And A Sanguine Saturnalia To All!

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Nice! Looks like Delta to me too.
TSA *




TS Delta


It wasn't from me btw, incase anyone's wondering

 

And today I received mine! Theodora - wife of Constantine. Quite a lovely coin:


Theodora, wife of Constantine I, 337-340AD
Constantinople Mint
AE4 1.60g; 15.09mm
Obv: FL MAX THEO DORAE AVG, Draped bust right
Rev: PIETAS ROMANA, Pietas standing facing, head right, holding a child in her arms
RIC VIII 36, Sear 3911 (1988 Edition)


Apologies for the iPhone photo!

 

My Secret Saturn was very generous this year. May the gods bless him in all endeavors. The coins he sent me are all outside my normal collecting but they fit in perfectly as my collection goes all over the place. I have some new stuff to learn which makes me very happy. The coins themselves are wonderful. They leave me feeling like I did not give enough with my outgoing gift.

We have a Claudius II Tetradracma. This is a particularly attractive coin.
Here we have a Ptolemy VI AE-20. These are way out of my wheelhouse but I have always wanted to get a few Ptolemaic coins and learn about them.

And here is a Hungarian Madonna holding Christ denar from the 15th Century.

 

I thought (?) it was delta but that is not RIC 132 but, I believe, 129. Tell me why. While playing 'quiz': Why is it not RIC 123? I replaced the coin with the one below which is lower grade in some ways but has a clear officina which is more important to me. I do not have an A of this one but A should not have the vertical serifs which I believe I see on your coin.

 

Your mystery gift Sasanian coin is simply awesome! That headgear is outrageous. It reminds me a little bit of a samurai helmet. Excuse me, Emperor Khosran II? "I like your hat."

 

I am sure by the look of the gifts so far, the person who received your gift is more than happy....

 

Search "Wang Mang Robert Tye" in Google, and you shall be greeted by his wonderful essay on the period.

 

Mine finally arrived, posted in a separate thread.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/thanks-secret-santa.307651/

 

Thanks for the essay TypeCoin, I look forward to reading it this evening.

 

Wait, Doug, has the horseman already fallen off his horse on your coin? Very interesting!

 

You're welcome Jwt708, I'm glad you liked the coins.

 

Ha! I hadn't looked but followed the flip. #132 is for Vetranio, but 129 is Constantius II, pearl diademed, while #123 is CSII as well but laureate rather than diademed. All with the "A" field mark on both sides. As for the exergual mark, here's a better look:
View attachment 715660

After seeing a clear "A" officina example (thanks Randy) there can be no doubt that this is delta. So I have a dupe, except that my other one has a clear mark. Nonetheless it's a fun piece to noodle through.

And yes, CA the horseman is sitting on the ground on his keister, imprecating for his life, so I guess he qualifies as truly "fallen"and not merely "falling."

 

Ha! I hadn't looked but followed the flip. #132 is for Vetranio, but 129 is Constantius II, pearl diademed, while #123 is CSII as well but laureate rather than diademed. All with the "A" field mark on both sides. As for the exergual mark, here's a better look:

After seeing a clear "A" officina example (thanks Randy) there can be no doubt that this is delta. So I have a dupe, except that my other one has a clear mark. Nonetheless it's a fun piece to noodle through.



And yes, CA the horseman is sitting on the ground on his keister, imprecating for his life, so I guess he qualifies as truly "fallen"and not merely "falling."

 

I've enjoyed seeing everyone's gifts! The generosity and thoughtfulness of each of the gifts seems entirely indicative of what I have come to know of you all over the last year.

Of course, when my package arrived yesterday I eagerly ripped into it and admit to being glad it did not arrive earlier as I doubt my self-control would have allowed waiting.

My Secret Saturnalia hit a home run for sure!!

First up was this book:

Evans, Richard. A History of Pergamum: Beyond Hellenistic Kingship.
London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2012.

