Coin Talk

Hey all, I'm new to this forum! A bit about myself: I've been collecting ancient coins for nearly 20 years, caught the bug as a kid when my parents gave me a few Roman bronze coins they purchased while traveling in France. I've built up and sold off several small collections at this point, and for a long time I was only interested in Greek silver. Recently I've started a new collection focusing on sestertii from the 2nd/3rd century.

I believe this Septimius sestertius is a rare bust type, I've only found one near die match for it in online auction records. I've found a number of die matches for the reverse. There are several similar coins in the online British Museum catalog, though they are IMP V. I was hoping some of the experienced members might take a look and give me their opinions on the coin. This is the dealer photo, I do not have the coin in hand yet.



Septimius Severus, Æ Sestertius, Rome, 194-195 AD. L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP IIII,...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Many coins of Thrace depict snakes. Here I have a type from Augusta Trajana:

Thrace, Augusta Trajana, Geta, AD 209-212
AE 30, 16.5g, 225°
obv. AVT K Π CEΠT - IMOC ΓETAC
Bust, cuirassed, seen from behind, laureate, r.
rev. AVΓOVCTHC - TPAIANHC
Snake, radiate and with nimbus, in four elaborated coils erected r.
ref. Schönert-Geiss 496 (1 ex. only!); Varbanov 1356
very rare, about EF, brown patina


On ancient coins we find many depictions of snakes. I remind of the snake as attribute of Salus, or the famous Cistophori where a snake is climbing out of a Cista mystica, the snake basket, belonging to the cult of Dionysos and playing an important role in the Eleusinic Mysteries too. And don't forget the Alexandrian Agathodaimon. But this is not the matter with the snake on this coin. It is a Pontic type.

There is some evidence that the snake erecting here in four elaborated coils and has a radiate head with nimbus is...

2 days ago I was browsing a site and saw this coin. It brought back to mind a recurring theme of late. It seems I can go years without seeing particular coins I am interested in and then all of a sudden several appear seemingly all at once. I am not sure what is responsible for this phenomenon but it is certainly is interesting.

This coin is a case in point. Several months ago I came upon an auction on Heritage for a Domitian RIC 72 from the Morris collection. It was the first time in 4 years that I saw one come up for auction. So naturally I pursued it and won it. It is supposedly R2-very few examples known. I believed this because I had never seen one come to market until the Morris collection example.

A couple of months later another example appeared at Heritage and sold for a very respectable price. It commanded quite a lot of attention. I did not buy this one since as much as I would have liked to, I cannot buy every coin I like.

A couple of months ago I was checking the...

Echoes of Byzantium

I originally posted this in Coin Chat, but I think it sits best in Ancients - even though this post is not specifically devoted solely to ancient coins. Anyway...

As should be no surprise to anyone who knows me on this forum, I have a passion for history, especially the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire, and ancient Greece.

All my Christmases came true late last year, when the other half agreed to a holiday to Greece completely devoted to history (and food and wine). I will do another post on ancient Greece, but this one focusses on the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire.

On our Byzantine tour, we visited Athens (more known for ancient Greece, but there is a cultural museum dedicated to the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine), Meteora, Thessaloniki (the logic being it was the “second capital” of Byzantium), and Mt Athos.

Here are some historical highlights from the trip, including (of course) coins.

Byzantine architecture

Byzantine...

This has been an interesting challenge. Haven't completed it yet but it seems somewhat doable.



The portrait was to feature Sun Yat Sen who was the first president of the Republic of China. These coins were struck when China was literally falling apart as various provinces were striking their own coinage. A unified coinage was required and this meant huge production was required. The only mint that could fulfill this was from the other end of the world - Austria (!). This can be easily identified by the "A" mintmark.

Mintmark "A". 20 fen with mintmark "A" can be surprisingly difficult to find.



Something interesting to note is that master dies were prepared in Philadelphia and shipped to Shanghai. Coins struck in Austria do have some minor differences.

Even at the start of this coinage, nickel coins were meant to be struck in pure nickel. However at Tientsin mint, 1936...

