Magnus Maximus AE-2

Yeah, if you are cool with the coin and what you paid then all is well in the kingdom

 

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MM was not a long reigning ruler and not an inconsequential nobody prince. He was the kind of guy that belongs in every general collection. His bronzes are not easy to find in mint state. Finding a better AE2 for less than $100 might take some looking. I know what I have said is a challenge to the cheapskates among us (that includes me!) so lets get out there and find some better ones.
I'll start with the same coin sold twice by CNG. One sale says green patina while the other says brown. Cleaning added $40. It is still as good as I've seen and probably worth the price.
http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=106936
http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=165613

 

Looking on Ebay, there are several MM coins at half or less than. Some look near as nice while others look much less, but the price reflects that:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Coins-Paper...rom=R40&ghostText=&_nkw=Magnus+Maximus&_sop=1

 

The reverse is type 18 on the RIC IX page:

http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/type18i.html

There are three examples there.
He is very difficult to find in great shape. If you just want one Magnus Maximus to fill the hole in your list, he is not hard to find. If you want a nice one, $100 is not a bad price. If you want an excellent one, be prepared to wait a very long time and compete for it when it appears.
In US coins everyone knows that quality costs. A coin a bit nicer than a nice coin that someone else has could cost several times as much. Until I see someone showing us his or her better Magnus Maximus AE2, I will regard the original coin posted by MM here as one of the best and worthy of a significant premium over what lesser examples would bring.

 

It seems that most available are from Spain and have sand patinas. Where are the ones from British finds with better surfaces?

 

Hi, I picked up a few MM coins at the Basel coin fair a few weeks back, which prompted me to some reading about the chap:

http://www.lateromanbronzecoins.com...us-maximus-roman-usurper-and-welsh-folk-hero/

Fascinating stuff!

 

Welcome, and thanks for the great writeup!

 

Awesome!
Magnus Maximus is a very interesting character in the Later Roman Empire.
Here is a very good article on him.http://www.luc.edu/roman-emperors/madmax.htm
Magnus was the last great Emperor to hold any significant power in the Western Empire. After him the Empire mainly got a bunch of child Emperors hiding behind the walls of Ravenna.

 

MM?

 

MM = Magnus Maximus

 

Excellent!

 

A bit more digging has allowed me to identify the fourth and early fifth century sources:

http://www.lateromanbronzecoins.com/magnus-maximus-more-sources/

As far as sources are concerned, I've seen the following:

Early sources (fourth and early fifth century):

Ammianus Marcellinus – Rerum Gestarum Libri Qui Supersunt XXXI.4.9
Orosius – Historium adversum paganos VII.34
Pacatus – Panegyricus Latini Pacati Deprani Dictus Theodosio
Prosper (Tiro) of Aquitaine Chronicon
Socrates Scholasticus – Historia Ecclesiastica V.8; V.11
Sozomen – Historia Ecclesiastica VII.13
Sulpicius Severus – Dialogi II.6
Sulpicius Severus Dialogi III.11
Sulpicius Severus Historia Sacra II.49-51
Sulpicius Severus Vita Sancti Martini XX

Later sources

Historia Nova, Book IV, Zosimus c. 500
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, Gildas c. 540
The Pillar of Eliseg, 9th century
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Bede, c. 731
Historia Brittonum, Nennius, c.828
Breuddwyd Macsen, The dream of Macsen Wledig, 11th century
Historia regum Britanniae, Geoffroy de Monmouth, c. 1136
The five royal tribes of Wales and The fifteen tribes of Gwynedd, 15th century

Any other early ones I've missed?

 

Hell of a man that guy!
I think that is most of the first hand accounts of the era.

 

Yeah, that man did the rounds...

 

I think it is pretty cool that he actually participated in many of the battles he wrote about later on. That is rare; even for a Roman historian.

 

By the way, I am very much enjoying your translation of Bruck - a superb effort, and long overdue.