Extremely rare ancient coins?

Are there any ancient coin that is ultra-rare where only one example exist, maybe in a museum or with a private collector?

 

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Yes. These are called "unique". If you listen to dealers there are a lot of unique coins. Often what makes them unique is minor variations in the lettering. Sometimes there are unique coins where there is nothing else even close.

Even rarer than that are coins where zero examples exist. For example, a Roman coin depicting the liberation of London was formerly unique. Then the only example was stolen and melted. Copies exist, e.g. https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=70679

 

As new finds show up, unique coins don't always stay unique - here's one of mine (at least 2 now known):

Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis, Macrinus with Diadumenian as Caesar, AD 217-218, Æ Pentassarion, Pontianus, consular legate
Obv: AVT K M OΠEΛ CEV MAKPEINOC K M OΠEΛ ANTΩNEINOC, confronted heads of Macrinus right, laureate, and Diadumenian, left, bareheaded
Rev: VΠ ΠONTIANOV MAPKIANOΠOΛEITΩN, Hera standing facing, head left, holding phiale and scepter; E (mark of value) to left
Ref: double die match with one described as "currently unique" by CNG as of 12-08-2015. H&J, Marcianopolis, 6.24.3.1-4 var. (E to right); AMNG I/I 722 var. (E to right); Varbanov 1185a var. (E to right).

 

It may not look like much but it's the only known example. It's now the "plate coin" at RPC:


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman provincial Æ 5.84 g, 22.0 mm, 7 h.
Bithynia-Pontus, Apamea.
Obv: FAUST[INAC AUG], draped bust of Faustina II, right.
Rev: UЄNU[S ... C]ICA dd, Venus seated right, head left, on dolphin swimming left, resting right arm on dolphin, uncertain object in left hand.
Refs: RPC IV.1, 11815 (temporary); Waddington RG --; BMC --; Sear --; Mionnet Suppl 5 --; Lindgren --; Wiczay --.
Notes: Previously unpublished. Obverse die match to Waddington RG, pl. XXXIX.1, which has a Neptune reverse type.

 

Many, actually. Here's one:

11mm, 1.2 g.
Obv: [?] ROMA
Rev: PIETAS REIP - Pietas, standing, holding infant to breast.

Here's another:

Marcus Aurelius
Caesar, A.D. 139-161
Augustus, A.D. 161-180
Provincial Bronze (AE26)
Moesia Inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum, before A.D. 161
Obv: AVPHΛIOC OVHPOC KAICAP
Rev: NEIKOΠOΛEITΩNΠPOC IC - Serapis, standing left, holding scepter and sacrificing with patera over altar.
Unlisted in Moushmov or RPC; unpublished?
26mm, 11.0g.

The first coin is probably barbarous, most likely Vandalic-era. The second coin is a provincial.

Ancient coins are sort of like fossils, in that we are seeing only a small percentage of the total number of ancient coins ever minted. During the Greek and Roman eras, many cities minted their own coins for local circulation. There were also coins minted by usurpers who survived only a few days or weeks. There were also special presentation pieces. In all these cases mintages might be very low to begin with, so it's not unusual that only a handful or even one single example of these coins ever turn up.

Which brings up one more point. It's entirely possible that tomorrow someone might discover a cache of these coins buried somewhere. Or it may turn out that there are more examples of both of the coins I posted, but the owner has never reported or published them.

But the answer to your question is yes. There are many examples of unique ancient coins. Some are fantastically valuable and desirable. Some, like the two pictured above, much less so.

 

In a day or two please look at this thread again, and you'll be convinced that ultra-rare coins are quite common...

 

The more you specialise in an area the more "believed to be currently unique" coins you can find. It is doubtful that they were unique when produced and thus they are the only known current example.

I and many dozens but they are in the majority only details that very few of us would care about.

Here are a couple of examples from my collection (without delving into my Severans which would pull out many).....

Probus Antoninianus
Obv:– IMP C PROBVS P F AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right
Rev:– ABVNDANTIA AVG I, Abundatia, standing right, empting cornucopiae
Minted in Lugdunum (IIII in exe) Emission 4 Officina 4. Middle to End A.D. 277
Reference:– Cohen -. Bastien -. RIC 17 Bust type F var (reverse legend)

3.62 g. 23.64 mm. 0 degrees

The standard reverse legend reads ABVNDANTIA AVG and here the engraver appears to have mistakenly added an additional I.

Not known in an major references. No other examples known to Dr. S. Estiot who is creating the definitive catalog of this series.



L Papius Denarius Serratus
Obv:– Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat skin tied under chin. Behind head, Dolphin wrapped around anchor.
Rev:– Gryphon running right; in ex., L. PAPI.; in field, Hippocamp
Minted in Rome from . B.C. 79.
Reference(s) – RSC Papia 1. RRC 384/1. RCTV 311.
Symbol variety – RRC -. Babelon -. BMCRR -.

