Post: #1

The world's most famous ancient coin is expected to fetch more than £300,000 when it is sold at auction later this year.

The silver Eid Mar is about the size of a one pence coin and marks the assassination of Roman emperor Caesar on the 'Ides of March' - March 15, 42 BC.

It was produced by Caesar's assassin Marcus Brutus, whose head is depicted on one side of the coin.

The reverse depicts a dome-shaped liberty cap, flanked by two drawn daggers, and the Latin inscription EID MAR.

It is extremely rare because Mark Antony and Octavian - who later defeated Brutus in battle - had the coins recalled and melted down.

DAY SENATE TOOK REVENGE ON CAESAR

Julius Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60 other co-conspirators.

On his way to the Theatre of Pompey where he would be assassinated, the all-powerful Caesar visited a seer who had foretold that harm would come to him not later than the Ides of March.

Caesar joked, 'The ides of March are come', to which the seer replied 'Ay, Caesar, but not gone.'

His wife Calpurnia had dreamed of his body streaming with blood and tried to prevent him from leaving the house.

As Caesar took his Senate seat, the conspirators gathered around him. One then took hold of his purple toga and ripped it away from his neck.

A dagger was thrust at Caesar's throat but missed and only wounded him.

Another assassin then drove a dagger into his chest as he twisted away from the first assailant.

Brutus struck Caesar in the groin. It was later written that Brutus was reproached in Greek with the words 'You, too, my child?'

David Michaels, from auctioneer Heritage Auctions, said: 'The Ides of March was struck in 42 BC and this is one of the finest known examples of this historic rarity.

'It is the only Roman coin to openly celebrate an act of murder and to mention a specific date.

'It is also one of the very few ancient coins to enter the popular imagination.

'As an important historic coin with a distinguished pedigree, it is one of the most desirable collectible of any kind that one could ever imagine acquiring.'

If the coin reaches its pre-auction estimate of £314,000 it will establish a record price for a Roman silver coin.

It will be sold at the Long Beach Signature World and Ancient Coins auction in Beverly Hills, in California, on September 7.

Mr Michaels added: 'The Eid Mar is definitely the star of the show.'

Brutus joined the conspiracy against Caeser and is said to have delivered the fatal dagger thrust, prompting Caesar's final words: 'You too, my child?'

After the murder, the conspirators fled Rome in a rush, barely ahead of a lynch mob.

Brutus assembled a pro-Republican power base in Greece where he could wage war against Caesar's successors, Mark Antony and Octavian.

Looting gold and silver from the local population, he began to strike coins to pay his growing army.

His early coinage follows traditional themes, but his final type, the EID MAR breaks the old Republican taboo by placing his own portrait on one side.

Post: #2

Good times!

They sure had a knack for names back then. Not many a Gaius Longinus or Calpurnia around these days. Sadly.

Post: #3

A jeweler's heirs with a cache of rare $20 gold coins will fight for the right to keep them when they square off in court this week against the U.S. Treasury.

Treasury officials charge that the never-circulated "double eagles" were stolen from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1933. They could be worth $80 million or more, given that one sold for nearly $7.6 million in 2002.

The coins come from a batch that were struck but melted down after President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard in 1933.

Two were preserved for the Smithsonian Institute. But a handful more mysteriously got out.

The daughter and grandsons of Israel Switt, a jeweler and scrap metal dealer on nearby Jeweler's Row, say they discovered 10 of them in his bank deposit box in 2003.

Joan Langbord of Philadelphia and her sons went to the U.S. Treasury to authenticate the coins, but the government instead seized them. Authorities noted that the box was rented six years after Switt died in 1990, and that the family never paid inheritance taxes on them.
What's more, the Secret Service has long believed Switt and a corrupt cashier at the Mint were somehow involved in the double-eagle breach.

"A thief cannot convey good title to stolen property," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel M. Sweet wrote.

The 2011 trial that starts Thursday might therefore have echoes of a 1930s-era criminal case.

