Ex. Bastien gold medallion (Constantine II) up for sale ...

[Heliodromus]

I wouldn't normally discuss a coin up for sale, but I don't think this one is going under the radar !

Not exactly an LRB of course, but that's why it's interesting. I thought Bastien only collected LRBs and provincials, but then there's this 2 solidi medallion which seems it must have been a major outlier in his collection. This is NAC 125.879 with an estimate of 50,000 CHF, and is the (unique?) RIC 167 specimen known to RIC. Berlin has the same type but with an obverse legend (RIC 166) vs this anepigraphic one.

This coin was the subject of a 1958 paper by Bastien "Médaillon d'or inédit de Constantin II", which can be found online.

The LRB portion of Bastien's collection was sold partly in M&M 61 in 1982, and party privately to the ANS in 1984. The M&M sale didn't even mention Bastien's name, but seemed to only be referring to the LRBs as his, not the solidi that were also in the sale. I wonder if this medallion was ever sold, or perhaps is only now being sold by someone he left it to ?

Bastien was only an amateur numismatist. His real job was surgeon, and in one of his obituaries someone recalls him saying how he would spend his appendectomy fees on coins (presumably LRBs and provincials), so this medallion must have represented quite a lot of scalpel work!

Ben

[Victor]

The M&M sale didn't even mention Bastien's name, but seemed to only be referring to the LRBs as his, not the solidi that were also in the sale.

Yes, the gold coins, along with others, were sold in the first section of the auction, separate from the Bastien coins. I wonder if they did not mention Bastien's name because he was still alive and perhaps did not want them to...they merely refer to the collection as being assembled by a connoisseur of the Late Roman Empire...but a small clue in the references -- Bastien is cited eight times.

[Heliodromus]

I originally thought the M&M spintriae were Bastien's too, but given that they were listed before the late empire "from 30yr collection of a connisseur" introduction, I assume not. I wonder how well known it was at time of the auction that this was Bastien's collection, since you'd assume it might have raised prices.

BTW, Bastien's paper on this coin is worth reading for some of the unlisted coins he includes photos of, in particular a couple of medallions from from the Borca find/hoard that were originally published by Georg Elmer in Numismatische Zeitschrift, 1930 (!). Depsite being published both then and subsequently by Bastien (1958), these coins never made it into RIC, or Depeyrot (Monnaies d'Or) for that matter. I've seen coins from the Trau sale (1935) omitted by RIC too, so their literature search seems to have been a bit lacking !

[Heliodromus]

So, the Bastien medallion sold, with fees, for $158,136 ... fair enough, I suppose (medallion, unlisted, ex. Bastien).

But in the same auction, this *solidus* sold for $368,894, a $100K markup over what if sold (or was bought in for?) for at NAC 120 just 8 months ago.

[Victor]

I used to be a drunken sailor and even I would not spend money like that 

[Heliodromus]

Could just imagine next day someone wakes up with a hangover and then ... "OMG, what did I do ...."