quality is key with
Mark Antony legionaries. You'll find unending numbers of reasonable condition legionaries with scrappy surfaces. If you can find some pleasantly worn examples on
good smooth metal which also tones nicely, go for them in preference to better condition coins with surface issues. This is a series where it's better to have a few nice-metal examples than a
complete run with surface problems
12.
Brutus and Cassius: either buy
hoard coins (
mint state) or pleasantly worn examples with nice surfaces and no corrosion. The same advice applies to the Pompeian (
Cato,
Scipio) issues at Thapsus. Sometimes the
hoard coins have external damage ("spade marks") and can be
good buys for the
types. I once owned an EF example of a
Scipio, Crassus
type with a terrible cut on the
Victory side, but the important Sekmet
side basically untouched.
13. The
Rome mint moneyers coins of 46 to 41 BC are invariably flat struck or offstruck. Just accept that as given, and try find examples whose flatness isn't a detraction. i recently bought the third coin below, a
denarius of
Considia. Yes there is some flatness, on the diadem and behind the
chariot, but once you look past that you see a coin in
fine style in absolutely
mint state and with the flatness in the least important places. High end collectors ignored it, and it was inexpensive, but I wonder when a high end collector will ever find a better example than this?
14.
Style,
style,
style. If there are several engraving styles for an issue, learn to recognise the very best
style and wait to buy until you find a coin in that finest
style. My
Fulvia portrait below is in absolutely the finest
style, as
good as that on coins that fetch tens of thousands of dollars. The seller priced it modestly, only noticing the flatness and the wear to
Fine condition. Get to know the issues and wait for the
fine style engraver to
pop up.
15. Some issues just always come in bad
style and can be very
cheap because sellers think the coins ugly, but don't realise that they are all ugly. An example below, bottom coin, is a Cnaeus Pompey
denarius of the
Pietas series, bought for a modest amounf for a seller who
had no idea that this was about as beautiful as this coin
type comes. In fact I later discovered this to have an important old
provenance (Knobloch) and was the best example he could get. So, get to know the ugly coin
types!
16. Beware of
tooled bronzes of the
Imperatorial era. Many apparently nicer ones are
tooled. Better a nice smooth
good Fine.
17. Everytime you see an
Imperatorial type with a
trophy reverse, look carefully. Several new examples are sold each day, and 99.9% of the time, they will be one of these
types: 452/2, 468/1 or 468/2, 506/2, 511/2, 536 or the
Octavian type with naval
trophy. One time in a thousand it might be 452/4 or 452/5 or 482/1 or 503/1 or 504/1 or 505/5 or 510/1. Any of these are immensely rarer, by a factor of 100 or 1000 than the common
types.
18. Same advice applies to Pompey
portraits. Very common: 511. Extremely
rare: 470 (
Minatia) and 477 (
Pietas). Watch for them. Also extremely
rare, the 511
type with
exergue legend ORAE
MARIT ET CLAS SC. I've advised above which are the rarer
Caesar portraits, and the less
rare fractions (by exception all others are
rare).
19. Consider extending the start date of your collecting interests back to the time of
Cicero or even
Sulla. You add in many amazing Imperators and politicians who struck or were featured on coins, or who inspired coin
types (
Sulla,
Marius,
Cicero, Crassus, early issues of
Brutus and Cassius, the infamous Clodia
gens etc). The
reverse types in the period from Sulla's death to 50 BC are also the most interesting in the
Roman Republic.
20.
Imperatorial coins can be a rich man's playground. But you can get far nicer coins than the high end collectors are
buying, for far lower prices, through knowledge of the typical strike, surfaces and styles of each issue. With knowledge you can know how to choose coins of better
style, preferable strikes and better surfaces but in beautiful
Fine rather than in ugly EF, and overall much more beautiful coins. So what if your beautiful coins are not valued by the marketplace? You'll know better where real beauty and value lies.
Andrew