Secret Saturnalia 2018

I waited until my wife was home from work to open my Saturnalia gift.

Inside were two nicely wrapped gifts:


Which proved to be a very good magnifier and a very sharp Theodosius AE with Vot X, Mult XX reverse, awesome! My wife insisted on using the magnifier to look at the coin immediately.


A very thoughtful set of gifts that are much appreciated! Thanks very much!

John

 

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A truly wonderful tradition that @John Anthony has kindly organized and one that never fails to disappoint. I have been Blessed with two awesome coins which I am fairly certain to have attributed correctly—maybe . I cannot yet say with any certainty who my generous Secret Santa has been this year but I can say that I’m a lucky man to have been selected as his gift recipient.

Thank you, Secret Saturn!​

 

Sorry, no photos to share, but we had a Christmas party at our house tonight with a group of friends from church.

For Saturnalia I received a lovely poster showing the Byzantine Emperors and I'm awaiting a set of 19th century engravings that are apparently en route to me from Europe.

Thank you to my Secret Saturn.

 

Thanks again to my Secret Saturn! Please PM me so I can ask about these sweet geodes (if you don’t mind). Here are some slightly better pics showing off my haul. All new to me I don’t have anything like any of them coins included.


Valens
364-378
DN VALENS AVG/
SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE


LICINIUS I
308-324
IMP LICINIVS AVG/
VICT LAETAE PRINC PERP
Ric VII Siscia 86

 

Awesome stuff all! My sis got me a nice ftr hut. One I did not have too, thanks For taking the time to check! Very cool thanks! I’ll get better pics soon. Just got off work and headed back there in the morning:/

 

So I checked my mailbox when I got home from work and this was in there. Smojo was very interested in the new find.

This guy is the real Smojo I just use his name. Ah the life of a cat.

And a big thanks to @TIF and a Thanks to Stevex6 as well and JA for aiding it along and all he's done.
Photos will come in the days to follow, to be honest I haven't unpacked my camera or anything (not lazy just been busy or injured).
Christmas break is next week and will have more time.
I also need time to attribute the little Greek, I'm stumped on that one .
And since the gig is up @Cucumbor I was able to get yours back in the mail again today and HOPEFULLY it is coming your way.

 

I've been PM'ed by my Secret Santa, so I can quietly wait for my package to arrive without worrying
I'll certainly keep you posted as soon as it arrives here in France

Io Saturnalia all and everyone

Q

 

I just checked the tracking on my SS package. The web site says "Delivered" on Dec 14th. I wonder if that means to the address or at customs in the country in question?

 

Again Thanks to @TIF she has the foresight and thoughtfulness to know I likely wouldn't have time to take photos. A skill I admit I lack the talent that some of you have and I seriously doubt I could come close to her skill.
So not only did I get a couple of awsome coins I also got top notch photos of the coins.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
Regnal year 9, 145/6 CE
AE drachm
Obv: laureate bust right
Rev: Roma seated left on cuirass, shield behind, holding Nike and parazonium; LENA TOV around.
Ref: Dattari 2794; Emmett 1644.9
Ex TIF Collection
Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago



THESSALY, Perrhaiboi
c. 450-400 BCE
AR obol; 12 mm, 0.87 gm, 6 h
Olosson or Phalanna mint
Obv: bridled horse rearing left
Rev: Π-Ε-Ρ-Α; Athena in running stance right, holding shield and spear; all within incuse square
Ref: BCDThessaly I 1242; BCD Thessaly II 552.2; HGC 4, 151
Ex X6 Collection, from CNG 393, lot 40 (15 March 2017)
Ex BCD Collection


The obol when I opened it around 1 AM (yeah I work those hours) had me stumped, but a PM from TIF with the photos and knowing it was a Stevex coin it hit me, somewhere in Thessaly. I scrolled to see the attribution and thought yeah that would have taken me a while to figure out.

So now I am the proud custodian of my collection that includes something from the TIF collection and something from the Stevex collection. Not sure anybody can top that this Christmas .
Thanks Again
IO Saturnalia

HAPPY and SAFE holidays to everyone

 

I'm glad they arrived safe and sound, @Smojo! To be clear, the Thessalian obol is jointly given by me and Steve. Steve contributed to that gift because even though he is no longer a CoinTalk member, he wanted to be a part of the giving .

 

I sure miss his umm, sarcasm. We seemed so much alike. I hope he is doing well.
Yes, I just like to express my gratitude when it's deserved.

