Coin Talk

Some months ago I bought a lot of 91 uncleaned large roman bronze coins.
I paid 230$ shipping included (around 2.5 $ for a coin) , but , as you will see from the photos , many of the coins are extremely corroded (bronze disease) or very worn. Even with this I took the risk , hoping to find at least one valuable coin which will justify my investment.

I'm not sure that all of the coins are coming from the same hoard/find (the majority for sure) , many of them are sertertius , around 12 ases and one dupondius , Claudius(41 AD) to Severus Alexander (235 AD) , till now. I'm sure that they are part of a larger hoard and the person who found all this has well selected and kept the best coins.

I cleaned around 30 coins , but unfortunately only 16 are in decent grade and can be posted here. In the next days I will try to post photos(before and after) with them.

These are the seller photos , they always put the best coins visible on top
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This new Roman Provincial coin arrived from Ken Dorney today. I really love the coloring -- a green and red patina. It's from about 251-260 AD, and is an example of what used to be called "pseudo-autonomous" coins, a term now apparently considered inaccurate and obsolete, at least for coins from this period. John Melville Jones's Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins prefers the term "quasi-autonomous," and I've also seen the term "colonial civic" used.

Anonymous colonial civic issue, AE 23, 251 - 260 AD (Trebonianus Gallus to Valerian I), Troas, Alexandria Troas Mint. Obv. Draped bust of Tyche right, wearing mural crown, vexillum inscribed CO AV over right shoulder, CO ALEX TR / Rev. Horse (of Erichthonius?)* grazing to right, COL AVG, TROAD in exergue. RPC IX Online 505 (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/9/505); Bellinger A486 [Alfred A. Bellinger, Troy, The Coins (Princeton 1961)]; BMC 17 Troas, 46 var. [diff. legends]; see also id. 45, 47-50...

So, I did something that I dont typically believe in and broke one of my own rules. I bought coins I wasnt familiar with on ebay. I have bought from this seller before and its a seller that I learned about on this forum. I didnt feel like I was taking much risk, especially since it was a 4 coin lot and I only paid 34 bucks for it.

I had seen this unidentified lot of coins earlier in the day but quickly dismissed them because I didnt know what they were and wasnt in the mood to try and nail down values for them. Fast forward to a minute before the auction closed, and I had just missed out on a coin I really wanted from the same seller.

I thought I had my initial target coin and was upset about missing out. Wanting to fill an emotional void from losing the previous auction, I reconsidered these 4 coins. The current bid was in the low 30's so I figured "what the hell" might as well try and get these for a decent price and if I lose its no big deal. I was kind of surprised when my...

Khazar Khaganate. AR dirham (26 mm, 3.93 g). No date, c. 880s-910s AD. Imitation of an Abbasid dirham with two "obverse" dies. Obverse: Slightly blundered first half of the Kalima, heavily blundered legend around. Reverse: Slightly blundered first half of the Kalima, heavily blundered legend around. Album K1481.1. This coin: Stephen Album Auction 36, lot 652 (January 23-25, 2020).

The Khazars, although important in their time, are best remembered for their influences on neighboring cultures, and for a religious conversion whose extent has probably been exaggerated by later accounts. There has also been a great deal of poorly-supported speculation, and this, coupled with the shortage of reliable first-hand documents or archaeological evidence, has led to their near-invisibility even to most "amateur historians" (as I presume most readers of the CoinTalk Ancients board would call themselves). In this post, I will try to stick to...

My latest addition is an absolute fascinating issue of the Severan dynasty. This coin (the reverse, that is) has been on my ‘dreamlist’: a list of coins so beautiful or historically significant, but financially forever out of my reach. This coin showed up for auction, with an attractive starting price, which, like we all know, means absolutely nothing. However, I was absolutely baffled that no one made a bid when this coin went up for auction! So, I went in and got the coin for starting price. Perhaps it’s because it has some obvious issues (rough, weak, weird flan, obverse crack) that no one wanted this one, but I absolutely love it! Auctions are just very strange phenomena, aren’t they?

I did some additional research on the reverse, and this led to the longest write up I ever made, for reasons explained below. In case you don’t want to read it, here’s the coin. And for those who are willing to read the entire write-up and help me with some of my questions, I am forever grateful!...

So if you don't know Bucephalus was Alexander the Great's famous horse that he rode into battle with. Today, I will be sharing four extremely rare Tetradrachms and Drachms struck by Seleukos I Nikator and Antiochos I Soter that feature this famed horse. I hope you enjoy, and if any of you have these coins PLEASE post them!

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With an extremely low survival rate, these virtually unknown Tetradrachms struck by Seleukos feature a magnificent portrait of a horse on the obverse and an elephant on the reverse. You should know that this issue is one of the rarest Seleucid Tetradrachms with only a few dies recorded and only 10 examples left in existence.

The reverse reads King Selekou (BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY). Monograms such as HΡ and ΣI can be shown in between the elephant’s legs. A few examples feature no monograms, but a bee above the elephant on the reverse. Otherwise, most varieties for this type remain unpublished.

The coins were struck in Pergamon around...

If there is one thing thing students of Ancient History know about that time period, it is that people of that time took religious belief very seriously. Whether that meant being religious in the modern day sense of religious beliefs and practices is debatable but both the citizenry and the state saw religious practices as essential for the welfare of the state. Unless the gods were kept happy with the appropriate devotions,bad things could happen, to individuals and the state. Best to keep on their good side

For the most part the official state sponsored worship of the Olympian deities was a civic duty but the gods of Olympus were not seen as loving and kind. Often the exact opposite, capricious, arbitrary and, sometimes, just plain nasty. One did not love the gods. One was wary of them. However, in addition to the state sponsored religion there were a number of cults, frequently known as "mystery religions" because their ceremonies were kept secret from the uninitiated. Perhaps...

Another low-grade, poorly-described couple of ancients just came in from eBay (thank you US Postal Service!). Not everybody's cup of tea when it comes to collecting, but it keeps me out of the taverns (somewhat) and costs very little. Under COVID-19 quarantine , and a bit bored (the taverns are closed!), I am going to inflict this on you folks!

Something that surprises me about this kind of collecting is how I will occasionally get something that is "rare" that seems like it ought to be common. From what I've seen on CT over the past couple of years, ancient rarities are actually pretty common as a category, if that makes sense. Yesterday a low-grade Hadrian as and a cute little Ptolemaic bronze showed up in the mail ($9.95 for the pair, free shipping!).

The Ptolemy is indeed a common type (Svoronos 1426 /1427, Ptolemy V, VI/VIII or IX-XII, depending on who you ask). Here is a typical auction description for one of these (from acsearch):

So this post is more of a beginners guide, but I thought I'd share this for the enjoyment of advanced collectors and new collectors as a whole. Feel free to post your regnal date Ptolemaic coins for others to try and figure out.

Ptolemy XII Auletes or Neos Dionysos

Ptolemy XII Auletes, famously known as Neos Dionysos, was the half brother of previous ruler Ptolemy XI Alexander II who ruled only 19 days in 80 BC. Neos Dionysos, however, enjoyed two reigns from 80-58 BC and then again from 55-51 BC.

The reason to know this information: Tetradrachms were struck in all periods of Neos Dionysos’ reign. They are labeled 1st reign and 2nd reign. Tetradrachms labeled 1st reign were struck from 80-58 BC and 2nd reign Tetradrachms were struck from 55-51 BC. They continued being struck during his absence.

What makes it simple is that all the Tetradrachms were struck at Alexandria or Paphos—and there isn’t any major varieties.


Analyzing the Regnal Dates...