Probus and Eirene (A humble little Alexandrian)

Two more Probus:

 

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What makes the Alexandria mint tetradrachms of the late period 'special' is their thickness compared to their diameter. I can't say any of the reverses I have seen are particularly great but they are fun little coins.

 

I spent a period actively collecting the output of Probus from Alexandria and reached the stage where I was left with searching for scarcer and scarcer types e.g. Emperor on horseback. I haven't added any for about two years now. If all you want is one or two examples then these are plentiful and generally cheap enough to make them attainable to most budgets. If you want a more detailed collection with variants as per Milne (relative position of regnal year to L for example, or obverse legend break)then this will take much more time.

Your Year 3 Eirene is much nicer than mine.



I have a couple of year 4 examples that show how the regnal year position can change the attribution

Milne 4575 (L D). Emmett 3986(4) R1.
Ex-Amphora coins October 1979
Ex-Keith Emmett Collection.



Milne 4578 (D over L). Emmett 3986(4) R1. Curtis 1880. BMC 2415. Köln 3139. Dattari 5530


My gallery of Alexandrian Probus can be seen here for those interested.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1721

I have a much more extensive Probus collection with my primary passion being Lugdunum of which over 150 of my coins can be seen here:-

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=138

Martin

 

Has there been any suggestion or evidence that the relative position of the L and number has any meaning (officina, engraver, anything) other than being purely random?

 

This is why I'm glad that Emmett largely ignores the trivial differences between coins in his numbering system. If the difference doesn't have meaning, do I really care? (no)

Oddly though there are some types for which Emmett creates many separate entries. The eagle reverse come to mind. Do I really care if the eagle is:

standing right, head right, wreath in beak
vs
standing right, head right, no wreath in beak
vs
standing right, head left, wreath in beak
vs
standing right, head left, no wreath in beak
vs
standing left, head left, wreath in beak
vs
standing left, head left, no wreath in beak
vs
standing left, head right, wreath in beak
vs
standing left, head right, no wreath in beak
vs
standing facing, head right, wreath in beak
vs
standing facing, head right, no wreath in beak
vs
standing facing, wings open, head right, no wreath in beak
vs
standing facing, wings open, head left, wreath in beak
... and so on.

No, I do not care although it is difficult to resist being suckered into liking one over another because of "book rarity" based on a trivial difference-- and then I feel suckered and guilty for putting any weight on such a triviality.

 

I haven't seen anything that even attempts to make sense of them. There seem to be too few examples in the samples taken to build the references to do anything other than note them. Milne notes them down to obverse legend break combined with the relative positioning which created the maximum number of "types". This is similar to the Alfoldi study of Probus at Siscia where a different number was given to different "captive being trampled by horseman" types based on the location of the shield etc.

I must admit that I bought a few such variations as I found them, provided they were cheap enough but stopped far short of trying to collect every Milne variation.

I did start a web page to discuss all these things for these coins but that project has stalled.

 

My opinion is that die studies have merit but catalogs listing minute variations based on lumping together some die characteristics but not all just add unnecessary complexity to random variations. If we are dealing with an issue made from a limited number of dies, I want to see dies numbered or otherwise identified. If we are not going all the way in this manner, I hate to see things like one letter spacing difference given a separate number while others are ignored.

 

I hear what you are saying Doug and broadly agree. I also think that this can go too far the other way where a letter or two different can turn out to be significant.

 

Beautiful coins everyone.

 

Cool thread additions, gang

Ummm, here is my nasty ol' Probus Tet ...



I bought this coin to impress all of you ... that's what I do (I buy coins to impress other people)