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The kind of face only a mother would love...

Olbia., Gorgoneion, Circa 400-380 BC. Æ cast 36mm, 18.1 grams.




Next: A legionary coin of Mark Antony.

 

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MARK ANTONY. Denarius (32-31 BC). Patrae(?). Legionary issue.

Obv: ANT AVG / III VIR R P C.
Galley right.
Rev: LEG XVII CLASSICAE.
Aquila right between two signa.

Crawford 544/10; CRI 373.

Weight: 3.38 g.
Diameter: 19 mm.

Next , another Mark Antony Denarius.

 

Mark Antony and Octavian (41 B.C.)
AR Denarius
M. Barbatius Pollio, quaestor pro praetore
O: Bare head of Mark Antony right.
R: Bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard.
Ephesus mint, Spring-early summer 41 B.C.
3.5g
20mm
Crawford 517/2; CRI 243; Sydenham 1181

Next: Favorite Roman Republic coin

 

I can count the number of RR denarii that I own on one hand, but this is definitely my favorite.

Roman Republic, denarius, L. Julius L.f. Caesar, Rome, 103 BC.
Crawford 320-1.
3.84 grams



Next: A favorite Roman imperial coin.

 

Wow, picking just one favorite RIC is harder than I realized! This may not be my one most favoritest (I probably hold that for my sentimental Sestertius of Hadrian, my first RIC, purchased on a trip to Europe with my parents in the 1980s when I was maybe 8 yo). But it is definitely a favorite for the portrait, the toning, and the provenance.

Vespasian Denarius, deaccessioned from the American Numismatic Society (with museum tag showing accession number, 1001.22362) and the Hispanic Society of America Collections, donated from the Archer M. Huntington (1870-1955) Collection in the 1940s. (Almost all the Huntington coins share a complicated, fascinating, and well-documented chain-of-custody over the past ~80 years [esp. the last 10]. The ANS sued the HSA to stop them from being sold and it stirred up a huge years-long international controversy. They were eventually sold, and many donated back to the ANS. The ANS then sold many of them as duplicates! I've got almost a dozen entries for this coin's changes of custody in my full notes, most of which are shared by all ex-Huntington's on the private market.)

NEXT: Another coin with an interesting story
(story of any kind, doesn't have to be long)​

 

To revive the thread.


Philip II (247 - 249 A.D.)
NISIBIS (Mesopotamia)
Æ25
O: AYTOK K M IOVΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB. Radiate and cuirassed bust of Philip II left.
R: IOY CЄΠ KOΛΩ NЄCIBI MHT. Tyche of Antioch seated facing; above her head, ram (Aries) leaping right, head left; all within tetrastyle shrine; below, half-length river-god Euphrates swimming right.
Nisibis mint
11.5g
25mm
SNG Copenhagen 240 corr, BMC 22, corr.

Next: Any other "child" Emperor or Caesar.

 

Gordian III. AD 238-244. Rome
Sestertius Æ

30mm., 17,71g.
EX - SAVOCA AUCTION NO 16
LOT NO 1377
Youngest Roman Emperor at the age of 13.
Next Gordian III with Tranquillina

 

Next: your most off center strike

 

Not much off centering but since we've waited for one, here is an error that close.


Tiberius (14 37 A.D.)
AR Denarius
O: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, Laureate head right,
R: PONTIF MAXIM, Female figure seated right, holding sceptre and branch.
Lugdunum Mint
3.75g
19mm
RIC 26; BMC 34; RSC 16

Next: Favorite patina coin.

 

Augustus Ar. denarius, AVGVSTVS DIVI F, bare hd. r., rev., the Actian Apollo stg. l., holding plectrum and lyre, IMP X across fields, ACT in ex., Lugdunum mint (Sear, 1611; RIC 171a; Seaby 144).
ACTIUM VICTORY
RSC 1442

This is one of my favourite coins, not sure how to differentiate toning from patina but that is probably a whole new topic.
When I bought this the description said "old cabinet patina". Not sure if that was bait to catch the fish but it caught me!
I couldn't do a "Heritage" write up on it but in the hand it is steely grey with olive undertones. Nicer than my photography.

Next more patina.

 

The photograph below is nice but doesn't do full justice to the rich olive-green patina of this small bronze from Selge in Pisidia. Really beautiful in hand.

Pisidia, Selge.

