By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …..
Photos can be a wonderful aid or an absolute danger. Depending on the type of lighting used by the photographer, a coin’s surface can show every bump and scratch, or it can look like a piece of glass. Some auction firms go to great pains and expense to produce realistic photos. Some don’t (Sayles, 25).
Much of what I have learned about ancient coins over the years has come from books, articles, and conversations with dealers, scholars, and other collectors. But a great deal has come from studying ancient coin auction catalogs. I’ve accumulated hundreds of these catalogs, to the point that shelf space has run out and they are beginning to pile up on the floor.
For beginning collectors, coin auction catalogs–even those written in English and well-illustrated–can be baffling. Let’s consider how to make sense of them.
Here is a detailed description of “the most famous of all Roman coins,” from a recent auction catalog[1]:
622. The Republicans. Brutus. Late summer – autumn 42 BC. AR denarius (17.5mm, 3.75 g. 12h). Military mint traveling with Brutus and Cassius in western Asia Minor or northern Greece. L. Plaetorius Cestianus, magistrate. Bare head of Brutus, right BRVT above IMP to right, L • PLAET • CEST around to left / Pileus between two daggers pointing downward. EID • MAR below. Crawford 508/3; Campana, Eid Mar,40-1 (O2/R13); Cahn 13a-b; CRI 216; Sydenham 1301; RSC 15; BMCRR East 68-70, Kestner -; RBW-. Toned with hints of iridescence, minor marks and scratches, scrapes on obverse, banker’s mark on reverse. Good VF. Very rare. The most famous of all Roman coins. This coin is not plated in Campana. ($250,000)
From the collection of a Connoisseur Classicist, purchased from Numismatic Ars Classica, early 1990s
Lot Number: 622. The “lot number” identifies the coin in the auction. During the bidding, lots are sold sequentially by lot number.
Issuing Authority: Answers the questions of who issued the coin, where, and when. In this case, “The Republicans” refers to Julius Caesar’s assassins in the Roman civil war of 44- 42 BCE. Lucius Plaetorius Cestianus, otherwise unknown to history, was probably the paymaster in the army of Brutus.
Date: Unlike modern coins, most ancient coins do not carry a date. Thanks to diligent work by generations of numismatic scholars, the dates for most Roman coins are known with considerable precision. For most ancient Greek and other coins, the dates are only approximate estimates.
Metal: The material of a coin is usually given as an abbreviation derived from Latin: “AV” for gold, “EL” for electrum, “AR” for silver, and “AE” for bronze.
Denomination and Dimensions: The coin is a denarius. In parentheses, the diameter is given in millimeters, the weight in grams, and the “die axis” in terms of a clock face. “12h” means that both sides are oriented in the same direction; “6h” means that the reverse is upside-down relative to the obverse.
Obverse Type and Inscription: The obverse or “heads” side design is described. The inscription is transcribed and may be translated. There is a rich vocabulary of technical terms describing features of a portrait; for example, “draped” means the fabric of a garment is visible, “cuirassed” means the figure is wearing body armor, and “laureate” means the figure is crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves.
Reverse Type and Inscription: The design on the reverse or “tails” side is described. The inscription is transcribed and may be translated. The pileus, a felt cap worn by freed slaves, became a symbol of liberation.
References: Listings of the coin type by number in standard reference books. A dash after the author’s name means the coin is missing from that reference. In this case, “Campana” refers to the Italian numismatist Alberto Campana (1947- ), who authored a definitive study of this type.
Grade: Traditional grades for ancient coins are F (Fine), VF (Very Fine), EF or XF (Extremely Fine), and MS (Mint State). Rarely, one might see FDC (Fleur de coin), French for “flower of coinage”, indicating that the coin is absolutely flawless). The 70-point Sheldon Scale, familiar to collectors of American coins, is meaningless for ancient coins. If there is a hole in the coin, the term “pierced” will appear. If the coin has been tooled to improve its appearance, this should be noted. In the 19th century, tooling was quite common, but today it is considered a serious defect by most collectors. The grade may be followed by an indication of rarity.
