This Virus Needs to End (If for no other reason than my bloody wallet)

I am still lucky enough to be working and collecting a pay check. For once it isn't too bad to be a dirty enlisted guy in the military haha. That being said, we are still practicing social distancing and working shifts and on/off weeks.

I have been off since May 14th (happy birthday to me lol), and in that time I have been scouring all the coin sites I know. With that has come me buying and/or bidding on coins. I have lost more than I've won (thankfully for my marriage) but I have won several. Way more than had I been working full time.

Luckily, the coins I like/can afford are low grade and not very expensive. Still, if this virus continues to go as it has and I continue to have all this time off...my wallet is going to call it quits...and my wife might too!

Here are the 3 coins I have received in the last 3 days. I am still waiting on 2 more envelopes. I just wanted to show them off. The total of these 3 coins was a kingly sum of $30 so you can see I am not breaking the bank.

Let's see some of your "bored at home" purchases


Antoninus Pius
AE Dupondius
Rome. AD 139
Obverse: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP, radiate head right
Reverse: TR POT COS II, S-C across fields, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and cornucopiae

(this one looks better in hand but I had a heck of a time taking a picture)


Postumus
Billon Antoninianus
Lyons mint
Obverse: IMP C POSTVMVS PF AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: VICTORIA AVG, Victory walking left, holding wreath and palm, captive at foot

(I think this has a pretty nice portrait of Santa errr I mean Postumus. Plus Victory reverse!)


Maurice Tiberius
582-602 AD
AE Follis
Constantinople
Obverse: DN MAVRIC TIBER PP AVG, Helmeted and cuirassed (or crowned and cuirassed) bust facing, holding cross on globe and shield, sometimes with cross to right
Reverse: Large M, ANNO to left, cross above, regnal year to right, officina letter below
Mintmark CON

 

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I couldn't agree more @furryfrog02. I'm still working as well, but from home instead of my office. Without the 2 hrs of commute timeI have plenty of opportunities to browse coin sites and ebay. I think my wife is starting to get suspicious. Though to be fair I've noticed some shore boxes showing up on the front porch.

I really like the bust of Postumus, that is a great coin. I still need to add him to my collection. I have picked up a fairnumber of coins too, including this poorly struck penny of Henry III from London. The obverse is so weak and worn it is oriented incorrectly in the settles photo.

Henry III AR Short Cross Penny, Canterbury mint struck in the name of Henry II.
19.3mm 1.46g
Obv: Crowned head facing; scepter to left; HENRICVSR EX
Rev: Voided short cross; quatrefoil in each angle; +RICARD*ON*LVND
SCBC 1356

 

That is a cool penny @TheRed
I would eventually like to get a PLON coin and perhaps something like yours. I lived in London for 2 years and have a special affinity for that city.

The Postumus was "on sale" for only $16! How could I say no? The portrait is really nice and I love anything "Victory/Nike". Win/win/win in my book.

 

It was never 'bad' to be a 'dirty enlisted guy'; it just doesn't pay as well as being an officer. I would suggest slowing up a mite so the happy wife is still happy. She might come in handy someday when the kids have moved on to independent housing and you want someone to talk to about something other than coins.

Of the three, I might have skipped the Pius just because I am increasingly bothered by rough surfaces. That said, my recent purchases have not been mint state either but I had a reason to want each one. Most have been shown here in the last week or so since the Robinson sale 'hoard' arrived. I don't think I showed this AE12 Greek of Selge or Sell-gay as Frank put it. I had the type - sort of - but this was nicer than any I have seen and got a bid. What attracted me is the array of branches around the head of Herakles that tend not to be all that clear and certainly were not on my old one. The coin has wear but small Greek bronzes with clear details are not seen everyday.


Unfortunately, I had forgotten I had the type before I bid so I was rather hoping to be outbid BUT when the coin came, I discovered that there are two variations in Sear and my old one was clearly the other one with the large K on the reverse. The sigma in SEL is not bold but is clearly not the same style boxy C as on the new coin. This means I can keep both and not give it to someone or be upset when no one would buy it is an auction. The demand for small, crude Greek bronzes is not quite what I might wish (speaking as someone who has a few). The fact is I am running out of disposable coins now thanks to JAZ and AMCC sales so maybe I'll just stop buying coins and enjoy the ones I have for a while. That doesn't seem as much fun but the lack of coin shows has been very good to my bank account. Come to think of it, not eating out, cheap gas and not going anywhere and cheap entertainment on TV could become a way of life.

 

We have definitely eaten out a lot less and spent much less on gas than we normally would be. Plus with FFIVN's cub scout camp being cancelled (We are both super bummed about that since I volunteer for the week as the Den leader), and his sister's preschool camps being cancelled, we are getting several refunds which is nice.

I could probably spend all day justifying my purchases haha but I think @dougsmit is right. I need to tap the breaks and do something nice for the wife lest she kick me to the curb.

