I did! And planning more travel shortly. I've found I can travel AND collect coins - having my cake and eating it too!
Unfortunately, I am always flat broke No money left over for travel, the coins eat it all up. Were those pre WW2 Italian tanks in that Eritrean tank graveyard?
I think they are more modern tanks from the 30 year war with Ethiopia. I can imagine your coin bill is rather large - all that gold! But money well spent I think!
Money is always well spent, when the end result is having fun doing it. Your travel habits are rather neat, since you are more like the early explorers going into uncharted locales/ that would be my thing too I find the tourists resorts boring. Although some European destinations like Germany/Austria/Hungary/Czech Rep. are great too, the fabulous food, plus the historical sites. Back to the tank graveyard, my Uncle Karl's 1945 KoenigsTiger would have knocked out all those more modern /I guess Soviet tanks that they sold to both warring sides back in that conflict. Both were Italian colonies in the 1930's.
Maybe... but the Tiger tanks didn't do so well against the Russian tanks they actually fought against.
Its always fun to travel, so many places to go and see. The experience is really a once in a lifetime thing. The part I hate most is coming back home and going back to work.
A beautiful Didia Clara, and certainly better than entry level! It is great that you are able to visit all of those exotic and adventurous place. Did quite a lot of traveling myself with my wife in Asia and L.A (before kids, etc...). Nowadays, the furthest I will leave the safety of my home in Germany is to visit Florida...(that can be pretty wild too sometimes).
My uncle-in-law did actually fight against Russian tanks and destroyed more than one hundred of them with his Tiger I. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Wittmann
But back to the topic : Great OP coin and I like your travels, Greg!!! Here is my Didius Julianis Sestertius (I know I have shown this before, but still no Didia Clara here yet...):
Nice. I need Manlia Scantilla and I will have everyone from the Year of the Five Emperors plus all their wives and daughters (except Titania and Pertinax Jnr whom no reasonable person can expect to afford!).
Actually they were highly successfull vs Russian armour. In one engagement in 1945 near Kustrin, 4 young SS tank commanders knocked out 70 Soviet JS-2s/T-34s, without loosing any of theirs. There were only 1553 built/ but they knocked out close to 20000 enemy tanks. The Soviet JS-2 was equal, however Tiger crews were more skilled. However, in 1941, the Soviet T-34s/ KV-1s were far superior to the German PZKW III/ IVs....only the Luftwaffe support saved their bacon.
So @Greg Heinrich , how many Ruler Portraits do you have now? Man, you have some tough ones to get! Congrats on a cool collection... And, I feel you you regret selling them off ... balancing collecting and traveling will pay off in the long-term for you!
I will need to check - somewhere in the 140s? In the last CNG auctions, I also acquired Pescennius Niger, and Tranquillina (provincial). I also got a Marcian upgrade (replacing an AE4 with a nice gold solidus).
VERY nice! I made it to 139 Rulers today (Balbinus from John Anthony) - got a Julia Titi yesterday. That is a Big upgrade from AE4 to Solidus! Congrats. I have a Tranquillina also, and I think the only way is via provincial...
