Zumbly's 2021 Top 10 List

Zumbly, great additions in a turmultous year. I like your #1 / #2 and 10 the best. I hear your pain, auctions are becoming more like gladiatorial combat/ loose out or win and become broke Hopefully things will settle down in future, but I am not betting on that to happen....
John

 

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@zumbly, I think you and I have some similar tastes in ancient coins, and I love every single one on your list! But if I had to pick some as favorites, they would definitely include the snake cowboy (of course!), the Zodiac series drachm of Ares in Aries, the Domitian As with the musicians (I don't recall ever seeing a coin before with a similar scene of musicians playing, not counting coins showing Apollo and his lyre), and the one with the infant Ploutos sliding down the cornucopiae (thanks for the animation, @TIF!). And then there's the Civil War coin, and the aureus!

I also find the contorniate to be fascinating; it's a great example of a numismatic type I find completely mysterious: who made them? For what purpose? Are there any articles on the subject that you can recommend?

 

Oh, @TIF!!! I'm rolling on the floor!

 

@zumbly....What a wonderful selection!...My favs are 4, 6, 9 and of course #1..
Congrats on a super 12 months!

 

@zumbly... I think you did more than OK. Great selection of coins, I like them all, but especially #4... I had no idea that one even existed before now! Persistence and perseverance in the face of adversity invariably pays off...

 

@zumbly, you never disappoint an absolute fantastic ten, but your Civil wars, Caesar's comet is my pick of the bunch to have a coin of that rarity in your collection is in my book is one of the best additions an ancient collector can aspire to, also love your snake riding horse ...how did they come up with these ideas in Alexandria?

 

Thanks! There were two examples of this Mars in Aries from the Rhakotis Collection in that Leu sale. Mine was one; I suspect you must have bid on the other one. I think that there were two of them in the same auction split bidders and allowed both to go for a little lower than they might otherwise have gone for.

Very cool bronze... I've not seen the type before, but it clearly qualifies as a snake cowboy, IMHO!

Many of the nicer or more unique pieces were very strongly bid on. I tried for quite a few lots, hoping to get just one, but was glad that I managed to win two in the end. I really would have been happy with any of them!

. Thanks for that graphic, TIF... my coin is now even more memorable that before. The grin on Helios's face after he looks back up is priceless!

And now all I'll be able to see on this one is a sea lion! I'm going to have to see if the Egyptians had any sea lion deities in their pantheon, though.

I never get tired of seeing that coin, or that snake-riding-on-a-flower-farting-horse animation!

 

great works of art Z...

 

Thanks! I don't have the standard reference for these, Andreas Alföldi's Die Kontorniat-Medaillons, but I understand it was he who came up with the theory that the contorniates were commissioned by Rome's pagan elite in the later part of the 4th century to serve as New Year's gifts. Not everyone agrees, and there's a good article available on Academia.edu that studies Christian symbols and graffiti that have been found on contorniates.

My best guess... drugs. Or aliens. Or aliens on drugs.

 

Great coins! You can't go wrong with snakes on coins. I wanted to ask Mars on the AP coin if his ram has a Hemi (curse you, that ad has been playing in my head all day). My favorite of yours is your sting Ray coin. A similar coin was #11 on my list this year.

 

Looks like a great year to me @zumbly! I love the weird and unique pieces you’ve acquired

 

You had a great year, I will chose four favourites from your list : the Probus Aureus on the first place followed by #6 Zodiac drachm , #9 Domitian As and #1 the Snake Cowboy. Congratulations !!

 

been looking for one

 

Ouch!

Although I don't think this painful starting gif does justice to your list with these amazing, and interesting coins. (Then again, how would your list have looked, if all your targets were acquired...?) I do think (yes, thank you for that Marcus Aurelius) that a fun part of this hobby is actually the hunt for coins. It can be frustrating, but it also causes much joy when after a lot of failed attempts, one finally is able to acquire a coin!

Anyway, it's hard to pick a favorite! Many interesting coins, which make a very enjoyable menagerie! I really like the Zodiac drachm, too. Very interesting coin, and you were able to grab it for a more than decent price!
But to go against the more popular opinion here, I'd say I your no. 9 and 4, the civil war denarius, are my favorites. Especially your no 4., it's such an interesting piece, and it would indeed be neat to combine it with the denarius of Augustus. I closely followed that specific Leu auction too, hoping to cheaply (haha, what was I thinking?!) grab a Vitellius civil war denarius with the Jupiter Capitolinus obverse, because of the mighty potrait. All proved to be out of my budget range, and considering the fact I had already acquired a civil war denarius, I decided to go for it another day... :-(

Just wondering: do you have a digital tray of your menagerie?

Hahaha, great gif, thanks for the laugh!

 

Thanks for the kind words, Limes. I love that Mars Ultor civil war denarius that you won this year... it's a great type and I bid on one of them in the Leu auction. I was really hoping to win one of those with Jupiter Capitolinus obverse... I bid on two but fell short.

I don't but great idea... I really should make one!

 

@zumbly Very nice. My favorite is #5 the Hatria cast coin. I've never seen one of those before.

 

you always share such great coins @zumbly
My favorites:

#9: Domitian, a perfect ludi saeculares reverse and of course obverse too
#6: Antoninus Pius Drachm, awesome
#3: stunning Contorniate
#2: a Probus aureus, wow!

Congrats for a wonderful year!

 

You have such a great eye for interesting coins Z. My favorites:

• #2 - Probus aureus: a jugate bust aureus with a 1950s provenance... enough said right? Awesome.
  
• #8 - Domitian Sacrifice: The reverse is such an artistically dense composition. A really worthy example of how artistic Roman imperials can be.
  
• #6 - A-Pi Zodiac: These zodiac coins are super cool and have really grown on me thanks to CT’s ever powerful influence on my collecting taste. I doubt I’ll ever take the plunge just because of how pricy they are but I do enjoy seeing them here. Yours is a wonderful example with incredible detail. Well done my friend.

Here is a semi-relevant coin of A-Pi from Alexandria.


Your Domitian reminds me of this relief showing Marcus Aurelius. I took this photo in the Capitoline Museum.

 

Thanks, Curtis. Yes, remarkable similarities between the Domitian reverse and the Marcus Aurelius relief. I've always liked that photo of yours, even if the bull does look a little doleful... he probably suspected the reason for Axe Guy's presence.

 

Well axe guy wasn’t exactly being discreet. Strutting around like he’s late for his CrossFit workout...