I was lately classifying my Roman coins by iconographic elements ; patera, paludamentum, cornucopiae, standards, etc...and caduceus. I have never noticed I own half a dozen of them. They say “curiosity killed the cat”. But the cat has 9 lives, hasn’t it ? So I was wondering where this staff comes from. Did some research, lots of reading and here’s the results:

The caduceus is a rod, entwined at one end by 2 snakes, each of whose bodies folds again in the form of two half-circles, whilst the head passes above the wand. It is derived from the Greek karykeion or "herald's staff", itself based on the word "eruko" meaning restrain, control.



Prudence is generally supposed to be symbolized by these two serpents, and the wings which are sometimes added to the caduceus, are the representation of diligence. It was an attribute peculiar to the...

Lots of goodies in this one!

All lots end Sunday, 1/12 starting at about 4:30 PM EST

https://www.ebay.com/sch/ashwill0324/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

An expressive tiny silver obol from Side in Pamphylia, apparently a rare variety as Athena transitions from a more archaic (eye facing viewer) to a classical style (eye facing forward). Stylistically, probably from the mid/late 5th century BC


https://www.ebay.com/itm/254473008483


A coin of THE one and only - Julius Caesar! Minted in Thessalonica in Macedon under Octavian - a bit rough, but this is the only format to get a portrait of this famous Roman dictator without straying far over $100.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/254473009442


A rough but identifiable sestertius of a tough early Imperial personality - Nero Claudius Drusus, the brother of...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Harpocrates is one of the most famous gods of ancient Egypt. I hope to be able to tell you something new in this article.

1st Coin:
Moesia inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum, Macrinus, AD 217-218
AE 18, 3.14g, 17.55mm, 180°
Obv.: AVT K M OΠEΛΛI CE - VH MAKPINOC
Laureate head r.
Rev.: NIKOΠOΛIT - ΩN ΠPOC ICT[P]
Harpokrates, nude, stg. l., holding clothes and cornucopiae in r. arm and
raising r. hand to his mouth.
Ref.: a) not in AMNG
b) not in Varbanov
c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2018) No. 8.23.30.1 (plate coin)
very rare, F+/about VF, green Patina


2nd Coin:
Julia Domna AD 193-217, wife of Septimius Severus
AR - Denar, 3.5g, 18mm, 180°
Rome, AD 196-211, struck under Severus
Obv.: IVLIA - AVGVSTA
Bust, draped, r., hair waved in five waves and coiled at back
Rev.: SAECVLI - FELICITAS
Isis, draped, with polos on head, stg. r, foot on prow, holding the infant Horus
at her breast, and sistrum (or rattle) in r....

My first purchase this year was a batch of five Byzantine folles from eBay, otherwise undescribed. One was weird and worn with an odd reverse - just an M and a cross. I had no idea what it was until I got it in hand and I did a little digging on the Internet.

Turns out it is a Justinian I follis from the Salona (or possibly the Ravenna) mint. It is thought this was from a military issue for the Gothic Wars - so I learned from a CNG auction:

"The correct attribution of this unsigned series of bronzes remains uncertain, but numerous examples have been found in the environs of Salona in Illyria, an important Byzantine fort and staging area for military activity in Italy. Both Belisarius and Narses used it as a headquarters in their campaigns against the Ostrogothic king Baduila (Totila, 541-552), who conducted a brilliant guerrilla campaign against superior Imperial forces until his death at Busta Gallorum in 552. There is some debate about the date of coinage at this...

It's a slow day at work so I was working on cleaning up the files on my computer. I came across this piece I wrote a while back. I've never shared it here so, enjoy.

This piece appealed to me for multiple reasons. Not only does it have a stunning reverse but it is a numismatic item with a numismatic topic. It doesn’t get better than this for me.

AUSTRIA: Vienna 1816 42mm Medal Franz Neumann, dir. Of coin cabinets at Wien Mus – White Metal




This medal was produced to honor the passing of Franz Neumann the director of Coin Cabinets at the Wien Museum in Vienna Austria in 1816. Here is a short history of this amazing museum and its holdings.

Coin Collection

The Coin Collection is one of the five largest and most important coin collections in the world. With some 600,000 objects from three millennia, it contains not only coins but also paper money, medallions, orders, etc. Some 2,000 objects can be seen in the three halls housing the permanent...