My Top Ten Favorites of 2020 – dougsmit

Great coins ! , my two favourites are #2 Tiberius and #9 RR denarius

 

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Exceptional coins, chosen on the basis of huge previous experience and knowledge in ancient coins. I have learned a lot over the years from your posts and comments.
My favorites are #1 Albinus and severus, #3 Tiberius and #10 Vetranio.

 

Great post, lovely coins. No 3 is my favorite, great coin, very interesting numerals on the reverse. You could try to get coins from the old continent again!

 

That’s a splendid list for a year as ghastly as 2020! I personally like the Alexandrian Septimius Severus (no 6) best. It has an extraordinarily fine portrait.

 

I think you underestimated your collecting year, Doug. Some of these are the kinds of coins you don’t get multiple chances at.

My favorites:

#4 Tarkondimotos - My favorite coins are the ones that tell a story and this is a coin that has an individual story to tell. The theory that the countermark was meant to cover up a bad bet made by the family is absolutely fascinating. This coin was lucky to escape the eraser of historical revision.

#1 Clodius Albinus / Septimus Severus - This is another story coin. It’s an ironic final insult to Albinus that he will have to stare forever at the man who outwitted him.

#9 C. Renius Denarius - Im a bit ashamed to pick the pretty one as a favorite but this is a nice coin with a pleasant tone. Those republicans would put anything in front of a chariot

 

Congratulations.
My favorites are 1, 9, 6.

 

What a fantastic ten! Between that cherry condition Frank Robinson goat RR, the dream coin from Kroton, that Tiberius is a thing of beauty aaand just the right amount of Severus
Not that anybody asked but here's my top three in personal desirability:
3 Sybaris (though, the Kroton is a stunner)
2 Goat Frank RR (NOT his new nickname)
1 For Pete's sake, that Septy facing Albs is a masterstroke of deception, and two facedness (in any time period) in tangible hold in your fingers glory
Other than Vetranio I've got none of your coins and I won't sully your thread with that. But thanks for sharing both your coins, knowledge and opinions

 

The top 10's are starting to pour in! Doug's top 10 is always one of the most interesting to read in my opinion and has some of the most thought out purchases of them all. I doubt any of my coins would make it on his personal list and vice versa, but it is the personal motivations for acquiring a coin and the reasons you personally found it fascinating that make it such a great read. This year, the Kroton stater has to take the top spot for me! But all are nice purchases from quite varied fields. Wonderful selection, here’s to many more of your top 10’s!

 

@dougsmit, an inspiring top 10 list and historic coins, impossible not to gawk at #1 with facing portrait rivals, or marvel at #4 Tarkondimotos as 'friend of Antony' (appealing to my late Roman republican interest), and although I have neither sufficient context for McAlee provenance not the specialist eye for Severan coins of the Alexandrian mint, I am drawn to #6 with the square jawed portrait of Septimius Severus and "Libero Patri" a deity of his birthplace, Lepcis Magna, and a coin from AD 197 - the time of defeat of Clodius Albinus (?)

 

My favorites are your XXXIIX and the Kroton. On the XXXIIX: there aren't many coins with this type of numeral but it would be a marginal time savings. I wonder if it was used elsewhere in tablets/inscriptions where space was a premium? Or, it might just be a lazy engraver wanting to save a couple strokes.

The Kroton is an interesting piece as the lines look intentional, especially on the reverse. Perhaps someone in antiquity doodling on their coin with a knife to pass the time?

 

Fantastic coins, @dougsmit! You had a great year when it comes to acquisitions! I definitely agree with your choice of the Albinus with Severus dual portrait coin from Pautalia. I knew it was a very special coin when I first saw it and hunted down an obverse die match to it albeit with a different reverse type. I also like your Alexandria mint Severus denarius with the LIBERO PATRI reverse type; I only have the Rome mint version of it. Lastly, I found your Vetranio story entertaining.

 

@dougsmit......Very nice group!...Especially like #1 the facing portraits have good detail and are really representative of the rulers, I didn't even know this coin existed let alone why, now I do....Also #6 appeals, again the rarity with a lovely portrait but also knowing it will join a very impressive collection of Eastern mints and will be really appreciated. One little coin that really stood out for me is #4 as I've been looking for a Tarkondimotos I for a while now and had a few possibilities but due to your very informative few lines have now decided which and why. Always look forward to your descriptions Doug as I seem to learn a great deal just from a few lines thanks and congrats on a very interesting top 10 this year.

 

XIIX for 18 is certainly used on this Roman calendar - the Fasti Praenestini - in the Palazzo Massimo. At least on this, they've used VIII for 8, VIIII for 9, XIIX for 18 and XIX for 19 in several places. Perhaps there was a rule that the subtracting digit couldn't be first.



ATB,
Aidan.

 

Supberb coins, Doug! Thanks for sharing your new treasures with us. Your photography/ write up outstanding. Congratulations on making your 2020 a fine collecting year!
John

 

This Titus denarius has TR P IX but most of his have VIIII. Rule are made to be broken?

 

Perhaps there was a rule that the subtracting digit couldn't be first.
This Titus denarius has TR P IX but most of his have VIIII. Rule are made to be broken?

Indeed - and this had a déja vue feeling as I knew I'd posted the calendar before and here it is - as a response to a post of yours featuring the same coin! From Seotember of 2018.

ATB,
Aidan.

1. The problem I pointed out in the first place is the turning of one way of expressing a number into the only way with any other variation being wrong. The Roman mint produced these two Titus coins from TRP 9. Sorry my elephant is worn but it reads TRP IX later in the same TRP year (1 July 79 - 30 June 80, I believe) but after the IMP XV and COS VIII (1 Jan 80) numbers had incremented. Why the change? IDK.
   
   
   http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/
   dougsmit, Sep 1, 2018ReportBest Answer
   #21Like+ QuoteReply
   Johndakerftw likes this.
2. 
   
   akeadyWell-Known Member
   I agree with Doug's point, that rules referred to in other posts are modern efforts to standardise usage of Roman numerals, which were not followed by the Romans themselves.
   
   Here's a pic I took two weeks ago of the Fasti Praenestini from Rome's Palazzo Massimo - part of an early calendar by Verrius Flaccus, the tutor of Gaius & Lucius who would presumably have known his Roman numerals - http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/praenestini.html
   
   18 is consistently written here as XIIX - e.g. see the rightmost column. The subtraction rule isn't used here for numbers less than 18 - i.e. 4 = IIII, 8 = VIII, 9 = VIIII, 14 = XIIII; but is used for 18 & 19 - XIIX, XIX.
   
   
   
   Sorry - that was unreadable - here's a zoomed-in version of part of the rightmost column/month:
   
   
   
   ATB,
   Aidan.
   

 

Great coins @dougsmit !! Excellent dual portrait coin of Severus and Clodius...I can see why it was your #1. The Tiberius as is also fantastic!

 

I think the Croton stater is the one that stands out to me, probably because it is closer to my area of collecting.

 

Great coins, @dougsmit. I think I like the Kroton stater and the coin with the busts of Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus the best. Also, I want to thank you for so freely sharing your knowledge and wisdom with me in the ten months I've been here. I've learned a great deal from you.

 

All very nice coins I love the Tiberius its a very nice example !