Double eagles, first struck in 1850, feature a flying eagle on one side and a figure representing liberty on the other. They get their name from their $20 value, twice that of gold coins known as eagles. Collectors would love to see the 1933 coins go to auction since they are so rare.

Lawyer Barry Berke, who represents the Langbords, won a 50-50 split with the government in the only other double eagle case, involving the coin that was sold at auction $7.59 million.

He argues that the family's coins could have left the Mint legally, since it was permissible to exchange gold coins for gold bullion.

The government instead insists that no double eagles lawfully left the Mint, and that the coins were legally seized. The coins are being kept at Fort Knox.

Switt had been investigated at least twice by 1944 over his coin holdings.

In 1937, U.S. officials seized nearly 100 pre-1933 double eagles from him as he prepared to board a train to Baltimore to meet with a coin dealer. Switt said he knew it was illegal to possess the gold coins, and said he had eventually planned to surrender them, according to a ruling issued by the trial judge this week.

In 1944, the Secret Service traced 10 separate double eagle coins that had surfaced to Switt. He acknowledged selling nine of them, but said he did not recall how he had gotten them. The statute of limitations prevented authorities from prosecuting Switt.

However, his license to deal scrap gold, which sometimes took him to the Mint, was revoked.

U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis will allow that evidence in, despite the family's efforts to block it.

"The documents appropriately go to Switt's knowledge of the repercussions from breaking the gold laws and provide evidence of a motive to conceal his possession of the ten 1933 Double Eagles
presently at issue," Judge Legrome Davis wrote.

The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

"What the Langbords are trying to say here is it's not clear what happened, that there's at least a possibility the coins were just exchanged for ounces of gold," said Armen R. Vartien, general
counsel of the Professional Numismatists Guild.

"The records are incomplete, inconclusive," he said. "No one can really know what happened, and none of the people involved are alive to tell (the tale)."

Decision:

A jury has decided that a set of rare gold coins found in a bank deposit box rightfully belongs to the U.S. government.

The decision, made on Wednesday, caps an unusual civil case that combined history, coin collecting and whether the set of rare $20 "double eagles" should have ever let the U.S. Mint in 1933.

Federal prosecutors had asserted that the coins never circulated when the country went off the gold standard. Most of the batch was instead melted down.

But Joan Langbord, the daughter of a Philadelphia jeweler, said she found the 10 coins in her father's bank deposit bank after he died.

She said that her father could have acquired them legally, perhaps through a trade of gold scrap.

One 1933 double eagle sold for $7.6 million in 2002.

Post: #4

That totally sucks. Too bad they tried to do the right thing & got screwed in the process. Let this be a lesson to everyone. AGAIN, no good deed goes unpunished. They should have looked for validation in a different manner.

Post: #5

an historical work of art...not to mention a bit pricey.



The coin is decorated with a depiction of two eagles clutching a dead hare




The obverse of the coin is stamped with the image of a Quadriga, or four horse chariot



The world's most expensive ancient coin has emerged for sale - for a cool £2million.

This Greek drachma was first struck 2,418 years ago and has risen in value at nearly £1,000 a year ever since.


Its incredibly detailed engraving shows an eagle on one side and four horses and a chariot being driven by a young man on the other.

The silver coin is one of 12 known examples in the world, with six being held in museums.

The piece, that is just over one inch in diameter and weighs 1.5 ounces, was minted in Sicily in the late 5^th century BC.

The Classical Numismatic Group will auction the coin in New York on January 4.



photos from daily mail

Post: #6

did you like Ike?

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire coin dealer has acquired a 5-ton stash of more than 220,000 rare Eisenhower ``Ike'' $1 coins tucked away in a Montana bank vault for over 30 years.

Littleton Coin Company has not disclosed the price, but says the coins, most in sealed canvas bags from the U.S. Mint in Denver, are worth well over $1 million. Littleton plans to start offering them for sale next year.

The coins were shipped from the U.S. Mint in Denver during the 1970s to a Federal Reserve bank. A Montana man who does not want his name released bought and stored them in a local bank in Helena, where they sat until recently.

