Post your latest ancient!

Picked up a few later Emperors that weren't represented in my collection...
Constans, 337-350 AD. AE Follis (1.70 gm, 15mm). Antioch mint. Struck 337-347 AD. Obv.: CONSTANS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: GLORIA EXERCITVS / SMANI, two soldiers standing facing each other, each holding inverted spear in his outer hand and placing his inner on shield set on ground; between them, signum. RIC 47. gVF.

Constantine II, as Caesar. 317-337 AD. AE Follis (2.54 gm, 20mm). Treveri (Trier) mint. Struck 323-324 AD. Obv.: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C, laureate head right. Rev.: CAESARVM NOSTRORVM, VOT/X in two lines across field; all within wreath; PTR (crescent). RIC VII 441; Schulten Em. 27. VF.

 

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Ok, I just won these Sunday and got them in the USA today. Savocca ships the quickest, I think they ship medical transplant organs too. No one is quicker.

I was not going to buy anything, I ended up with this group lot of 108 small AE coins, all look early in the empire. Not open yet, when I have time, I will have some fun.





Here is sellers photo

 

I normally do not collect ancient coins of Southeast Asia, but this coin has a lot of appeal, so I took the bait:

Pyu States, Sriksetra (Funan monarchy) AR 96 Ratti. Circa 400-600. Stylised rising sun/ damaru/ throne within border of dots / Temple flanked by thunderbolt and conch shell, moon and star above, waves below. Mitchiner, SEA 464. 10.74g, 35mm, 6h.

Good Very Fine. Rare.

From a private European collection.




At 35mm this is one of the broadest silver ancients in the collection.

 

That looks like a lot of fun!
I've been looking for a pentanuminum with the cross in the "E". I think they look cool.

 

That's in really nice shape!

 

These two just came in from @John Anthony 's snazzy new vcoins store!

 

Here is one I got fairly recently. Nothing flashy or rare, but I like it.
And yes I really need to up my photography game...



A little-known fact: Commonly mistaken for military standards, the three objects on the reverse are actually the earliest depictions of shish-kebabs we know of, commemorating the great cookout that Octavian hosted just before the Battle of Actium.

 

This wolfie arrived yesterday.

Moneyer: P. Satrienus
Obv.: LXXXXVII - Helmeted head of Roma right
Rev.: ROMA - She wolf left, right forepaw raised
Exergue: P·SATRIE / NVS
Mint: Rome (77 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis: 3.87g / 17mm / 6h
References:

• RSC 1 (Satriena)
• Sydenham 781a
• Crawford 388/1b

Provenances:

• Ex. Naville 62, 375
• "From a European Collection"

Acquisition: Naville Numismatics Online auction NN Live 71 #346 13-Feb-2022




So, this is my latest ancient. Some more are in the post, eagerly awaited!

ATB,
Aidan.

 

I've not yet purchased from Savoca yet but they look to have some interesting and quite reasonbly priced coins.

That does look like a fun lot.

I don't know if anyone indulged in this, but does anyone remember how fun it was to order Allen Berman's Eastern Roman 'junk box' lots?

 

When trying to purchase this coin on eBay, it was probably the most aggressive I have ever been with my bids and I ended up winning at £46. I greatly desired corroborating testimony of the "In Hoc Signo Vinces" account of Constantine's conversion in the form of a coin. Further, it's another interesting coin of Constantius II that adds to the civil war story as this was minted shortly after Vetranio gave up the purple and acclaimed Constantius II emperor. Some attributions have this as "Minted under authority of Vetranio" although I've not researched my example in detail yet.

Perhaps I overpaid in my zeal, but there was certainly none in this condition available on ma-shops or vcoins for a comparable price.

 

Here is a coin that arrived today from Nomos AG in Switzerland, so instead of putting it in a new thread I thought I would tack it on here, since this thread is still alive. Believe it or not, it's only my second denarius of Marcus Aurelius as Augustus.

Marcus Aurelius AR Denarius, 165-166 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, M ANTONINVS AVG - ARMENIACVS* / Rev. Roma, helmeted and draped, seated left with round shield at side, holding Palladium [statue of Pallas Athena taken to Rome by Aeneas] in her extended right hand and short vertical scepter (or spear) in left hand, P M TR P XX - IMP III COS III. RIC III Marcus Aurelius 155 corr. (erroneously describes Roma as seated on shield and identifies Palladium as Victory); RSC II Marcus Aurelius 490 at p. 210 (Palladium and short spear); BMCRE IV Marcus Aurelius 392 at p. 438 & fn. (Palladium and short spear); https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1937-0708-53 (same specimen as BMCRE 392, with same description); Sear RCV II 4923 (Victory and spear). 18 mm., 3.14 g., 6 h. Purchased at Nomos Obolos Auction 22, 6 March 2022, Lot 610, described as "Nearly extremely fine."**



*See Edward A. Sydenham, Historical References on Coins of the Roman Empire (1968 ed.; orig. pub. 1917) at p. 109, explaining that Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus assumed the title of Armeniacus after the defeat of the Parthians and the recovery of Armenia (placing a new vassal on the Armenian throne), a victory achieved in 163 by Statius Priscus while Marcus Aurelius remained in Rome and Lucius Verus, dispatched from Rome in command of the troops, spent the time in Antioch “in luxury and dissipation, relegating the conduct of the war to his generals.”