The only known example with this symbol pair. No other examples known to Richard Schaefer in his Roman Republican Dies study when discussed in 2012. I am not aware of any examples emerging since that date.



Martin

 

I've got a bunch. I posted one in another thread a couple of days ago. It's the Caracalla with the quadriga.
Although there's no way to know for sure if there aren't more examples out there, since we have no ancient mint records and there could be a hoard of them still in the ground somewhere.

 

Struck at Tyre under Emperor Valerian, The following coin depicts the shrine of Astarte. There's apparently only one example which happened to exist at the museum of the American University of Beirut. I learned that, prior to the discovery of that coin, it wasn't historically confirmed in which Phoenician city was this shrine erected. Hope someone might correct these info.

 

I'm pretty sure that this is incorrect and that the original medallion is still safe in Arras, at least according to this thread from a couple of years ago (https://www.cointalk.com/threads/roman-coin-displays-in-the-british-museum.344503/), which explains that the CNG listing is wrong; besides, I'm pretty sure the loss of such an important coin would have made worldwide news. Still, I could try emailing the museum, just to be sure.

Anyways, possibly unique varieties of ancient coins are not that rare, and even I own a few, though I've already posted them plenty of times:

Volusian (251-253), Antoninianus, Antioch mint.
Obverse: IM C V AF GAL VEND VOLVSIANO AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind;
Reverse: AEQVITAS AVGG, Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopia;
RIC - (unlisted legend at Antioch)

Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Siscia mint, second officina.
Obverse: IMP CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust with paludamentum left, seen from the front;
Reverse: PA-X A-VG, Pax standing left, holding olive branch in right hand and long transverse sceptre in left hand; II in left field;
RIC 186 (unlisted bust type), RIC V Online -

Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Antioch mint, 4th emission.
Obverse: radiate head right, with traces of drapery to front and rear of truncation;
Reverse: Proserpina standing right, holding long-handled torch in right hand, facing Ceres standing left, holding corn-ears in right hand and long-handled torch in left hand.
RIC 200 (unlisted bust type), RIC V Online -

 

My favorite “unique” coin:
Provincial Rome - Phrygia
Caracalla, r. 198-217 A.D.
Hieropolis, AE30, 30 mm x 12.36 grams
Obv.: AV K M AVP ANTΩNΕINO/C. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev.: ΙΕ POΠ ΛEITΩN. Nemesis, wearing polos, standing facing, head right, holding rein or halter. To right Serapis, enthroned left with Cerberus at feet

 

The old saying is that there is nothing more common than a rare coin. This is doubly true when it comes to ancients.

This is a sad fact. I have had coins that I believed to be one of a kind for decades only to have others turn up. In some cases, I have two or three now myself.

I am happy to see CNG recognizing that the coin is "currently unique". Dealers tend to use the term "unique" for anything they have not sold before and not a single one has asked me if I have one like their specimen. Assuming they have not checked ten thousand other private collections, it is quite possible they have missed a few others.

In the area of specialty maridvnvm and I share, rare coins tend to have been struck for only one die set. The problem is that when you see only one coin there is no way of knowing whether there ever were any other dies used so you can't make an educated guess on how many were made and lost. The examples I will show here are two variant of the very common denarius of Julia Domna. Both are a bit more scarce by virtue of being from an Eastern (Syrian) mint. Both were struck from the same obverse die but used different reverses. Both reverses expanded the usual legend VENER VICTR completing the last word to VICTRICI.

For Comparison, normal VENER VICTR but scarce by being Eastern mint style:


VENER VICTRICI This is the only one I have seen. Are there 10,000 others?


This reverse completes both words and substitutes B for the R in each word. Using B for R is a common Eastern substitution in the East where Latin was not the primary language. VENEBI VICTBICI Is this more rare or are there 10,000 more of these out there in places I have not checked?


Now, we need to address the question whether the above three coins are all different or all the same type. Of course there will be people who consider all denarii of Julia Domna are the same since they only collect one coin per person but there are more who see no difference even in the similar issues of the Rome mint (super common). Rome did tend to spell out VENERI but I have never seen a VICTRICI from Rome.


......or from the mint of Alexandria (rare as a whole but existing in more than one die/spelling variation of which some may be "currently unique" but some are owned by more than one person here on Coin Talk).


Like I said, there is nothing more common than a rare ancient coin ...... unless, perhaps, it is a coin that is "currently unique" in the eyes of its current owner. I hate to show any coin labeled "unique" since that tends to flush others from their hiding spots.

