I just purchased my first ancient coin

Yes, please do, when you have a chance.

 

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Those particular coins have special significance to me. I associate them with a series of life changing and life saving events in my life—many of them were in circulation during the time of Christ. I believe that some of them were very likely handled by the first Christians. The coins minted in Judaea under Augustus and Tiberius during the years of Herod Antipas and Procurators Valerius Gratus and Pontius Pilate are of particular interest to me. I've expanded my collection to include Arabian/Nabataean and First Century Roman.

 

Wow! Deep.

 

LOL! We all come from different places and directions.

 

True, that. Makes life interesting.
Viva la différence!

 

@dougsmit - I had a chance to read this again and look at the pictures you posted. Thank you for that short peacock, Juno and Faustina II lesson. I don't think I thanked you properly before. BTW, you have an excellent website. I am enjoying it.

 

View attachment 628149 er...ahem..(throat clearing)

View attachment 628149

I am having problems loading photos. I want to show two other coins. I see my three other attempts to load the second coin appears to be there but I never had a chance to select large version. I dunno.

 

Congrats! Nice Firstie~!

 

I can't get them to open, but perhaps it is an iPhone connectivity issue.

 

Thank you @Alegandron but I don't know why I am having problems getting my photographs up. Let me try a separate post for the second coin. Oy!

 

I will try again. I wonder if anyone else is having problems loading photos today. Thank you for your patience. I don't think it is your phone.

 

Okay..I figured it out. Duh!
I wanted to tell you all how the coins feel in my hand. They are so heavy. I love they way they are heavy in the hand. And they are more beautiful than in the photographs the seller had on line. They came with certificates of authenticity (although I am not sure how authentic the certificates of authenticity are!) I love these coins and the seller sent a third one that I'm not crazy about but it is B.C. where these two coins are more recent. I'll post that one next.

I hope these are authentic. Something tells me they are. I'm so excited I can't stand it.

Can you all see how the theme fits into my clues?

 

I think you're going to have to walk me through it.

Do you have the attribution for these coins?

I see no reason to doubt their authenticity (not because of the certificate-- any seller can create a certificate). Who was the seller, if I may ask?

 

I am sticking with my Man Faced Bull coin!

 

Yes, TIF

The lighter brownish colored one is Theodosius I, Bronze AE2 21mm (3.17 grams). Aquileia mint circa 379-383 A.D.Reference RIC 30d: Cohen 27.
DN THEODOSIVS P F AVG - Pearl diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right. Reverse: Emperor standing front, head left, offering right hand to female onleft to help her rise from kneeling position and holding Victory on a globe.
Then it says: SMAQP in ex (which I honestly don't understand yet)


and the darker one is Valentinian II - Bronze AE2 22mm (4.91 grams) Thessalonica mint: 378-383 A.D. Reference RIC 37b.3 (Thesalonica)
DN VALENTINIAN VSPF AVG- Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right - Reverse: SMTES - Valentinian II standing, facing left, holding hand of kneeling woman and Victory on globe

Does that sound right?

Now, this is my point of view and I understand other women and men may feel and think in a way very different from my own.
So it is about chivalry. A gallant powerful kingly type gently helping a woman who apparently has discovered a delicious way to show respect to the one who holds life and death, love, acceptance, banishment, sustenance in his hands, to stand on her feet.

 

Well, late Roman bronzes aren't my forte but there are many people here who can help without breaking a sweat. I'll defer to one of them. Even though it's difficult to read much of the legends, there are online resources which make identification easier (Tesorillo's pages, for instance)

 

@TIF - Thank you for the link. I did find them on Vcoins - (I think)

 

Sigh. Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Well, his attributions are generally accurate, although his 73% off prices are still usually 400% too high.

On the bright side, he does not deal in fakes.