I posted my Top 10 of 2014 earlier, but it seems there's time enough left in the year for just one more coin post. Yesterday, the postman delivered my last purchases of 2014, and I took the opportunity to photograph them along with a bunch of other random little buys from December. Here's a selection, none of them Top 10 material, but all welcome additions to the collection. GALLIENUS, Antoninianus A blind purchase from Frank Robinson's bargain list turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The Hercules you find on Gallienus ants tends to be the Farnese Hercules. This one on the other hand has Hercules in a pose that you see on Postumus's HERC PACIFERO issue. It's rated common in RIC, but I couldn't even find one example of the type when I searched online. ELAGABALUS, Laodicea ad Mare, AE19 From my recent lot of mixed provincials. The reverse shows Herakles and Dionysos grappling, a club behind Herakles and a thyrsus behind Dionysos. How cool is that! TETRICUS II, Antoninianus A Tetricus II has been on the want list all year. This one isn't as nice as they can get, but I think it's much nicer than many. That Spes is far out! LEO V ARMENIUS with co-ruler Constantine, Syracuse mint follis I'm not a Byzantine collector, but for $7.50 shipped I had to give this cute little 9th century piece a home. SPAIN, Philip II, AE Maravedis Also not an ancient, but even cheaper than the Byzantine follis, and I've always had a bit of a thing for these castle/rampant lions from Spain. GALLIENUS, Antoninianus, Liber's panther Most of you here have prettier ones, but at least now I can also say I'm part of the Gallienus Panther Club.
nice last minute coins Z, that byzantine is very good for the price...and i like that provincial. i think your philip ii coin is the under coin for this overstruck spanish coin i purchased last month, which is a 8 maravedis of philip iv.
I really haven't done reading up on them at all. What size is that coin? Mine is 3.2g and 24mm. There was another castle/lion I picked up, unattributed, but quite abit larger at 5.9g and 29.5mm.
These are the coins I consider appealing for the amount of enjoyment they bring for each dollar spent. Much of my collection is in the category. The Hercules is a top example. Also notice the officina letter. Is it a retrograde S or a curvy Z? Tetricus II is much harder to find full legend and well struck than his father. Is that because most of his coins were from late in the reign or because the guys at the mint did not worry about what the kid thought of them? I recently posted a Philip II variation with request for help (got none). Mine was totally missing the name (you have PHIL). My castle was flat and flanked by different letters. Do you understand (or have a reference) the letters (C and A with dots)? I understand the Spanish copper issues so poorly, I can't even think about the countermarked ones. I propose for president of the Gallienus Panther Club, John Quincy Adams. He was once owner of this one but it is mine now. It is also the ugliest coin I have seen from his collection and one of the worst examples of the panther I've seen posted here on CT. Perhaps it was not as easy or not as important to have mint state examples in his day.
I spent some time looking at these marks on Gallienus coins and I'm going with retrograde S. RIC 537 has this listed with S in the left field, but no indication if there is a retrograde variant. I'm not sure if it's a proper reference as such, but I hit Chrsmat's link on your original thread earlier today and found it very useful. My coin is listed as a 2 Maravedis, Model 1631, M14449 variety. The C indicates that the coin was struck at the Cuenca mint, and A is the mark of the mint official Andrés de Contreras. I need to spend more time on that page as I have another 2 of these to look up. Seeing as John Quincy Adams is no longer with us, and you now own his coin, I'd have to put your name up for the position of President of the Gallienus Panther Club. And just for that, I think the provenance has paid for itself .
Nice coins for odds and ends, I see some coins I wouldn't mind adding to my collection, that Gallienus is one of them.
