golden medallion, 80.5o grams, valentinianus I

NATIONAL MUSEUM, BELGRADE, SERBIA

 

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That has to be the most beautiful ancient piece I ever laid my eyes on.

 

me too..

 

Man, THAT's some die engraving detail. I'm surprised the dragged captive's clothing is so ornately decorated. I wonder if the implication is that the captive is no peasant, but some high-born, barbarian noble.

 

he must be barbarian noble, 100%..

 

It's pretty, definitely, but perhaps you haven't seen @AncientJoe's collection??

http://www.colosseocollection.com/p444364358

 

Just wow!.... I clicked for a quick peak and I think I will spend the whole day on Ancient Joe's site. See ya tomorrow.

 

For a moment, I died a little when I read the title along with "poster Galba68". I though it would be one of your field trip findings...

 

Oh jeez..... In the spirit of fairness ... I think he should share that with me.

 

Oh @TIF, that's not fair to throw us so brutally back to our plebeian condition

Q

 

I prefer to think of it as having a family member who has awesome coins . He's part of the CT family, right? So, by extension, we all have a tiny bit of bragging rights, right?

 

LOL

 

I thought the SAME THING!

 

I would love to be a family member of his. I would pay him a visit every saturday as to a revered and beloved uncle

Q

 

A 20 solidus piece?

 

If I had to pick a side, I'd have to go with TIF and praise AJ's coins but those who are impressed by the medallion might also enjoy books we discuss here every so often. (Most of what we say here has been said before and will be said again. Each of us wonder whether there has been enough time elapsed for there to be enough new people who might appreciate it.)

I'll mention Roman Coins by Kent and Hirmer:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...rue&f_usedVeryGood=true&qid=1528468517&sr=8-1

The photos are all black and white. In color, the book would be blinding. Some of the coins are slightly damaged but rather few are poor enough that you will consider them the sort of thing I would collect. I believe the authors selected the finest examples of the finest coins, medallions included, from museum collections. The editors favored style over condition. They do have a sampling of things like Falling Horseman (some of us have better) but the coins you will buy the book to see are the medallions and rarities that don't show up in the marketplace. If we each had to pick our favorites, I suspect the choices would vary. The Hadrian medallion with Silvanus might get a vote as would the Commodus showing the emperor as Hercules with the pelts of boar and lion. I would not mind having the ten denarius piece of Julia Domna even risking criticism for picking a coin with slight damage. The point is we all should enjoy the coins we have and aspire to some better. We need not feel like failures for not having all the ones in the book.

Who can mention other books to make us feel bad?

 

Kent & Hirmer's "Roman coins" is a wonderful book with so many tremendous examples.

CMV Sutherland's "Monnaies romaines" isn't bad either : https://www.amazon.fr/Monnaies-romaines-LUnivers-monnaies-SUTHERLAND/dp/B0014MMA2O

Some great examples too and a bunch of color prints allow a pleasant reading

Q

 

Sutherland comes in English also for those of us who are challenged by the French as Q offered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...rue&f_usedVeryGood=true&qid=1528473177&sr=8-1
It has coins in better condition and some color photos but lacks the spectacular medallions in favor of coins of the type AJ and TIF would buy. It has useful text, too.

 

Kraay's Greek Coins is pretty good for that purpose (the Amazon price is too high; wait for a better deal if you want a copy.)

Some auction catalogs have excellent photography and mini (and not-so-mini) write-ups. A few good catalogs from "famous" auctions include

- the Prospero collection sale (Baldwin's, 2011; you can view the whole catalog online but it's nice to have the physical catalog),
- the Nelson Bunker Hunt collection sale (Sotheby's; several auctions over the course of a few years, 1990-ish)
- many of the old Numismatic Fine Arts catalogs (often they have interesting write-ups)

 

Thanks! One book which never fails to put a new purchase in its place is the sister book to your Roman Coins: Kraay & Hirmer's Greek Coins: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ch...s_thames__hudson_printing/849942/Default.aspx

It's not an inexpensive book by any means but boy did they pick some fabulous examples. I don't mind admiring coins I'll never be able to purchase but it's hard when some aren't prohibitively expensive but just limited by supply. Some of the coins in the "Greek Coins" book represent phenomenal style for the types but where nothing remotely similar has been seen on the market in the last ~20 years and they currently reside who-knows-where.

In the meantime, I'll just have to make my usual periodic pilgrimage to the British Museum to deposit a bit of saliva on their collection.