Well over a month ago, I purchased this very nice Denarius of Sextus Pompeius Fostlus. I've been saving to post it cause it's the last of my purchases for the year: SEXTUS POMPEIUS FOSTLUS AR Denarius OBV: Head of "Minerva or Pallas" (personification of Rome) with winged helmet, earrings and necklace, looking to the right. Below the chin, it is the "X" (although its value then was 16 aces) and behind the bust is a small jar. REV: FOSTuLVS left and Sextus. Pompeius. to the right of the field. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus. Behind Ruminal fig tree is represented with three birds in their branches. On the left, the pastor Faustulus figure in an attitude of admiration for the wonder he sees. ROMA in ex. Struck at Rome, 137 BC 3.63g, 19.5mm Cr235/1a; Syd 461; Pompeia 1 From Wildwinds:
Nice, I was waiting for you to share it. I have always found this type seems to have some missing details. Very busy coin. Mine is below, second republic I ever bought. Sex. Pompeius Fostlus. (137 B.C.) AR Denarius O: Helmeted head of Roma right; jug behind. R: The shepard Faustulus discovering the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus; three birds in branches of fig tree behind. Rome 19mm 3.6g Sear 112; Crawford 235/1c; Sydenham 461a; Pompeia 1a.
These seem never to have legends on both sides of the reverse and the left side seems to be gone on more than the right. This one shows the unusual left http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=649912 Mine is like the others shown here. Looking at the ones on acsearch makes me appreciate our coins more since many are worse.
Just noticed that Bing's coin is exceptional in that all three birds are bold. It is hard to get bot ROMA and the top two birds on one coin.
Wow, fantastic coin, brother Bing!! I'm glad that you managed to eke-out one last coin for 2013!! ... sadly, Mrs stevex6 lowered the boom on me as well, so the ol' coin-tap is definitely gonna dribble to a stop (I still have a few auction-bids, but other than that, my darlin' angel has basically clipped my wings for a while!!) ... yet once again, I must admit that she is correct (there is a happy medium between 100% coins and living happily ever after) *sigh* Anyway => that certainly won't stop me from lovin' your guys' stuff!! => again, congrats on a great coin ... oh, and as per usual, Doug is correct => it is quite difficult to get "good birds" ... here is my very humble and nicely worn example:
Bing => again, your coin rocks in "almost" every category!! (It's a great piece!!) ... but sadly, "SEX" has been denied (off flan) .... and that's definitely minus one!!
Wow jw great lookin' coin, you always find these beauties, sorry to hear your not buying for a while, you bring a lot to this forum...
I'm still gonna be here. Just no new coins for the foreseeable future. Thanks everyone for the kind compliments. I find this coin particularly pleasing in-hand, but, then again, I find most of my coins pleasing.
That is a nice coin, Bing, a type I had not seen or noticed before. Very interesting motif too, with the she-wolf. Regarding 'wifely' approval for purchases of coins - I am lucky that I still have her 'approval' for one coin outstanding for this year (maybe I'll make it two coins... there is a nice auction tomorrow, and I am planning on going).
Thanks Eduard. I'm glad someone has the "approval" from the spousal unit. I went a bit overboard on my purchases, tried to hide it from the wife, and got caught. I deserve being in the doghouse/time-out corner. Besides, like she says, I have plenty of coins to "play" with in the meantime.
Hi TIF, yes, I'll be there both days. I have my eye this time on some german coins, however, not ancients. The Frankfurt Numismatica show is just a few weeks away, and the selection of ancients there is very large, with dealers from all over Europe. So, I'll be saving my pennies for the Numismatica, at least as far as ancients is concerned. I find Peus have gotten very expensive of late with Roman coins, with some unreasonable estimates. Also, with them you really have to look at the coins in-hand. Having said that, they do have some material I am interested in.
I'm debating whether to put bids on some of their ancients. The ones I'm interested in aren't cheap... maybe I'll wait. There are lots of interesting things coming up, as always.
I don't think so. We've been married 46 years and my hiding the purchases from her was deceitful. It didn't harm anything money wise, but now I have to rebuild the trust I've lost. Enough of this downer stuff. I'm still around and will continue to enjoy everyone's coins. Like stevex6 says, you're all coin brothers and sisters. You're like extended family that live too far away to come over and drink up my beer.
My first thought was the coin is very busy as everyone put it. I really do like the whole tree and birds thing. It really is a lot to fit on a small coin. The coin has a lot of small details that make it extremely appealing. I really need to get more Republican coins.