CLAUDIUS - MESSALINA, The Love Children, cousins! RProv Valeria Messalina wife-Claudius 41-54 CE Alexandria BI Tet yr 42-43 13.1g 25mm RPC I 5131
The edges are mangled, but the portraits are fine. RPC 5089 Tiberius and his adoptive father Augustus. Frans
I decided to revive this thread so I could post my own very first Alexandrian tetradrachm: Hadrian, Billon* Tetradrachm, Year 18 (133/134 AD), Alexandria Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from rear, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Serapis enthroned left, wearing modius on head, holding scepter in left hand, and extending right hand toward Cerberus, seated to left at his feet; L IH [Year 18] in left field. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5871 (2015); RPC III Online at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5871; BMC 16 Alexandria 620-621 at p. 74 & PL. XIII [Pool, Reginald Stuart, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria (London, 1892)]; Köln 1095 [Geissen, A., Katalog alexandrinischer Kaisermünzen, Köln, Band II (Hadrian-Antoninus Pius) (Cologne, 1978, corrected reprint 1987)]; Dattari (Savio) 1480 [Savio, A. ed., Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari Numi Augg. Alexandrini (Trieste, 2007)]; Emmett 892 [Emmett, Keith, Alexandrian Coins (Lodi, WI, 2001)]. 25 mm., 12.42 g., 12 h. * RPC describes this coin type as AR, and it actually looks quite silvery in-hand, but I went with billon because I think it's probably the proper classification, using the definition of billon as < 50% silver. Cute doggie. I'm sure those are supposed to be Cerberus's three heads, but he looks like a regular dog standing on his hind legs holding up his front paws.
If you define billon as anything less than 50% silver, you just voided the AR credentials of most silver coins after 200 AD or so. Listen to RPC. My opinion means nothing but I see billon as something gray and grainy. I do not assay each coin. If it looks silver and is not plated, I call it silver. I am neither a metallurgist nor a lawyer.
I understand your point, and admit that I tend to describe my 3rd century denarii and antoniniani before Gallienus as AR, even though I imagine that they're mostly less than 50% silver. However, I don't remember anyone in this thread describing their Alexandrian tets as anything other than billon.
Great first Alexandrian, @DonnaML I have the same type, different year. Hadrian (117 - 138 A.D.) Egypt, Alexandria Billon Tetradrachm O: AVT KAI TPAI AΔPIA CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. R: Hades-Serapis seated left on ornate throne decorated with crowning Nikai, extending right hand over seated Cerberus, holding long scepter in left; L I–ς (Year 16) across field. 12.37g 24mm Dattari (Savio) 1477; K&G 32.514; Emmett 892
I have a few Alexandria Tets, the debased currency of Carus and Aurelian, but my favourite is of Nero. Nero BI Tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt. Dated RY 13 = AD 66/7. [ΝЄΡΩ ΚΛΑΥ] ΚΑΙΣ ΣЄΒ ΓЄΡ AV, radiate bust of Nero left, wearing aegis; LIΓ (date) before / ΠΥΘΙΟΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ, laureate bust right of Apollo Pythios right, quiver over shoulder. Emmett 112; Dattari (Savio) 208 var. (aegis). 13.04g, 26mm, 12h.
Hi @DonnaML, see https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27:Ursula+Kampmann&s=relevancerank&text=Ursula+Kampmann&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
Thanks! Numiswiki indexes it as "Kampmann and Ganschow," which is why I couldn't find anything under "K&G."
Everybody has great coins here for sure... Here's my small collection. I held out for examples that really spoke to me. All bought for around $20-24. Love these!
A new milestone in yesterday's mail - my first "silver" Roman tetradrachm. And gosh darn it, I'm going to call it silver, despite the dull grayness of it. All my other Roman tets are as brown as old pennies (or various shades of green). Egypt ARish Tetradrachm Trajan Year 16 (112-113 A.D.) Alexandria Mint ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ϹƐΒ ΓƐΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚ, laureate head right / L ΙϚ (date), draped bust of Alexandria wearing cap in form of elephant’s head, right. RPC III 4652. (12.67 grams / 21 x 19 mm)
I like your invention of "ARish." I think I may apply that to the Hadrian tet I posted in this thread instead of "billon," since it looks much more silvery than many other Alexandria tets I've seen.
Here's a recent arrival. Roman Empire, 138-39 AD BI Tetradrachm Alexandria Antoninus Pius Obverse: Bareheaded bust right, slight drapery Reverse: Canopus of Osiris right; ЄTO YC B (date = year 2) around Köln 1285 corr.; Dattari 2179 & 8115 10.92 grams 22.00 mm, 1 h.
Perhaps people who collect the coins of Roman Alexandria might be interested in seeing this online catalog from 2018 of CNG's Triton XXI auction of the Staffieri Collection of such coins: https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/cng_tritonxxi_staffieri . Or even in buying a hardcover copy: https://www.numislit.com/pages/books/5559/classical-numismatic-group- cng/the-giovanni-maria-staffieri-collection-of-the-coins-of-roman-alexandria-triton-xxi .
Here's one that just arrived. I wanted a coin of each of Elagabalus's wives, but was never going to own an Annia Faustina imperial, so I went for the next best option and "settled" for an Alexandrian. Even then, it's not the prettiest, is it? ANNIA FAUSTINA, 3rd wife of Elagabalus Billon Tetradrachm. 12.14g, 22.4mm. EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 5 (AD 221/222). RPC Online Temp 10198.13 (this coin); Dattari 4190; Emmett 3028.5. O: ΑΝΝΙΑ ΦΑΥϹΤΙΝΑ ϹƐΒΑ, draped bust right. R: Ares standing left, holding parazonium and spear; at his feet, shield; L Є (date) in left field. Ex NAC 72, 16 May 2013, lot 1660; ex Lanz 135, 21 May 2007, lot 832