Hello, its been a while since ive posted here. Its been busy with the preparations for the new little one who is due soon, and work too. Coining has nevertheless been going strong, and i would like to share some new adoptions to the adoptive emperors collection. First, a big one, of Hadrian. My heaviest and largest coin so far. One can do some work-out with this big one. All that weight is heavy for Hadrian, he looks a bit grumpy... Lovely green coloring, too! Next, an AP As. This is my second coin of AP. Nothing special about the edition, but a very lovely example. Lovely green color, again, and i really like the portrait on this one. I got it in a lot of 2, with the MA below, for a very fair price (perhaps even a bargain) in my opinion. Next, another one of AP, and my third one of this emperor. A coin that has been on my want-list, and i got this one for my birthday from my amazing wife. Its a very good looking example, and this particular variant is not mentioned in RIC (there are more than a dozen variants though, for what its worth...) Last one, an As of Marcus Aurelius. It came in the lot with the As of AP, above. When researching it, i couldn't find that many examples, and some examples auctioned came with the mentioning of it being a rare type. Whatever that's worth, i was happy to find this in the lot, also because, again, of the lovely light-green color. In hand this coin is really amazing, and the portrait is really clear! When i have the time i will post my other new additions to the collection: the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Severan dynasty and the civil war era (or, four emperors). I still have to do some research on those coins. Feel free to comment and/or post whatever you like. Cheers!
Super green patina on those first two, and the two headed denarius is awesome! Here's a MA provincial I post every now and again to see if anyone knows what is is. Unknown Roman provincial of Marcus Aurelius 22mm, 4.6 g, 161-180 AD
When I bought my as at a show I liked it for the identifiable face of Pius on the reverse. I got home and discovered that there was supposed to be letters in exergue. I was less enamored with the coin. I want my VOTA. One fourree; one not - both different varieties
Solid group of Antonines, @Limes! Kinda funny to call them "adoptions" That denarius is a very popular one due to having AP and MA on it. I've been looking for one casually, and they get pretty expensive in EF.
Nice selection there, Limes. As for the Marcus Aurelius as with Pietas (RIC 1333), I have one of those, not as nice as yours. When I was researching it, I couldn't find very many examples either. I am beginning to suspect that some of these Antonine "middle bronzes" are considerably scarcer than one might think - but because they are kind of typical (gods standing around as Doug puts it) and the emperors are easy to find as a type, the scarcity doesn't really lead to much collector interest or a bump in value. I (over)paid about $6 for this one: Marcus Aurelius Æ As (155-156 A.D.) Rome Mint [AVRELI]VS CAES [ANTON AVG PII F], bare head right / TR POT [X] COS II, Pietas standing left, holding box and dropping incense onto lit altar or candelabrum; S-C across. RIC 1333 (Pius) (R1). (9.56 grams / 26 mm)
very desirable group L...and many blessing on your family additions, not to mention the coinage .. bronze of the Antonines adopted, good emperors
thanks for the kind comments everyone! I agree, Marsyas Mike. A small difference in eg the legend, of bust type, makes a coin more rare than another one, but what would that imply? I can image the die-hard collector loves those kinds of finds. For me it is exciting, yes, but when it comes to a choice between either a more 'common' coin with lovely looks and shrek-like patina or a lesser specimen with a rare legend, I too would probably go for the first one.
