Group lot goodies: 83 x fun, plus a draw!

John II it is!!

It will definitely not be replacing my other example:

Thank you for the link & the extra history, @Herberto, very cool!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Going way back in time again, here was a nice little surprise in the lot. ID gets your name in the hat. (Only 8 names in there so far, the odds are good... I'll give the winner a choice of coins. Or winners! Hmm....)

 

The imperial bust Probus has me puzzled. It looks like an Issue 9 or Issue 10 coins from Ticinum but I must be wrong.

 

Is this a Probus from Lugdunum? FIDES MILITVM, III in exe.

There are a range of possibilities based on the obverse legend and the styleof bust as to how it is to be dated.

 

Sorry, @maridvnvm, I'm the one who is confused! It is indeed a Ticinum EQVITI series. I forgot the letter from "EQVITI" could be in the field! (My other one is from Rome where it is in the exergue. I only just learned about these from Doug, I didn't even know mine was a member of the set until Doug pointed it out.)

Here's my Rome example, one of my earliest acquisitions:

The new one is definitely a keeper! (Are "consular bust" and "imperial bust" synonymous, or is there a difference?)

 

They are synonymous. Thanks for posting that one. I was doubting my own eyes. I am generally able to spot these by style and if it wasn't an EQVITI then I was at a loss.

 

Nice catch. The obverse is nicer than the reverse:

I think I remember that you're partial to Lugdunum issues? There were a couple more in the lot, a Probus ORIENS:

And this Maximianus PAX:


I may or may not keep those ones.

 

The FIDES is the later issue of the possible ones. Here is mine.

Obv:– IMP C PROBVS • P • F • AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right
Rev:– FIDES MILITVM, Fides standing left holding two standards
Minted in Lugdunum (III in exe) Emission 6, Officina 3. A.D. 278-279
Reference:– Cohen 255. Bastien 282. RIC 80 Bust type F



The ORIENS is nice. Here is mine

Obv:– IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG, Radiate cuirassed bust right
Rev:– ORIENS AVG, Sol standing right, holding branch and bow, and treading down captive
Minted in Lugdunum (III in exe.) Emission 2 Officina 3. A.D. 276
Reference:– Cohen 387. Bastien 169. RIC RIC 45 Bust type F.



The Max Herc is a nice example of the type. I have owned several. Here is one from a worn reverse die.

Obv:– IMP C MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, Radiate cuirassed bust right
Rev:– PAX AVGG, Pax standing left, with Victory on globe and scepter
Minted in Lugdunum (S in exe.). Emission 6, Officina 2. Autumn A.D. 289 – Early A.D. 290
References:– RIC V Part 2 396 Bust Type F. Bastien Volume VII 277

 

I am thinking there aren't many Lugdunum issues you don't have...

 

Here is my EQVITI like yours. Its not a good example.

Obv:– IMP C PROBVS AVG, Radiate and cuirassed bust left wearing imperial mantle and holding eagle tipped scepter
Rev:– PROVIDENT AVG, Providentia standing left, holding globe and sceptre
Minted in Ticinum (Q in left field, SXXI in exe) Emission 9, Officina 2. A.D. 281
Reference:– RIC 490 Bust type H
Part of coded EQVITI series



My P F AVG (RIC 489 Bust type H) example is nicer.

 

The granularity makes me want to say Maximinus II. He used terrible metal on his billon.

 

Bingo!


It's a rare issue from Antioch, Maximinus II as Caesar, RIC 144b, struck in 310. In rough shape, but this one, only somewhat better, sold for $210 + fees earlier this year (CNG):

This pretty nice one fetched $625 in March (Roma)!:

So a neat surprise to find in the box. (Though I suspect its trade/sell value will be worth more to me than the coin itself, so it will probably not be a keeper.)

 

That is the way with too many coins that are common in poor shape and hard to find nice. I would not mind having one but not that one. Billon can really ruin a coin that would have been nice in copper or great in good silver. I regret buying the one I bought.

 

Hmmm , my second guess is Antioch. I know it’s not Amiens, Aquileia, siscia,Sirmium, thes. , Arles, Lyons trier or Rome.

I don’t think it’s Cyzikus heraclea or nicomedia but they do have a few nicer style portraits. So if not Antioch then my 3rd guess would be Constantinople .

 

I guess it is an unexpectedly nice portrait style, then! Cool. Here it is:


(Kyzikus, 2nd officina.)

 

Lol would have been guess number 6. A nice fh!

 

Very nice indeed.

 

Here are a couple Gallienus ants I will be keeping:


The panther is presumably from Rome, but could also be Siscia(?) Can't tell whether the exergue had anything in it or not.

The other one is not a beauty, but it is part of the historically interesting series celebrating victory over the Germans (VICTORIA GM on this one), and I didn't have one.

Here are my (mostly plagiarized) notes on the panther: "The "zoo" series was struck late in the reign of Gallienus, invoking the help of various deities to preserve the emperor (CONS AVG). This coin asks for the help of Liber Pater, who was was a god of viticulture and wine, fertility and freedom; he was also the patron deity of Rome's plebeians. His festival of Liberalia (March 17) became associated with free speech and the rights attached to coming of age. His cult and functions were increasingly associated with Romanised forms of the Greek Dionysus/Bacchus, whose mythology he came to share.. One myth tells of how Liber (or Bacchus/Dionysus) was captured by pirates who mistakenly thought he was the son of a rich king and intended to ransom him. He took the form of a panther, and the pirates leapt overboard and were turned into dolphins."

 

A few other things...

Very crisp Salus on this Victorinus:

A wacky barbarous radiate (I like this, definitely a keeper though not worth much):

The remaining Aurelian:

The Diocletian follis easily visible in the group shot:

And a Maximianus (like this one, definitely will keep):

A Maximianus Lugdunum from his brief return to power in autumn 308-spring 309 (will keep, I don't have anything from this reign):

A Constantine Mars from Trier, issued 307-8 (definite keeper!):


And one of three Licinius GPR folles from Siscia (all three of comparable quality):

 

My WiFi connection where I am right now is abysmal and I haven't been able to keep up with this thread as much as I'd have liked to. Have we seen the Allectus already?