....no wait, FORTVNAE FELICI surprise! I knew it was two words, but not fortune cookie. I have noticed that these FORTVNAE FELICI coins typically have weak and off center reverses. I saw this little lady sitting alone at the dance for a few songs and finally asked her out. I think that the obverse is pretty solid and the reverse is better than most in that the entire legend is present and there only seems to be the normal wear, not missing elements from a poor strike. Here is the plate coin on Wildwinds for this issue, which is admittedly a better coin than most I have seen: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/julia_domna/RIC_0554.jpg The examples of FELICI coins that I see more often than the above are much like this example of RIC 553 below (no child in front of Fortuna) with off flan legends: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s6584.html Even the coins offered on VCoins have centering issues or are multiples of what I paid for this example. https://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.as...cords=100&SearchOnSale=False&Unassigned=False Julia Domna, Denarius, FORTVNAE FELICI AR Denarius Julia Domna Born circa 170AD - Died 217AD Augusta: 193 - 217AD Issued: 196 - 211AD 19.0 x 17.5mm O: IVLIA AVGVSTA; Draped bust, right. R: FORTVNAE FELICI; Fortuna seated left, holding cornucopia and rudder on globe, child at her feet, left. Rome Mint RIC 554; Sear (1988 edition) 1838?, (2000 edition) 6584 var; RSC 57; BMC 29. Aorta: 89: B6, O2, R41, T43, M4. distinctivecoins 332414052453 11/6/17 11/9/17 If anyone has Sear 1988, can you check the number for this coin? Is it 1738? 1838? I am not certain and I have conflicting information from the seller's note and Wildwinds. Please share your FORTVNAE, FELICI or any related coins!
Sweet coin Nicholas. This is the only Domna I have so far but I was lucky to find it at my LCS since they don't have a great selection of ancients.
Thanks all! I’m still figuring out my write up style. Thanks for bearing with me. @Ajax That is a pretty well detailed coin you have there! That you found it at a local show is even more impressive. I think yours is the stronger coin for sure. I’m just happy to have added the type since I didn’t think I would ever find a decent one at a good price.
In 1988 Sear (gray jacket) it is 1738. The next edition (red jacket) added a hundred early coins and renumbered the later ones by adding a hundred. This sort of thing happens when you rewrite a book and don't change the name. When the 2000 multi-volume one came out, we called it 'Millennium Sear'. When you change your numbering system it does not go back and change all those coin envelopes in all those collections so confusion results. It is the game as currently played by those who insist on listing a dozen references for every coin.
Thanks for the clarification @dougsmit. Am I following your reply correctly in that the whole numbering system for Sear was changed with the Millenium edition which changed this coin’s number from 1738 to 6584 var.? I only have been trying to list all appropriate major references on my coins as I find them as a matter of learning all of the major references and to be able to cross reference. (Maybe it is a matter of being very anal as well, but changing how my mind works at this point is probably not going to happen.) I would also in general like to know the major references more thoroughly for my coin collecting interests and that is a challenge more often than not since books are out of print and impossible to find or so expensive that they aren’t a possibility for me.
The multivolume (current) Sear has many times as many listings as the one volume old book but both used numbers starting with one. There is no relation between the numbers. No book has all the types. Some make a good effort but new things are discovered regularly. A lot will depend on what you call a difference worth cataloging. Cohen made a very usable catalog by ignoring mintmarks and listing this alphabetically. Of course that fails to teach much about matters we consider important today. Other books have other quirks. Buy books; read books; study books; learn to use books --- don't worship them. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/book.html I really should add to my reviews page but I'm lazy.
Looks and sounds like a sweet deal! My favourite new FELIX coin is this lrb from Rome: VRBS ROMA FELIX, issued 404-8. (Unfortunately the missing part of the obverse legend makes it impossible to tell whether the portrait is of Arcadius or Honorius. Maybe some day I'll find a die link?) The irony of the type is palpable. The city of Rome at this time, lucky? Not so much. Beginning in 408 it was subjected to siege 3 times in immediate succession by Alaric, culminating in the sack of 410 that sent shockwaves throughout the Empire and beyond. Seems it was a wise decision to discontinue the type, no? It is hard to find a nice one of these, this one is actually pretty good. (Many thanks to my source, @Valentinian!)
I am not too familiar with Cohen. I have a website that has the book's volumes scanned by page. I am also only so able with French. I am trying to learn the differences in styles between mints in the 2nd and 3rd centuries concerning the Severans in particular. I do not know much and while I would like to learn I find it frustrating that this information seems to be only accessible by study of coins and not necessarily found in a book. The frustration comes from not having enough money to buy enough coins to learn faster. With coins of Probus I do enjoy collecting the antoninianii by mint. For me it is fun to find coins I have found to be more rare than others and have little complete sections of an otherwise daunting and impossible to complete series of coinage for Probus. So in those cases, I have found Aorta to be very informative in helping understand the mintmark and officina combinations. Wild winds has helped me understand which reference books are appropriate and standard for each period of the empire or coinage series. In my brain, I am trying to synthesize all of this information to make sense of it all.
