My first ancient - Constantius II Falling Horseman

Ok you really need to stop looking at "buy" list This is pretty much everything I have been into for the last few months. Good taste.

 

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This one came in yesterday. It is my 6th mint of the type. This one was minted in France (Arles). RIC 224

 

Good detail, especially on the reverse. I was in Arles a couple of years ago. Not the most beautiful of cities in France, but some decent Roman ruins

 

Neat Bing. Love the Roman ampi.:yes:

 

I've been to several places in the old Empire where there are amphitheaters. This one was in pretty good shape. The one in Pula, Croatia is much better and I like the city of Pula better. A short drive from Zagreb near the Roman city of Siscia. My job takes me to these places, and my wife loves to tag along as long as I don't drag her to all the ruins.

But back on your coin. I have several of the FH types and they are all in about the same condition as yours. I'm always on the look out for nice ones to replace my earlier purchases.

 

Nice coin Ripley! The reverse is very clear. I've noticed with so many of these "cents" that the most distinctive part of the device - the falling horseman - can be poorly executed and mushy, even on coins with little wear.

 

Wow, those are all very beautiful coins (congrats!!)

Huh? ... sadly, although I've probably seen more threads associated with these wonderful "Fallen Horseman" coins than with any other coin-thread, I still haven't managed to pull the trigger and actually buy myself one of these babies!! (hopefully one day, soon)

=> congrats again on your first coin!! (uh-oh, now you've opened the flood gates!!)

acing:

 

That's OK Steve. There are a million other choices. I'm currently trending away from late Roman and that is probably because finishing my FH set of mints makes me want to play in another pool. In 2012 I bought a total of three Provincial coins. In 2013, so far, I also have three. That is the beauty of being a general collector with so many choices. We never know what tomorrow will bring. I do, however, suggest not being too strict on what you seek until you have become familiar with what there is. Experts will tell you that collecting without a plan is an evil. I have a plan. I buy coins that teach me something.

 

I purchase coins that I don't have. Since I am still very new to collecting ancients, I learn something new from every coin which is a plus.

I wonder what happens once you have everything you can afford one day. Then you do upgrading and then what?

 

I don't think that will ever happen. At least not for me.

 

For the OP coin. I am almost certain I know where you got that coin. From a dealer in Hungary on Ebay. I purchased many coins from the dealer I'm talking about. They have since went down in quality and up in price so I haven't been there for awhile, unfortunately.

A lot of nice FH coins posted here. I have some of my own.







Constantius Gallus

 

Yes, it is the Hungarian dealer. But I've been looking for a higher-end example of this coin since the one David Lawrence had was so rudely snatched away from me. Nothing on eBay suits me at the moment.

 

Go to vcoins.com

I shop there often and they also have a guarantee of authenticity and ethic terms to back it up.

 

Yes, York has some good pieces from the Bridgnorth hoard, as I posted earlier. They look very grayish though - I assume they've been restored somewhat. I was hoping for something that looked more like, well...bronze.

 

I like this one. The patina and definition speak to me...

 

It's possible that they've been restored. They could have been relatively clean when removed from the large pottery vessel that apparently was also once used for cooking.

Most of those seem to have a blackish/greyish patina. Nice that's it's part of a hoard and nice to own for sure. For me, price is too high for the grade for most of the coins.

 

That particular coin looks like it has bare metal showing and thus the patina has been removed from some of the high points of the devices and legends. Maybe it was over-cleaned or the dirt came off too easily. Who knows.

 

Is that a bad thing when it comes to ancients?

 

This one is stunning...

 

Most people prefer that the patina is intact. I am the same way but have purchased coins with problems. A coin with a patina completely removed is worth far less than one with a patina. A patina removed usually means harsh cleaning methods, as well as being improperly cleaned. Some people will use synthetic means to "restore" a coin.