Estimate: The cataloguer usually provides an estimate of the price, or sometimes a “starting price” or minimum acceptable bid. These days, desirable coins sell for two or three times the estimate – sometimes far more, if several collectors with deep pockets get into a bidding war over a coveted rarity.
Provenance: Ancient coins are like puppies: the better the pedigree, the higher the price. If a coin has been in a famous sale or collection, this will often be called out in the listing. If a specific coin is the example cited in a standard reference book, the phrase “this coin” may appear, and if the specific coin is illustrated in that reference, then you may see the phrase “plate coin”. Such select coins often sell for a premium.
How Ancient Coin Catalogs are Organized
Auction catalogs begin with some pages that set out the rules of the auction. Pay particular attention to the “Buyer’s Fee”, which is a service charge added to the winning bid. This typically ranges from 15 to 25%. There may be some background on the auction house and its personnel, and notes on any particular collections offered for sale. For major European auction houses, this introductory material is often provided in several languages.
The coin listings begin with Greek and related coins, followed by Roman, “Byzantine” and (if present) medieval, Islamic, Asian and modern world coinages.
The arrangement of ancient Greek coins in most auction catalogs is based on a system developed originally by Austrian numismatist Joseph Eckhel[2] (1737-1798). He based his categories on historic regions of the ancient world, moving from West to East, beginning with the Iberian Peninsula. So the first coins in the catalog are typically Celtic, followed by Italy, Sicily, North Africa, the Greek mainland, the Greek islands, Asia Minor, etc. For example, coins of Athens are listed under “Attica”, and coins of Ephesus are listed under “Ionia”. After the regions, the coins of the later Hellenistic kingdoms (c. 323 – 30 BCE), which sprawled across many regions, are listed.
Roman coins are arranged chronologically, beginning with the Republic, continuing through the so-called “Imperatorial” era of civil wars (c. 82 – 27 BCE), and concluding with the sequence of emperors. Roman provincial coins (sometimes called Greek Imperial) may be in a separate section, or included under the respective emperor listing.
Catalogs of “important”[3] auctions can become reference works that are highly collectible themselves. For example, the three-volume catalog of the massive Garrett Collection of ancient and foreign coins sold by Johns Hopkins University (1984-85) currently sells for over $100. Two catalogs for the sale of the William Herbert Hunt collection of Byzantine coins (December 5-6, 1990 and June 21, 1991) are highly valued by collectors of this series. Copies currently sell for $45 to $75 and up.
One thing that makes a catalog even more useful to collectors is the list of “Prices Realized”, a few sheets listing the winning bids for each coin or group lot. If there is no price listed for a specific lot, then that lot was probably unsold, or possibly withdrawn before the sale. Prices Realized are sometimes archived on the auction house website and can be downloaded. Older sales, however, can be difficult or impossible to find. Occasionally, you may see prices realized penciled in by a collector beside the listings
How to Obtain Catalogs
Auction houses mail out catalogs well ahead of the sale to regular buyers. These catalogs are costly to print and mail; some are substantial hardcover books with glossy full-color illustrations, so there may be a subscription fee. New buyers can often obtain a catalog by writing or emailing the auction house. At local coin shows, there is often a “freebie” table where collectors can leave unwanted old catalogs for others to take. Many historic catalogs have been digitized and can be downloaded free from sites like the Newman Numismatic Portal maintained by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
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Notes
[1] CNG Triton XXVIII, January 14-15, 2025, Lot 622. Realized $450,000 USD (estimate $250,000).
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hilarius_Eckhel
[3] “Important” is a term of art in numismatics that means “expensive”.
References for How to Read an Ancient Coin Auction Catalog
Numismatic Fine Arts and Bank Leu. The Garrett Collection, Part I. (Beverly Hills, May 16-18, 1984)
–. The Garrett Collection, Part II. (Zurich, October 16-18, 1984)
–. The Garrett Collection, Part III. (Beverly Hills, March 29, 1985)
Sayles, Wayne. Ancient Coin Collecting. Iola, WI (1996)
Sotheby’s. The William Herbert Hunt Collection: Highly Important Byzantine Coins. New York (December 5-6, 1990)
–. The William Herbert Hunt Collection: Important Byzantine Coins. New York (June 21, 1991)
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