**Nomos AG characterized this type as “rare” in its auction description. I have found only five other specimens in ACSearch, two describing the figure held by Roma as the Palladium, and three as Victory. I believe that all are depictions of the same figure – which looks to me like the Palladium, not Victory -- identified differently by different authorities and dealers, rather than two actual variants. Similarly, with respect to the issue of whether Roma holds a short scepter or spear in her left hand, I detect no actual difference between the objects identified as one or the other. (I lean towards the scepter interpretation, because I see no spear point on any of the examples, although admittedly the tip of the object is concealed by the reverse legend.) In any event, I am not sure I agree with Nomos’s statement in its auction description that there is more than one real variant of this type, i.e. that “This type can be addressed as a variant of RIC 155, with Roma holding the Palladium and a sceptre instead of Victory and a spear.”

If anyone has any thoughts on Palladium vs. Victory and/or scepter vs. spear, please feel free to share them. Also, is Roma's hand usually the size of a catcher's mitt?

Separately, I'm curious as to whether any other U.S. members receiving coins from abroad have found a document like this one enclosed in the package. This is the first time I've seen such a document, even though I've purchased at Nomos Obolos auctions before. (The second lot referenced is this coin; the first one is the Septimius Severus tetradrachm from Tyre that I've already written about.)

 

@akeady and @corvusconstantius, I really like the new coins that both of you posted today.

 

I started on my journey to be somewhat more disciplined about pursuing attractive coins. (Although I buy coins solely for my own enjoyment, not for any future resale)

Two fresh buys:

It's my first buy from the firm of Dr. Busso Peus Nach. Shipping was a teensy bit expensive, but I can't gripe about the total price, which I found to be pretty reasonable. RIC 81. This one was purchased mainly for the patina. Patina is one of my collecting interests. It will be interesting to see if it's sea green or blue green.

And before I wheel away from my Byzantine kick and return to the Roman series I snagged a Heraclius S805 which is quite nice for the type. Finding one with facial features and legends is pretty difficult. There's one out there with XF detail, but the surfaces are ugly and it's 5 times the price. The details are slightly obscured by the dirt on this one.

I've been picking up some really nice examples of Byzantine AE.

My first purchase from Biga.


Into the basket also went a large Justinian Follis.

I also picked up a decrepit Constantinople example of Tiberius Apsimar, a hole filler for me.

 

There is disagreement about the identity of the small reverse figure in Roma's hand among the standard references. Cohen, RIC, MIR, and Sear identify it as Victory; BMCRE and Dinsdale as the palladium; RSC (Seaby) as palladium (or Victory).

I personally take it as a Victoriola facing left. There is nothing that looks like a spear in its hands to suggest the palladium. Moreover, the palladium is an accoutrement of Vesta. Rather, I see her holding something in her arms (a wreath?) which face left, with wings on her back (right side). But, like a Rorschach test, that's just what I see. It could be her wings on the left and the wreath on the right. Not HD enough!

Similarly, there is disagreement about the spear vs. scepter. Cohen ("haste"; which I take as referring to the hasta pura, typically referred to as a "scepter" in numismatic descriptions) and MIR identify it as a scepter; RIC, BMCRE, RSC, Sear, and Dinsdale as a spear. Roma is typically depicted as holding a spear, so I'm going with that, but it's not clear.

This denarius of Trajan might be taken as a prototype for the iconography. It clearly depicts a Victoriola (facing right) and spear.

 

I don't know about "humble". This is a very attractive coin: great bust and scarcer reverse type for an over all not very common emperor.

 

It is a real pleasure to read @DonnaML and @Roman Collector discussions, but it is even more pleasurable when I happen to have the coin under discussion. I got this one back in 2015 when I wasn't photographing coins much, so here it is for the first time, a Marcus Aurelius denarius with Roma holding something-or-other:


Marcus Aurelius Denarius
(165-166 A.D.)
Rome Mint
M ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate head right / P M TR P XX IMP III COS III, Roma seated left, holding Victory and spear, shield at side,
RIC 155
(2.75 grams / 18 mm)
eBay Jan. 2015 $25.99

The workmanship on this one is a bit "free form" - so I am not sure what Roma is holding in her big mitt:



Did Aurelius mint denarii in the East? Some of these, including mine, have a kind of Syrian look to them. Look at that eye on Marcus, for instance.

 

Thank you, it wasn't a coin on my "want" list. However as soon as I saw it, it was added. It actually has some very nice subtle silvering in hand too.

 

Thank you! I love it too. I only said "humble" as these coins are kinda scrappy and not to everyone's liking... but I really like coins of this period and agree that for Qunitillus, this is a very cool coin with a really nice bust. With coin prices so high, I haven't been able to snag many coins from more desirable time periods... so I'm grabbing snacks where I can and am happy adding to my crisis collection!

 

Also great packing.

 

The coins I won last weekend, including the Honorius posted earlier in this thread arrived today.
Quite a deal. Finally fulfilled my goal to add Trajan with Dacians denarii, but the star of the package was this Decius.
Common and not extremely well preserved for the type, but I was still impressed.
Will probably have a well deserved price in my top 10 this year.