Yeah, Byzantines are another animal. I am into them some, but you really have to change expectations. There was a movie called Crazy People where one of the guys was wild about Saabs. When they all got cars he got his Saab. When it wouldn't start, he stated, "well its not supposed to start ALL of the time". Well, byzantines are not supposed to be pleasant ALL OF THE TIME. I have one poor bit of metal that was struck, overstruck, quartered and restruck, then overstruck again. I had to have a specialist help me figure out that miserable little mishmash of markings. Having said that, there are nice ones, I have an extremely nice anonymous set, and I probably would have bought the Carthage issue, as I have a soft spot for those.
I did just get a provincial of Faustina II but at the moment I'm kinda with Mat about provincials, as well as a specialty. I like allot of provincials but I'm just not that into at the moment. There has been allot of great provincials posted here that get my interested in them. There are still many Imperials I find more interesting right now. I still dont have any coins of Probus but theres a couple at the local shop I was thinking on getting that were pretty cheap. I went with my Pius denarius but was able to scrounge up some change and just need to roll it, so I maybe go back and grab em
Theres very high grade collections out there that have allot of fantastic coins, but they seem like they are lacking something. Also if you limit yourself to those kind of coins you can miss out on really fascinating pieces. Great coins all btw!
SO here are my first try taking pics with a digital microscope. You can see why I don't post pics. What you are seeing is a Hepthalite coin that is bimetallic. Up close on the obverse is the gold plug in the neck, and on the reverse on the lower right is the opposite side of the punch made to insert the gold into the silver flan. I know I need help, I took these photos in the living room with the camera light off. Any suggestions?
These seem to have motion blur and are out of focus. Please don't take photos hand held but use the stand or devise some support for the camera. I would suggest better light - perhaps daylight
Here's another, definatly one emperor I like getting just because of his awesome portraits: Postumus (Gallic Usurper) Reigned: 260-268 Lived: ? -268 AR Billon Antoninianus Weight: 4.30 gm Diameter: 20.1 mm Mint: Lugdunum Struck: 260 - 268 Obverse Legend: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG Obverse Description: Radiate and draped bust right Reverse Legend: SAECVLI FELICITAS Reverse Description: Postumus standing right with spear & globe Attributions: RIC-_ii, 83 Cohen-331 Sear-3125 Die Alignment 180° stainless