COIN'S CRUSH

Did you ever have a coin's crush ? The heart that beats fast, the ideas that get confused and that make say anything, the legs that waver, the crush causes uncontrollable chemical reactions in the brain that have nothing to do with magic. It is caused by the secretion of four specific molecules: phenylethylamine, dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline.These molecules are very powerful drugs capable of causing behavioral changes. Under their influence, the heart beats faster and the blood pressure increases.Unfortunately, the effect does not last forever. After 18 months, the intensity of the molecules gradually decreases and disappears completely after four years.
Nature being well done, when the crush molecules fade, oxytocin takes over. This molecule, also called “attachment molecule”, is at the origin of the feeling of comfort and well-being experienced in the presence of the sweet coin. This is what makes an individual and an object able to live together for 50 years. I've been stuck by this kind of crush lately. I can't explain why; it's not because of its beauty, not because its rarity and not for the price neither. But it was love at first sight:
SEVERUS II
Follis 28 mm 8.02g
FL VAL SEVERVS NOB C / GENIO POPULI ROMANI
RIC Lyons 193. Bought from Incitatus coins


Valerius Severus, also known as Severus II, was a soldier born in northern Illyria (now Albania). He rose to a senior rank in the Roman army. On May 305 AD, Galerius made his close friend Severus caesar of the Western Empire under Constantius Chlorus. On the death of Chlorus, Severus was promoted to Augustus by Galerius, in opposition to the acclamation of Constantius' son Constantine I by his own army. When Maxentius, son of the retired emperor Maximian, led his own revolt at Rome, Galerius sent instructions to Severus ordering him to march upon Rome and depose Maxentius . After Maxentius offered his father co-rule, Severus' soldiers deserted to Maximian, their old commander. Severus ran away to the city of Ravenna. Maximian offered to spare his life and treat him humanely if he surrendered peaceably. Severus agreed to abdicate and was then taken first under house arrest and soon after brought to Rome where he was put to prison in Tres Tabernae after he was paraded through the streets of Rome. Maxentius later ordered to put Severus to death. He died on the September 307 AD.

So please show me your coin's crush or Severus II examples!

 

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Mar 8, 2017
Ruler: Severus II (Caesar)
Coin: Bronze Follis
SEVERVS NOB C - laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right
GENIO POP-VLI ROMANI - Genius standing left by altar, modius on head, naked but for chlamys over left shoulder, holding patera and cornucopiae. Star in right field.
Exergue:
Mint: Lyons (AD 305-306)
Wt./Size/Axis: 11.16g / 28mm / -
References:

• RIC VI Lyons 199a
• Sear 14632

 

Very nice - here is a London Mint rarity:

RIC VI, Londinium, No. 46 (variant), Severus, Augustus of the West
CT (Cloke & Toone), No. 4.04.004, 26 July 306 - Spring 307, Rarity: RR


IMP SEVERVS PIVS FEL AVG ........................... GENIO POPV - LI ROMANI

Draped laureate bust.
Obverse legend variation: PIVS FEL instead of PIVS FELIX.
9.4 gm.

 

This follis of Severus II was acquired recently. It's rather crusty but the portrait is interesting.
Severus II as Caesar, AD 305-6, Heraclea Mint, Officina 2, AE follis: 10.42 gm, 28 mm, 6 h. RIC VI 26a.

 

Severus II (305 - 307 A.D.)
Æ Follis
O:SEVERVS NOB C, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
R: GENIO POP-VLI ROMANI, Genius standing left, holding patera and cornucopiae; altar left, star right: PLC in exeergue.
Lugdunum (Lyon) mint
8.83g
29mm
RIC VI 193

Ex CNG Electric Auction, Lot 372, 1/10/2008

Ex. Gordon s. Perry Collection

 

Nice coins everyone. @Mat , is yours really 39 mm?

 

Probably 29

 

Would someone lie to offer an explanation on how we came to the name Severus II for this ruler? We don't count either Septimius Severus or Severus Alexander but which I do not know.
Rome

Kyzikos

 

Ah, oxytocin... the attachment hormone. Creating psycho girlfriends/boyfriends the world over .



Oxytocin is released in great quantity during orgasm.

Want to keep that coin crush from fading? You know what to do .

...

I don't have any Severus II coins but here's a crush that hasn't faded:


EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian. Regnal year 10, CE 90/91. Æ diobol (25mm, 10.86 g, 12h). AVT KAICAP ΔΟ ΜΙΤ CEB ΓΕΡΜ, laureate head right / Agathodaemon serpent, wearing the skhent crown (emblematic of upper and lower Egypt), on horseback galloping left; L I (date) below. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) –; K&G 24.109; RPC II 2585; SNG Copenhagen 214; Emmett 277.10 (R5).

Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex West Coast/Lloyd Beauchaine Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 41, 19 March 1997), lot 1110; Classical Numismatic Review Vol. XVI, No. 1 (January 1991), lot 316; Numismatic Fine Arts Fall Mail Bid Sale (18 October 1990), lot 2365.

Appearances: Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 39 (this coin). Obverse illustrated in Emmett as the header for the Domitian section, p. 24 (this coin); fully illustrated in Emmett, p. 26 (this coin, discussing the unusual reverse).

Today I received a big box o' books from good buddy Stevex6. The Sear books were included and this Domitian is pictured on p. 511 of Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. 1 (Millennium edition), so I'm adding another "this coin" citation to the attribution .

 

Seriously, if you were writing a book, you would use this photo. Of course you would put it on the cover.

 

That's what I call a pedigree! And I can't stop imagining all the Flavian's fanatics drooling while admiring your coin...

 

..a truly one sided love affair...but alas, we are all hopeless romantics here anyway.. Nero Dupondius

 

I'm infatuated with this Timoleon Zeus and free horse...
Syracuse, Sicily
Timoleon and the Third Democracy, Ruling 344-317 BC
AE Dilitron, Timoleontic Symmachy coinage
2nd series, struck circa 339/8-334 BC
Obverse: [ZEYΣ EΛ-EYΘEPIOΣ], Laureate head of Zeus Eleutherios with long hair left (Eleutherios is “Pertaining to Freedom”).
Reverse: [ΣYPA-K-OΣIΩ-N], free horse prancing or galloping left.
References: Castrizio Series II, 1; CNS 80; HGC 6, 1439
Size: 27mm, 18.06g

 

Erm, TIF? Definitely tmi...

It was love at first sight 25 years ago:



Two years later I met my lovely wife, and – no mere crushes here! – our ménage a trois persists to this day!

 

My wife and I have been married 50 years but I have had these three coins longer than that. Two are Septimius Severus from 'Emesa'; one is Julia Domna from Rome. They were not my first ancients but they will be the last sold.

I still have not seen another of these with the X support under the chair. No one cares but me.

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ki...ot_of_17_issues_19661967/1174902/Default.aspx
When I wrote an article on this coin for the 'Voice of the Turtle' magazine in 1966 I thought this was rare but now I have three. That tends to happen to rare coins if you look long and hard. I have seen a few others but do not need them all. You don't upgrade coins after 50 years.
My first ever Julia Domna appears to be overstruck on something. I suspect it is Commodus.

 

Nice Severus II! He was the last "easy" (read: sub-$100) emperor that I acquired. I have one as Caesar (Carthage)


And one as Augustus (Heraclea)


As for coins I'm crushing on...

I bought these two late last year and have them set up on my desk so I can oogle at them on days I work from home - both are much nicer in hand!

 

A long long time ago, I fell utterly in love with this coin (now my avatar here.) I sat on my land-line phone for two straight hours, hitting redial over and over again until I finally got a person instead of a busy signal. I was sure it was all for naught and the coin would be long gone, but miraculously my coin was still available. It really was something of a secular miracle; a few weeks later the dealer contacted me, saying he'd received a half dozen orders for this coin and he could give me a nice profit if I cared to flip it. I declined. It was an easy decision, even though I could've used the money; I've still never found another, in public or private hands, with as nearly a complete wreath as this one has.

Phil Davis

 

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever", as Keats wrote.

 

I will show you two coins I have a crush on.

This is a very bad photo' of a nice Syracuse tetradrachm (Tudeer 82, SNG ANS 290). I had seen it on the Spink website and thought it was nice and went to the London Coin Fair in November 2007 and there she was in the flesh. I negotiated a small discount, ran out to an ATM and returned and she was mine. I carried her around in my pocket for a while and it was months before I bought another coin.
It's obviously a well-worn coin and the obverse isn't great, but the Arethusa head is really beautiful in real life, a serene time traveller that I hope to enjoy for a few more decades. I need to take a new photo'.



The second was love at first sight - at the Irish International Coin Fair in Feb. 2010. Mark Rasmussen doesn't have many ancient coins, but he had a few on this occasion. I passed his table and someone was holding this. I thought "Wow!, don't buy it! - did I say that aloud?", took a deep breath, wandered around the room and returned as soon as the coast was clear. Larissa was still there! I bought her and a lovely Chios hemidrachm.



Anyway, nice thread!
ATB,
Aidan.

 

I've absolutely felt this "love at first sight" with coins a number of times. If I had more self-control, I'd only buy coins that evoked that feeling but sometimes you just want to scratch that coin itch.