 

I just received mine this afternoon. A wonderful gift..

Here are some quick pictures taken with my phone (sorry for the shadows, etc). Still working so will have more time later on to enjoy and take some better photos. It is certainly a wonderful array of coins! Forgive me if I have pictured some of the coins upside down or done something else silly .... I have a lot to learn about Chinese and also Muslim coins - but they certainly are very attractive..

Thank you Secret Saturnalia for the wonderful gifts and especially for expanding my horizons!!

 

I'm going to be in violation of our rules here...as we speak I'm being taken in for medical care and will not be able to post pictures (until I get home), it will be a couple weeks. Not to worry, I'm ok.

So, my package arrived and last night I tore into it. There were several gifts, each wrapped in beautiful paper. My inner child came out and I tore into the largest one first. It is a copy of Fuld's Patriotic Civil War Tokens! It has really cool line drawings and flipping through I thought it might be interesting to explore these tokens.

Next package contained a coin, which I think the US minted for circulation in the Philippines. I thought it was very interesting and cool to have, and that I'll have to do some more research on.

Next package I opened is a lovely Nero tetradrachm!!! Sweet!!! I'm super pumped because I've been wanting more Neros in my collection, specifically tetradrachm.

The last package explained everything, it was a US military trade tokens minted for use in the Panama Canal Zone and I've seen it before!

This leads me to believe that @H8_modern was my Secret Santa! If so, thank you very much! I couldn't be happier!

If not...thank you Secret Santa, it really made this day better!

(I promise to update thread with pics.)

 

I hope all is well. We'll be praying for you no matter the reason for your medical incarceration.

 

Thanks @Bing !

 

Guess what arrived in my mailbox today. Thanks Secret Saturn (I have a clue as to who that may be). It's a very nice Hadrian even though the images absolutely do not do it justice. The portrait is raised which does not show in the images.

HADRIAN
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate, draped bust right
REVERSE: P M TR P-COS III, Libertas seated left, holding branch and vertical sceptre. LIB PVB in exergue
Struck at Rome, 117-138 AD
2.5g, 18mm
RIC II 127 var. (bust type), RSC 903a.

Thank you so much SS. Very thoughtful gift.

I do hope the package I sent will arrive soon.

 

Oh man, I hope you're doing ok @Jwt708 !

Looks like everyone is getting some killer Saturnalia gifts, and I and certainly no exception! I was just thinking I didn't go as hard at Greek coins this year as I planned to, a coin from this place has been on my want list for a long time...so I was supper happy to get a fantastic Greek coin, and a little flash drive with pics ready to go. Here it is!!



I did my own pic as well, but I didn't orient my reverse properly.



Crimmerian Bosporos, Pantikapaion. 304-250 BC

O: Head of Satyr left, wreathed with ivy. R: Bow above arrow, ΠΑΝ, AE 20mm, 5,71g, 12h. Ref. Hoover, HGC 116; SNG Standcomb, 560-561, Ex: Numismatique Louis Brousseau

Isn't that a sweet lookin' coin?! I had one of these on my Vcoins wish list, but this one is way nicer than the one I had saved...already deleted that one! LOL!

Thank you SS for this awesome Black Sea beauty!

 

He's had a bad year and every time things are getting better... boom, another blow.

He came through all the chemo and radiation but a couple of months ago started having increasing problems when exerting himself, which led to hospitalization and the finding of pulmonary emboli. His lungs didn't recover as quickly as expected and another problem was uncovered (something in his lungs) and that is still being worked up. He requires oxygen at all times and isn't able to be as physically active as he is accustomed to (he's an outdoorsy guy-- biking, hiking, etc). Bronchoscopic biopsy two weeks ago did not lead to a definitive diagnosis so now he has to go back to Winnipeg for an open biopsy of his lung.

This was supposed to be his joyous retirement year but instead he's dealing with one bad medical problem after another. He usually manages to maintain his X6 humor and snark though .

 

This was hard to read. I truly hope he recovers to 100% soon. I miss having Steve around to lighten up the board with his humor.

It is good of you to keep us updated on how he is doing.

 

I'm quite sure my Secret Saturn was @Dafydd . Many thanks, my friend for the excellent Postumus antoninianus and the Charles I farthing. I’m delighted to have participated in the Secret Saturnalia gift exchange.

Here’s to