Coin Talk

This is the story of a small hoard, but it is a bit speculative.


I purchased this group of coins because, based on patina, they seem to have been deposited together.





They are all from Lyons (in Roman times it was called Lugdunum and was named after the Celtic sun-god, Lug or Lugh) and the two soldiers types and Constantinopolis were struck early A.D. 330's. The Crispus VOT was struck a bit earlier around A.D. 324. The really interesting coin is the Sol; which was struck between A.D. 315- 316; almost 20 years before the latest coin in the group - the mintmark star PLG was struck in A.D. 333- 334.

The SOL coin (circa 2% silver) was demonetized by the monetary reform of A.D. 318 which introduced VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP (circa 4% silver) and the two standard GE's were replaced by one standard type by the A.D. 335 reform when the number of nummi to a pound was raised to 196. (According to Harl's "Coinage in the...

I apologize on two counts - first there is the poor photographs which I took with my phone camera. The problem is that my coins are not in the same place as where my photo equipment is - long story - this is a temporary situation and soon enough I will exchange these terrible photographs with good photographs. Second, I had trouble finding out where to do my write-up, so this is going in as a reply. I should also add another apology - that I am not certain whether it is "FRUGIF" or "FRUGIFERO" in the inscription since I wrote this up literally minutes after receiving the coin and have been unable to find another example of it except on this site.

As I have mentioned, I collect the sestertii of Septimius Severus, and I am trying to put together as complete a collection as I possibly can - no limitation on condition, I just want one of every one he struck. It is a project that I very much doubt I will ever finish -...

I'm taking tomorrow off of work, so tonight is like my Friday night and I've been using the time tonight to look at a few new Alexandrian tetradrachms: 1 Valerian, 2 Gallienus, and 1 Valerian II. I decided to pull out the other tets of this family and explore the group (10 in total) chronologically.


Here are two of father and son, Valerian and Gallienus, RY 3 with matching Eirene reverse:


Next is grandfather and grandson, Valerian and Valerian II, RY 4 with Homonoia and Eagle, respectively. The Valerian II came with the original handwritten collectors tag where he had the correct obverse legend written, but sadly he had the wrong ID (Saloninus).


Valerian II was killed in 258 AD, not long after those 2 coins were struck.

Next comes my RY 9 of Gallienus with Eagle reverse with palm. This was issued about 1-2 years after the...

The world is currently witness to the plague of COVID-19. The USA is under quarantine for the first time in my lifetime. People are looking for a scapegoat; was this virus created by scientists in a lab in Wuhan funded by billionaires, or is Donald Trump a tyrant for threatening to re-open parts of America?

Most of us realize these plagues unfortunately frequently occur throughout history.

Trajan Decius was also forced to deal with a plague during his reign as Roman Emperor. The Plague of Cyprian in 250-262 almost led to the fall of the Roman Empire. The fever was felt to be a filovirus similar to Ebola. Cyprian of Carthage described the symptoms as follows:

"This trial, that now the bowels, relaxed into a constant flux, discharge the bodily strength; that a fire originated in the marrow ferments into wounds of the fauces; that the intestines are shaken with a continual vomiting; that the eyes are on fire with the...

Nope this thread is not about Khusro ll (or however you would like to spell his name). Though I do have a coin of the scourge of Byzantium! Nor about Ardashir l, wish I had one of those guys coins.
This is about a coin that I won from Frank Robinson’s last “bargain list” auction that showed up broken, he did his best to package in a capsule with styrofoam, and still got banged around in transit by usps (who I am a huge fan of and really appreciate despite shattering what I feel is a really lovely coin).
As always, Frank was a stand up guy and said not to pay for that coin. But I let him know the check was already in the mail.
It showed up With some really cool pals looking like this:


With some spare time I set it to put together an ancient jig saw. So, today I broke her open:

and for better or for worse did my best with some super glue and a lot of patience:

...

The history
Autumn of 316 AD. We are right in the middle of a civil war in the Roman empire. After Verona, in September, Constantinus had just conquered Licinius' capital, Siscia. The battle of Cibalae took place in October, and the result was disastrous for Licinius and his troops. He had to run away quickly, and planned to continue the fight in the east. But he needed to win time to reorganize his army ; so his secret weapon was Valerius Valens, the Governor of Dacia Ripensis (northern Balkans). He used a diversion in naming him co-emperor ( Despite the fact that Zosimus mentioned Valens as a Caesar, the numismatic evidence indicates he had the rank of Augustus). It was almost certain that Valens will try to keep the power and so a struggle between him and Constantine will appear, helping Licinius. The war continued and after another terrible defeat, Licinius and Constantinus agreed to negotiate. With the help of Licinius' wife (and...

Rather than necromancing an old thread, I figured I'd start a new one. My collecting interests are always pretty broad, but for the past several months I've been accumulating some silver karshapana coins of the Maurya Empire, as well as their Magadha predecessors. I'm not sure whether anyone else here is really interested in them, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites, and I'd love to see some examples that my fellow CTers might have. I'm also happy to try and ID any examples anyone might be wondering about, since I have purchased the excellent Punchmarked Coinage of the Indian Subcontinent by Gupta and Hardaker.

These are pretty enigmatic and might not appeal to the aesthetic that most coin collectors are used to, but with a little research they can be very interesting. They can be visually pleasing for their symbols as well as for their toning and/or shape,...

Here is an interesting, though by no means rare or valuable, 1986 note from Iraq full of historical references and symbolism. Many who lived through that era will doubtless recognize Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq, in office from 1979 until 2003. An imagined scene from the ancient Battle of Qadisiyah appears to his left, in an apparent attempt to associate it with the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, which still raged when this note was issued. Qadisiyah supposedly occurred around 636 and led to the Arab conquest of modern day Iraq over the Sasanian Empire. The 1980s wartime Iraqi government appropriated this battle for their own purposes at the time.



The front top center of the bill reads, in very elaborate Kufic script:البنك المركزي العراقي or "Central Bank of Iraq."

The note's denomination appears in both numeric and...

Davissons Ltd had an auction finish on April 1st. They always have a few items that I am interested in and this auction was no different. I only picked up one piece on the day of the auction. I already posted it on the "newest acquisition" thread but here it is again.

A nice Teutonic Thaler of 1614. It arrived this past week and I must say it looks even nicer in hand. It will be one of the centerpieces of my German States collection.



Teutonic Order. Maximilian of Austria. 1588-1618. AR double thaler. 56.75 gm. 46 mm. Hall mint. 1614. Master of the Order standing, holding the hilt of a grounded sword in his right hand, a lion holding a shield to left / Maximilian on a horse moving right, a circle of shields of arms around him. Dav. 5854. KM 30. Near Extremely Fine; light wear on highest points, lightly toned, flan flaw at 11' obverse; pleasing surfaces and overall a fresh and pleasing coin.