 

Often erroneous mints like Incusum / Brockage of already not so common specimen are unique. There is maybe a few handful of species but no other with such a mint error which makes it truly a unique coin. All brockage are unique is a often heard comment, I tend to disagree: if there are > 1 brockage of the obverse/reverse of that coin going around the brockage serie is unfortunately not unique but extremely rare instead which is not the same.

Here a axemplar of a M. Antonivs Legio XVI, the Incusum makes it unique:




Got some more mint errors, like this one: P. Licinius Crassus M.f. AR Denarius, Incusum / Brockage

 

This information is directly out of Wildwinds
This one contributed by me in 2020:
Constantius II, AE follis, Cyzicus. AD 335-336.

FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS, two soldiers holding spears and shields with two standards between them.
Mintmark star SMKA.

RIC VII Cyzicus 113 var (officina); notinric 7cyz113.
Rated R4.

Contributed by David Zachmeyer, Feb. 2020

 

I have several that are "Ultra-Rare" with very few known. I enjoy it, but I realize that these were COINS, that usually were minted in large quantities to satisfy the needs of a population to trade. Therefore, future hoards may be found which would potentially make them "common".

However, I enjoy finding "rare" coins of smaller entities that would have a limited chance of having hoards found in the future.

I have thrown these out a few times before.

There are only two of these known today. One in the British Museum, and the one that I have.


Etruria, Populonia
2 ½ asses 3rd century BC, AR 0.85 g. Radiate female head r.; behind, CII. Rev. Blank. EC 104 (misdescribed, Female head with an Attic helmet). Historia Numorum Italy 179.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second specimen known.
Dark patina and about very fine
From the collection of E.E. Clain-Stefanelli.



India - Shakya Janapada
AR 5-Shana
6th-5th Century BCE
25mm x 21mm, 7.05g
Obv: Central Pentagonal punch plus several banker's marks
Rev: Blank
Ref: Hirano Type I.8.29
19 known.
Coinage from the Ghaghara Gandak River region
Minted in the Shakya Janaprada during Siddhārtha Gautama's (Later the Buddha) lifetime while he was prince, and under the authority of his father as King



Campania, Neopolis
275-250 BCE
AE 18, 4.99g
Obv: Laureate Head of Apollo, NEOPOLITON (in Greek), Theta at r.
Rev: Achelous advancing r, crowned by flying Nike, IOTA SIGMA under Achelous
Ref: Sambon 663; HN Italy 589; SNG ANS 474; SNG Copenhage - ;

@Nicholas Molinari :
"Your first coin is a plate coin in Potamikon, number 343 in our catalog so Sambon 663; Taliercio IIIa.16; MSP I, 343, featuring Acheloios Sebethos as a man-faced bull. Taliercio cited three examples of this type, so yours is the fourth known of that particular variety."
"According to my notes, ACR E-Auction 28 lot 12."

 

Hi @JayAg47,

Try looking here https://www.cointalk.com/search/6015751/?q=Unique&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=9

- Broucheion

 

Plenty of coins are advertised as unique. I have two similar coins. One was advertised as unique because one dolphin was swimming the wrong way.

wrong way fish

both on the same page

 

Athens New Style Tetradrachm c160/59 BC
Obv: Athena right in tri-form helmet
Thompson issue 5 16.97 Gm 32 mm
Thompson Catalogue: Obs:New : Rev:New
Rev:ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on amphora
2 Magistrates monograms beside each a single palm.
Symbol: 2 Palms
All surrounded by an olive wreath

It hammered for nearly 4X estimate but I
had to have it, so adding juice etc..5X ! I have never paid as much for a coin before and not likely to again.
Roma noted extremely rare and no other examples on Coinarchives. True, but I have done a little paper on Some New Coin Types in the Early NewStyle issues and Thompson #5, 2 Palms was known having 1 example when Thompson published NSSCA in 1961.
Almost immediately another was discovered in the Kilkis Hoard in 1962. Same obverse new reverse.
The decades go by and then another is found in the Demetrios l Hoard in 2003 with a New Obverse and a New Reverse featuring only 1 Palm!
And then in 2019 one surfaced in a Roma auction that had been languishing in an unknown (British?) collection which I bought. Yet another another New Obverse and New Reverse!
So this rare issue is much bigger than suspected, a taster of this happened in a G&M auction in 2012 when an egregious IMITATION appeared. So it must have been common enough for someone to attempt to copy it.
Now that is research which is what I enjoy most.
The coin is unique and not unique.
And the only one (?) in private hands....mine!

 

If you collect provincials and/or lrbc, chances are you will find "extremely rare coins" fairly often.

 

On the greeks side, the most famous unique coin is the Tetradrachm of Aitna ex Lucien de Hirsch collection now in the coin cabinet of Bruxelles.