Ancient: 4th Century LRB Pickups

I recently finished up my "5 good Emperors" set and found myself needing to scratch that itch to expand my Roman Imperials collection. But I wasn't really sure which way to go. 12 Emperors perhaps? Maybe too pricey for now. I met with my local ancient dealer just to see if he had something that might pique my interest, and I was drawn to some of the 4th Century Emperors. I think these are nice coins at a good value that will allow me to expand my collection, and develop my eye for LRBs, while not breaking the bank. Here's what I came home with:
Constantinopolis; 330-346 AD
Commemorative Issue AE 3; 17mm/2.8g
OBV: CONSTANINOPILIS; Helmeted bust of Constantinopolis L wearing imperial mantle and holding scepter
REV: Victory standing L, R foot on Prow, holding scepter and leaning on shield
(SEAR3890)

Julian II; AD 360-363
AE 3; 20mm/2.4g
OBV: DN FL CL IULIANUVS AVG; Helmeted, pearl diademed and cuirassed bust L, holding spear and shield
REV: VOT X MVLT XX; Laurel wreath surrounding lettering; palm branch- TES- palm branch; star in wreath at bottom
(Sear 4074, RIC 227 )

 

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I can't get the "Enter" key to work to set a new paragraph within the text box. Hence the lines in my description above don't line up. Anyone else experiencing this issue? This problem started about the same time we lost the "most recent thread" feature.

 

Theodosius I; AD 379-395
AE2; 22MM/4.1G, Czyicus Mint
OBV: D N THEODISIVS P F AVG; Pearl diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right
REV: VIRTVS EXERSITI; Theodosius standing L foot on captive holding labarum and globe, SMK(Gamma) in exergue;
(RIC25b)

 

Honorius; AD 393-423
AE3; 19mm/2.7g, Czyicus Mint
OBV; DN HONORIVS P M AVG; Pearl diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right
REV: VIRTVS EXERCITI; Honorius standing facing right, holding spear and resting hand on shield, crowned by Victory standing L beside him; SMKB in exergue
(RIC X 68)

 

:thumb:

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Thanks Windchild!

 

That's a nice set of coins: good detail, good legends, problem-free. The Honorius looks like it could be cleaned up a bit, but that's really a matter of taste. Sometimes a little ancient crud looks attractive.

 

The Julian II looks like it could be overcleaned.

 

I thought the same thing about the Honorius. My fear would be removing some of the sandy patina in the process. I always like that sort of patina on ancients. I suppose it's a balance to achieve the look one desires. My one experiment in cleaning ancients didn't turn out great, so I'll probably leave it.

 

I agree - somebody scrubbed that one a little too hard. It's not egregious though - it'll darken up over time.

I understand the impulse to over clean. It takes so long to do it right, you sometimes reach a point of frustration and scrub too hard while muttering, "Out, out, damned spot" through your clenched teeth.

 

I like the Victory reverse on the commemorative. Good going.

 

Everytime I see the "Emperor holding globe" I knew the ancients were onto the world being round.

 

Yes, it's funny when you think of it. Even in the renaissance I'm pretty sure they knew the world was round, despite the revisionist history that was shoved down our throats about people in Columbus' time thinking the world was flat. Makes you wonder what else we've been taught that is not historically accurate.

 

those are nice RB, solid details on all of them!

LRB is great for collecting without breaking the bank! :yes:

 

Nice additions RB.

I forget the name but there was some roman that used math to discover the world was round, or something like that. Still morning here so memory sucks

 

The ancient Greeks knew. They measured the length of a shadow, cast by a stick at high noon in Athens and Alexandria on the same day. And from the difference in the lengths calculated the curvature of the earth. Thus knowing it was round and the approximate size.

 

Many knowledgeable people knew, but wouldn't tell the normal person

This was because they could be hung for treason if the church learned that they thought the world was round.

So the truth is, it depends on who you were if you thought the world was flat or round.

Here's a great example of them teaching stuff that is wrong:

Romans were civilized, and the Carthaginians were treacherous, uncivilized, untrustworthy and had no morals.

The opposite was normally true.

He was a Greek from Cyrene.

He lived from the early-mid 3rd century BC to early 2nd century BC


He was a librarian at the Great University of Alexandria.


His name was Eratosthenes.

 

Thats it!

 

Race, this is what happen's when you start to collect Ancients, you just can't stop.. very nice pickups, good looking coins,:thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

Nice looking coins. This thread will be a good reference point for me when I start with Romans.