Two interesting details on Joe's splendid Romulus aureus: Romulus' spear has points on both ends, a feature I have also noticed on some Horseman coins of Septimius Severus and Caracalla; and is that a ladder attached to the left side of Romulus' trophy?
..this 'coin' is my 1st bought item, the internet and my passion for history led me here..this proudly sits on 'the table of coins n stuff ' to remind me of my humble beginnings..
Gee whiz, man, you should put a warning in your title. That thing just made my eyes pop out of their sockets! It is absolutely stunning. My longest-held? I acquired this 1936 dime on November 25, 1976. It was Thanksgiving Day. We were at my grandmother's house. It was quite the Norman Rockwell scene.* I found the coin in Grandmomma's sideboard drawer, while getting out the silverware after being asked to set the table. She let me keep it, of course. I still have it... somewhere. I was ten years old at the time, and the coin was 40 years old, which seemed quite ancient to me then. Now I have owned it for longer than that. That dime started me out as a collector. A month later, I got this 1827 half dollar for my 11th birthday, on December 28, 1976. I still have it, too. Those two above are the only remainders of my childhood collection. This half-sovereign from the Terner collection has the longest tenure in my present collection. I acquired it in 2003. *Edit: I apologize- I know these are not ancients. I came to ancients relatively late, only seriously starting with them in 2007. Though I date my seniority as an ancients collector from 2007, I did have a few before then. I couldn't tell you what the first one was. I suspect it was a reasonably nice Probus antoninianus which a Jordanian family friend had found in her home country and given to me. Being a dumb teenager at the time, I stupidly scrubbed the patina off of it.
One question that might arise is where we get the ID of that figure as Romulus. I suspect it is related to the Hadrian issue which identified the pose as ROMVLO CONDITORI. This also points out the advantage of collecting perfect aurei compared to circulated denarii. The spear point question is not aided by the silver. It would strike me that a point on both ends of a spear would be an advantage in battle but the cost might have limited such weapons to higher ranking combatants. This worn out denarius does show two parallel lines in the trophy in the place of the 'ladder'. This suggests that the intent was there to show something specific. Is there a notable siege in the lore surrounding Romulus? Was there a statue of Romulus in Rome from which this pose was copied?
I've posted these two before. My first ancient coins were both were gifted to me on the same day, circa 1978, when my Greek-immigrant grandfather gave me a coin purse of my late grandmother's which contained some 19th century Greek coins...and these! Presumed field finds from the old country. My grandmother's parents immigrated in 1906. These would have been found before then. AE Antoniniani of Trebonianus Gallus (broken) and Valerian (whole).