Flavia Philadelphia, Lydia, that is. There are millions of Roman Provincial coins and, frankly, I am bored by 90% of them. Of the 10%, at least half are too spectacular for the likes of me and sell way over my bracket unless their condition is abysmal. Fortunately the remaining 5% out of millions still leaves a lot of coins that could follow me home if the dealer agrees that it is not one of the high priced models. The Fredericksburg show produced one such coin in this AE22 of Vespasian. I do not own the book on these but it came identified as RPC volume II - 1329. I'd like to own Roman Provincial Coins but every volume produced or announced will exceed in price the total of coins I own from that volume so I probably won't be buying any. While not full legend, the reverse spells out the name and title of the magistrate and the city name taking two circular lines to do it. In the middle is a very stiff figure (herm???) of Zeus. Both Zeus' face and Vespasian's are reasonably nice and I decided that I could justify the coin even though it will never be a favorite. Most of my Provincials are from the big cities. Not small, Philadelphia seems to be best known as a site of one of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation and for being prone to being destroyed by earthquakes. I probably bought it because of the double line legend and I was looking for something not similar to my other coins. I can not help noting that, IF the reverse figure is Zeus, why does he appear to be sacrificing over an altar? After all, who would Zeus be sacrificing to???
I enjoy provincials more and more and this coin I like most out of all the others you've posted, even the republics. Great portrait. Surprised you are so bored with that percentage of ancients. Im kinda bored of imperials but thats about it.
This is another coin that could follow me home anytime. Nice. But I still like most provincials whereas Imperials have gotten somewhat boring to me.
Perhaps this i the time to ask just what it is we expect out of a coin to keep it from being boring? Is it enough that it be high grade? Expensive? Rare? ...or do we really not care about those things and expect something else? I know I appreciate 'interesting' style. Sometimes that means fine style but sometimes interesting can be barbarous or even 'how did that guy get a job at the mint' style. What makes a coin worthy of your interest?
great one...i love the double reverse legend...now that is interesting. i really like the provincial coins, there's usually something weird (thus interesting to me) about them to enjoy.
In an effort to answer your question at least somewhat, I seem to gravitate to coins that are different. It doesn't matter that they be Greek, RR, Imperials, or provincials. Of course I look for the coins in the highest grade I believe I can afford, but the coins that catch my attention are the ones with a reverse with a "story". When I said I was bored with Imperials, that is not really an honest statement. I still look and buy, and sometimes I upgrade to a better grade. But I do get a little bored seeing Salvs, Liberalitas, Pietas, et al in the same posses coin after coin, ruler and ruler. Sure, I would love to find something very rare in amongst a lot I bought for a pitance, and sure I would like to own some rare coins. But these are things I do not seek out. It's the "something interesting" for which I'm always on the lookout.
It's a great coin, Doug, and a type I haven't seen. And I've looked extensively at the coins of the Decapolis as they're a special area of interest for me. I also have to question whether it's really Zeus on the reverse.
I guess I missed out on buying the CNG / Righetti coin for only three times what I paid. I somehow doubt that coins marked ex Smith will ever carry that kind of premium. Seriously, this makes me think of Frank Robinson's catalogs where he relishes pointing out where coins cost more in name sales than in his little sales. It also reminds me that I forgot about his sale that closed yesterday so I have no idea if any of my early bids held up. Probably not. I have a love/hate relationship with Provincials. My friend has a huge collection of really nice Provincials which he values way more than I do but I value them more than most coins I see offered. He has many I have not seen elsewhere. The small number of specimens and the huge number of types will make the field hard for those who plan to research before investing. Obviously my Vespasian is a common coin since there is one on acsearch and one on CNG. Compared to some, three really is a crowd. (Do note that I am not claiming there are only three of these in existence but I have to wonder how long it will be before I see another.) No one cares; no one should. When there can be no set completion, there is no pressure to complete.
I always get clobbered at CNG, to the point where I've stopped trying. One can only take so much disappointment. I think it's an absolutely wonderful coin, and despite your bipolar attitude toward provincials, you must have loved it enough to pay even what you did. I would have been happy to bid $40 for the coin at CNG, which means I would have gotten clobbered again.
Wow Doug => that is a fantastic and rugged lookin' new addition (it's awesome) => ummm, I've always given animals-on-a-coin a bit of a preference (although, I also love ships and/or weapons .... ummm, or merely really cool lookin' coins) ... yah, I'm probably known as Shallow-Hal on this site, but I wear it like a badge!!
I'm liking this provincial too. At first glance it looked like the figure was holding a harpa. But some coins of Lydia, Bagis on wildwinds show Zeus Lydios holding an eagle on his outstretched hand. I guess that could be a possibility (doesn't look much like a phiale on the OP coin), but that still leaves open the question as to why Zeus would be wanting to cook his bird over a lighted altar??
