Well my second coin arrived today in my 'binge'. Mods let me know if we need to censor this puppy because it is a beauty and well because Hercules is naked but mainly because it is so awesome. I can't quite getting the toning to come out using the camera on my tablet. And the coin is a bit darker than it is in hand. I think this coin has the most 'eye appeal' of all the coins I have so far just from the nice blue that circles around some of the letters and around his radiate crown. Lets just say I am very, VERY, happy with this purchase. Also holy smokes Pecunem ships fast. I think this was the quickest I have ever gotten a coin from oversears. The auction ended Sunday and I received the coin Thursday at 9:00 a.m. POSTUMUS (260-269). Antoninianus. Cologne. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: HERC DEVSONIENSI. Hercules standing facing, holding club, bow and lion's skin. RIC 64. Here is the Pecunem picture for comparison If you have any toned coins I would love to see them.
Cool coin, I always liked the hercules on his coins. Looks like the coin has some nice tones going on too. My postumus which we've all seen. Postumus (260 - 269 A.D.) AR Antoninianus O: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. R: SERAPI COMITI AVG, Serapis standing left, raising hand and holding transverse scepter. Cologne mint 4g 20mm RIC 329 RSC 360a
Wheee! Glad you got an awesome coin and a good price! Your Hercules has been doing some serious upper body work at the gym Yeah, Pecunem has the best shipping, don't they? Hope mine arrive today, but I live in a rather remote place and there is an extra stop along the way which can be a holdup. I've received their shipments as quickly as within three days though. Amazing. On the other hand, Stack's could use some work in that department. Last time it took a week just to send the invoice then another week to get it in the mail. Hope they are quicker this time. Edited to add: Holy cow, mine was delivered to the office yesterday afternoon (I wasn't there). Yay! Gonna be a good day
There are several reasons to like Postumus. He has an intersting face and more than one portrait style. Some of the reverses are different from the normal with the Deusoniensi being one of a kind. During his reign, the silver level in the coins fell greatly so you might have trouble finding matching color coins. Early ones are silver and later ones look fully copper. I could see a lot of interest in the coins of the Gallic Empire as a specialty. I am not a specialist in them but they seem to follow me home on occasion.
From Wildwinds: Cologne and Lyons issued coins with seemingly identical obverses and reverses. Lyons coins have more (and curlier) hair above the brow and especially at the temples, his smile is a little more pronounced and his beard has a bit more detail.
Very Interesting, Bing. Thank you very much for the information. I did not know the difference was in the hair. I was looking for a mintmark or something, and could not see one, thus the question.
I have to say that the above is not universally agreed upon, but it's all I know to separate the two mints.
There is a great deal of doubt that Lyons was actually being used in the minting of any of these coins.
With the exception of the Flavian emperors mints that used a city abbreviation, most early branch mints are separated by style or by a code mark at best. In many cases there is considerable certainty that there were multiple mints but assigning them to a specific place is far less certain. Is there doubt here about how many mints there were or just whether one of them was at Lyons?