The thing about the cheap gas I noticed today was, that it was about 20c/gal cheaper when nobody was driving and was able to take advantage of it. Yay it was cheaper...but really, barely anyone benefited from it.

@dougsmit I like both of those coins and I'm glad you ended up with different varieties. I think I like the top one the best just based on the patina.

 

..hmmm....you're still getting paid, so i guess your real problem is...

 

Nice Postumus. That’s my absolute favorite reverse of all time. “Spaghetti Victory”

 

I see what you did there (I was a 70s teen) - I'm going to wait and see if anyone else gets it.

 

...styx and stones....

 

I have bought quite a bit of them also.
I too was enlisted and retired after 21 years only to work once again for the military.
Matter of fact you might have seen where I work on the News yesterday we were under lock down with an active shooter alert , was hiding in the dark for about 6 hours.
Here are two coins I have not posted here yet from this last week.



Castulo. Ancient Spain
Late 2nd century BC.
Obv: Diademed young male head
right
Rev: Boar standing right;
star above.


Theodosius I, 379-395 AD. AE3.

Obv: DN THEODOSIVS PF AVG, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev: GLORIA ROMANORVM, emperor on horseback right, hand raised.
Mintmark ANTΓ. (Antioch)
RIC IX Antioch 69

This one not in wildwinds with the Γ officina.

 

Yikes. Glad you are ok. I worked for security forces for a few years and we practiced gate runner drills quite a lot. I was glad to see that it worked yesterday and things ended before they could’ve gotten a lot worse.

I like the Spanish coin. I know next to nothing about them. I got one in an uncleaned lot, it is pretty raggedy but still holds a place in my collection.

 

..well dang dude...i thought you were in Spain...i'm ex military too USAF 5th mob...29353 in the 70's....

 

Was stationed in Spain for almost 5 years a long time back and that is where I picked up my love of ancient coins especially Iberian ones. I would go metal detecting almost every Sunday and I loved it !

 

..ahh...ok...

 

The Postumus is splendid! A great portrait and the reverse shows better engraving and strike than most. Good catch – had I seen this before you did, I'd have pressed the "buy" button within seconds.

As you know, I'm mainly a medieval collector. During the quarantine, I've become a bit more interested in "Eastern" medieval coins connected to the Mongol conquests (maybe I should post a write-up at some point?), and I have started teaching myself to read Arabic legends using Richard Plant's wonderful book "Arabic Coins and How to Read Them". With Album's "Checklist" now being online as well as the great zeno.ru website, it's become a lot easier to learn about this material. I'm still an absolute beginner in this field, though.

Here are some of my most interesting recent purchases:


Great Mongols, under Genghis (Chingiz) Khan or slightly later, BI jital, 1220s/1230s AD, Nimruz (Sistan) mint. Obv: "Qa’an / al-‘adil" ('the just khan'). Rev: " zarb / Nimruz" ('struck in Nimruz'). 14.5mm, 3.42g. Ref: Tye -; Album A1973.


Seljuq Sultanate of Rum, Kaykhusraw II, citing caliph al-Mustansir, AR dirham, 1241–1242 AD (639 AH), Qunya (Konya) mint. Obv: Kufic legend citing caliph: "al-imam al-Mustansır billah amir al-mu'minin;" lion r. with sunface above. Rev: name and titles of Kaykhusraw II in Naskh: "as-sultan al-azam / ghiyath al-dunya wa ud-din / kay khusraw bin kay qubadh;" around, mint and date: "duriba bi-quniyat / sanat tis' / thelathin sittm'iat." 23mm, 2.97g. Ref: Album 1218.


Ilkhanate, under Arghun with Ghazan as viceroy, AR dirham, 1291–1292 AD (690–691 AH), Astarabad mint. Obv: Uyghur protocol in three lines, two above hawk and one below: "[qaghanu]/ nereber/ deletkeguluksen(?)" ('of the Khaqan / in the name of / struck'); Arabic name of the ruler Arghun in central l. field; citing his heir Ghazan in r. field; hawk r., sunface rising behind. Rev: Shiite kalima in three lines in square: "la ilah illa allah / muhammad rasul allah / ali waliun allah", partial mint and date formula for Astarabad in margins. Ref: Album 2149.2. 17.5mm, 2.93g.

 

Those are great coins @Orielensis . Far out of my wheelhouse but great to see. It never ceases to amaze me all of the different coins from different places.

I was thinking the other day, it would be kind of cool to make a “date set” for lack of a better term. A series of coins froma certain time period, say 20AD...just pulling a date out of thin air. Gather as many coins from around that date from as many different cultures.

I think it would be interesting to see just how many different cultures you could get and the amount of history that would be represented.

 

Nice purchases, ff2. That Postumus portrait was worth $30 alone, and I really like the colors on the Maurice Tiberius follis.

 

Wish I knew what that was like...

 

..and we have a winner @Numisnewbiest !

 

..it goes....well i'm sittin' on this bar stool lQQkin'like a damn fool got the 5:00 news blues.....