this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
159 points (98.2% liked)
Asklemmy
43818 readers
903 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- [email protected]: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The single most expensive item I own is a gold coin from Imperial Rome, an Aureus of emperor Antoninus Pius. I bought it about three years ago when I was just starting to collect ancient coins. I came across this particular coin on a "regular" gold & silver bullion site in my neck of the woods, for 3K. Not knowing too much about it, I bit the bullet (which is actually an incredibly stupid thing to do, akin to gambling). Turns out it's very real, mint state, and worth about 2K over what I paid for it right now. I have since continued collecting ancients, especially Romans, and by now know the entire history of Rome and all its emperors in detail. Which again underscores how incredibly stupid it was to buy something so expensive without decent prior research. I was just incredibly lucky that an actual reputed bullion dealer apparantly had come across this coin and got rid of it far under what it was worth.
I don't expect to be able to repeat this feat, but I'm definitely on the lookout...
That's awesome! I've collected a few coins but none worth that. I only have one ancient coin of the Gallic Emperor Tetricus II that's in rough condition, but I only purchased it for $10. The only surprising coin I have is an 1809 US Capped Bust Half Dollar that is apparently a rare variant with some markings along the edge, and PCGS says there are only an estimated 900 of that variant that are still around. Unfortunately, there was already a deep scratch on the front when I bought it that likely lowers the value to that of the normal variant, but I still love the history and rarity of it.