I've only just read through the prelims, but suspect the book won't be a hard difficult slog given the preface:
The purpose of this work is to allow relatively straightforward access to a subject that has long been of interest to scholars and students of ancient history and to archaeologists who have dealt with, and continue to deal with, the evidence obtained from excavation work applicable to ancient Asia Minor, and specifically the city of Pergamum. Pergamum is far from being a neglected subject, as a cursory glance at the bibliography here and elsewhere, including easily available references via such media as the internet, well illustrates. However, what is not so easily at hand is a portal through which students, a more general readership and, indeed, fellow scholars will find a useful introduction to the entire history of this city, from its humble and rather obscure beginnings, through its famous period governed by Hellenistic kings, and thereafter as one of the chief cities of the Roman province of Asia, down to the period of the Byzantine Empire and beyond.

Under the book I found a nondescript little package which contained . . . . a coin from Pergamum no less:


Mysia, Pergamon. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm, Struck ca. 76-67 BC.
Obv.: Cista mystica, with serpent issuing l. from beneath half-open lid; around, wreath of ivy.
Rev.: in field l.; Bow-case, ornamented with floral scroll, and containing strung bow; in front and at sides, two serpents with tails intertwined and heads erect facing one another with monogram between and ΦΙ above; in field r., thyrsus with serpent coiled round it.
12.6g, 29mm, 12h
Cf. Pinder 119, Kleiner Hoard 50; SNG BnF 1754-5
Ex. Aethelred Collection

This is a very interesting coin and I am looking forward to learning more about it and the Cistophoric Tetradrachms in general. Even more pleasing is that this coin came from my friend @Aethelred 's collection by way of our own @John Anthony.

I hope my SS may choose to reveal themself, but in any case I wish to say thank you, I love the gift! You did well.

Merry Christmas to you SS! and to the CT Ancients family.

-Doug

 

Guilty as charged I intended to leave a note in the package but the post office was a mad house and I was all the way back to the car when I realized I was still holding it

In short I read on one of your posts that you like books and I am a big fan of these nice hefty Greek silvers. I hope that you enjoy both the book and the coin. Merry Christmas Doug.

...and on a related note I want to directly thank @Pishpash for sending my gift. I suspected it was her (came from the UK) but was pleased to receive a message confirming it! Thanks again Pish!

 

I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's gifts. There are some very good people here.

 

Collect89 is a happy camper today. Check-out the neat coin my secret Santa sent:


Tabaristan, Ispahbads
Kurshid II
AD 740-761
24 mm, 2.0 grams
Obv: Crowned draped Sasanian bust
Rev: Fire altar with two attendants
Grade: Really nice extra fine including great surfaces
Other: Mal. 26.1 Ex Arnoldoe Collection, Received 12/17.


I mailed my gift to a well known CoinTalker that already has one of everything! I think that I found one Roman that was not yet in his collection. He should receive it (in the Midwest USA) sometime this week.

 

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I was waiting to get back from out of town so I could post with pictures, and I now have pictures (though they don't do the gifts justice).

When I found this in the mail took a second for it to register that this was my secret santa gift, because the package it came in was quite a bit more book-shaped than coin-shaped (for a reason). It was wrapped in several layers.

In the first layer was this lovely coin with the nativity on one side and the three kings on the other:



I'm half Spanish and grew up celebrating Three Kings Day on January 6th as a kind of second Christmas, so always appreciate their depiction on Christmasy things.


Next, under another layer of wrapping was a denarius of Domitian. This beautiful coin immediately became one of my favorites in my collection. It's the only coin I have with toning (barely visible in my photo but lovely in-hand), and is hands down my favorite reverse:



I just love the weirdness and specificity of the helmet-on-throne device. It actually took a second for me to figure out what was going on because I'm so used to seeing a god or goddess just standing there. This coin was a wonderful selection and better than I had any right to hope for.

The final package-within-a-package really touched me, as in I actually felt a little twinge in my heart when I opened it. The reason is that it really showed that my SS took some time on this gift and personalized it. My avatar is an image of the cover of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, which is one of my favorite books of all time. Here is what the final package contained:



Now, Brief Wondrous Life sold quite a few copies when it first came out, and it is not a rare book by any means, but what you're looking at is an uncorrected proof, which is basically a test pressing. This was special, and personalized, and not something I'd seen before, let alone held in my hands.

My SS still has not revealed his- or herself. If you're out there somewhere: Thank you so much for the gifts and for the thoughtfulness. You made some rough days better.

By the way, when I read the card you wrote to me to my wife, she said, "These coin folks are your people," which I thought was nice. Merry Christmas!