The front shows President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the back commemorates man's first steps on the moon.

Post: #7

The first post/coin is my favorite in this thread so far. I am all about the story behind the coins. I find that aspect of coin collecting fascinating and educational. Bravo for the post, LC! That is what some of us love about coins - the interesting glimpse into history. Follow the money, bay bay!

Post: #8

(12-06-2011 05:25 AM)Lady Cop Wrote:   an historical work of art...not to mention a bit pricey.



The coin is decorated with a depiction of two eagles clutching a dead hare




The obverse of the coin is stamped with the image of a Quadriga, or four horse chariot



The world's most expensive ancient coin has emerged for sale - for a cool £2million.

This Greek drachma was first struck 2,418 years ago and has risen in value at nearly £1,000 a year ever since.


Its incredibly detailed engraving shows an eagle on one side and four horses and a chariot being driven by a young man on the other.

The silver coin is one of 12 known examples in the world, with six being held in museums.

The piece, that is just over one inch in diameter and weighs 1.5 ounces, was minted in Sicily in the late 5^th century BC.

The Classical Numismatic Group will auction the coin in New York on January 4.



photos from daily mail

Thats gotta be one thick coin being 1" round and 1 ¹⁄₂ oz.

Post: #9

I deny being geeky but have always been impressed by ancient silver coins. Bronze and gold can be attractive but silver got used and circulated at a time that things were very much different than now.

Of course clad is even better but what do I know.

Post: #10

i'm not a coin geek like you guys,
but i'd buy a couple of these.





It's the Royal Mint's brand-new £2 coin featuring the beardy face of legendary English writer Charles Dickens — made up from the titles of his most famous works.

It includes mentions of David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol.

The Royal Mint is releasing it to mark the 200^th anniversary of the literary genius's birth.

An inscription around the edge reads: "Something Will Turn Up" — a line from David Copperfield, which is said to have been Dickens's favourite story.

Designer Matthew Dent said: "I wanted the coin to reference both the immense contribution Dickens has made to British literature and his iconic portrait.

"The visual reference for the portrait was based on a bust of a bearded Dickens which is part of the collection of the Charles Dickens Museum in London."

The new £2 is due to come into use in the spring as part of a series of commemorative coins.

Post: #11

An incredibly rare 200-year-old golden 'doubloon' has sold for $7.4million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a gold coin.

The 'Brasher' 1787 doubloon contains 26.66g of gold and is considered the first American-made gold coin denominated in dollars.

Its name comes from Ephraim Brasher, the goldsmith and neighbour of George Washington who minted the coin and whose trademark stamp was taken as proof of a coin's weight and fineness.

As the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia did not begin striking coins until the 1790s, the doubloon's huge historical significance saw it sell for the record sum.

The coin is marked with Brasher's 'EB' hallmark, which the highly-regarded goldsmith only stamped on his own coins.

Post: #12

(12-12-2011 01:39 PM)Lady Cop Wrote:  



An incredibly rare 200-year-old golden 'doubloon' has sold for $7.4million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a gold coin.

The 'Brasher' 1787 doubloon contains 26.66g of gold and is considered the first American-made gold coin denominated in dollars.

Its name comes from Ephraim Brasher, the goldsmith and neighbour of George Washington who minted the coin and whose trademark stamp was taken as proof of a coin's weight and fineness.

As the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia did not begin striking coins until the 1790s, the doubloon's huge historical significance saw it sell for the record sum.

The coin is marked with Brasher's 'EB' hallmark, which the highly-regarded goldsmith only stamped on his own coins.

For me, nothing beats a coin with this kind of historical value and connection. This is why I collect coins. In particular, the coins involved in America's Founding. Great find, LC.

Post: #13

FF doesn't stand for "fantastic four" ?

Post: #14

I can't help but think this was Walter Perske's example but my memory from 1979 isn't so hot.

Hell, my memory of 1979 isn't so great either.