Circa 2nd-1st centuries BC.

Head of Herakles facing slightly to right, wreathed with styrax; lion skin tied around neck, [club over shoulder] / Forepart of stag to right, head reverted, lance head to right; ΣEΛ across fields.

SNG BnF 1973-6; SNG Copenhagen 261 var. (no lance).

2.00g, 13mm.

​

Next: coin with stag.

 

L. Hostilius Saserna. AR Denarius, Rome Mint, ca. 48 B.C.
Bare head of female Gallic captive facing right, carnyx behind; Reverse: Diana of Ephesus standing facing, holding long spear, stag in left field.

If you are of an age like me and bought Superman comics, the female captive could have been from the planet Bizarro!

Next more Stags.

 

OR:

NEXT: Interesting Hair​

 

I always found this interesting , what went on with his beard? Rollers? Were the circles meant to symbolise planets?
Laur. head of Jupiter right , SC behind.

Appears to be the principal coinage of the faction opposed to the return of Sulla to Rome. Balbus strikes as praetor by special decree of the Senate.

Victory in quadriga right holding wreath and palm. Control letter M below.

Next more interesting hair.

 

Phraates IV (38 - 2 B.C.)
AR Tetradrachm
O: Diademed and draped bust left, wart on forehead, wearing pointed beard and torque with no end visible; all within pelleted border.
R: BACILE[WS] BACILEWN ARSAKO U EUERGETOU DIKAIOU EPIFANOUS FILELLHN[OS], Phraates seated right on throne, Tyche standing left before him, presenting a palm and holding cornucopiae; year between throne legs, [month in exergue]
Seleukeia on the Tigris mint.
30mm
15g
Sellwood 51

Next: Mount Argaeus

 

Now: Mt. Argaios Countermark.

NEXT: FIRST CENTURY ROMAN PROVINCIAL
(or another Mt. Arg. anytime!)

Here's a little Britannicus from Caesarea-Eusebia. Virtually all of these have a Mt. Argaios countermark (Howgego 424):


Coin-hand-video: https://i.imgur.com/UwcZA4x.mp4

Cappadocia, Caesaraea-Eusebia. Britannicus (41-55 CE). Struck 48/49 CE, Year 8 of Claudius (Augustus, 41-54 CE).
Obverse: KΛAYΔIOC KAICAP BPITANNIKOC [trans: Claudius Caesar Britannicus]. Bare head of Britannicus to left. Countermark: Mount Argaios, ΚΛΘ.
Reverse: OKTAOYIA ANTWNINA. [KAICAP ET H in exergue.] Octavia and Antonia, both holding cornucopiae, clasp hands.
References: RPC I 3656 (10 specs. [7 ill.], first 7 in print ed.); BMC 13 = Sydenham 61 (typical c/m Howgego 424 & additional c/m Howgego 671). Countermark: Howgego 424.

NEXT: FIRST CENTURY ROMAN PROVINCIAL
(or another Mt. Arg. anytime!)​

 

^That's cool!


Tiberius (14 - 34 A.D.)
Billon Tetradrachm
EGYPT, Alexandria
O: [TI]BERIOS KAISAR SEBASTOS, laureate head of Tiberius right; LID (date) in right field.
R: QEOS SEBASTOS, radiate head of Augustus left.
EGYPT, Alexandria Mint, year 14=27/28 A.D.
13.43g
23mm
RPC I 5090; Milne 54; Emmett 61.

Next: Favorite Roman Republic coin

 

I have a lot of Republican favorites. This is just one of them.


L FURIUS CN F BROCCHUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS FURIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Bust of Ceres right between wheat-ear and barley-corn; III VIR across field, BROCCHI below
REVERSE: Curule chair between fasces; L. FVRI/CN. F above
Rome 63 BC
3.9g, 20mm
Cr414/1; Furia 23

Next: Curule chair

 

Before-and-after photos of Titus denarius with Curule reverse.

Previously in the A. Short Collection (already cut), and before that Jyrki Muona, who donated it to be cut for science (top photo from Archaeology Data Service, UK, where alloy info is stored on coins used in Butcher & Ponting's 2014 book on the Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage. Below: the microscopy photos for which they cut this and a bunch of other coins to look inside.)

NEXT: ANY COIN THAT IS NOT QUITE ROUND​

(or not quite round anymore!)​

 

NEXT: Any off centred obv or rev