Here are my top ten coins of the year 2020 that each cost, including shipping, $100 or less. I did buy some coins over $100, but this list is limited to those $100 or under. Other years my top coins might have included Greek and earlier Roman coins, but this year my list begins in the third century. The coins and listed and numbered in chronological order of the ruler. #1. Maximinus Thrax, 235-238 Sestertius. 31-29 mm. 22.90 grams. MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM. Final portrait style. PM TRP IIII COS PP, emperor standing left, right hand raised, left holding long vertical staff, three standards, two on the left and one on the right. RIC 40. BMC 221. Year 4 is 238. This issue from his last year is very small. Maximinus lost control of the Rome mint when the Gordians were proclaimed emperors at Rome in the beginning of April, 238. BMC thinks the mint had been preparing even before that by not issuing many coins in the name of Maximinus in year 4. US auction. I have a sub-collection of coins of Maximinus Thrax. You can see my website on them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Maximinus/Maximinus.html If you want to get one portrait of each Roman on coins, you soon discover Tranquillina, wife of Gordian III, is extremely rare and expensive as an imperial coin, but not so expensive as a provincial coin. When this tetradrachm from Alexandria came along I put in what I thought was a low bid and was surprised it won. #2. Tranquillina, wife of Gordian III 22 mm. 12.94 grams. Tetradrachm of Alexandria A nice example with excellent surfaces. Homonia standing left, holding up right hand and with double cornucopia in left, LS for year 6 = 242/3. Emmett 3440 Sear III 8897 (but year Z). US auction. In 1985 I bought a great Tetricus I on a visit to Berk's before he moved from Joliet to Chicago. Of course, that meant I "needed" a great Tetricus II to go with it. I've been looking ever since. His coins are very common, but very rarely in very nice condition all around. I got some nice, but not extremely nice, Tetricus II coins over the years, and it took me 35 years to find one this nice that was not outrageously priced. #3. Tetricus II, 270-273 20-19 mm. 2.65 grams. Nice portrait A very common type but quite difficult to find with a portrait this nice. RIC V.II 270. Sear III 11292. eBay One could specialize in coins of Roman Alexandria. The mint made many fascinating types that are wildly unlike types minted elsewhere and there are excellent reference works on the series. But that is a rabbit hole I have not gone down. Nevertheless, there are some particular interesting types, even for a Roman imperial coin collector, including this one with a legend more like imperial types. Carinus and his brother Numerian were the only two emperors to mint coins at Alexandria with a numbered legion. Why they did so is unknown. Maybe that legion did something special in the war with the Sasanians. #4. Carinus, 282-285 19 mm. 7.78 grams. Tetradrachm of Alexandria LEG B TRAI (Legion 2 Traiana) LΓ (year 3, Sept 284 - Spring 285) American auction. I like helmeted busts and this reverse type is scarce for several emperors. I'd like to eventually get one of this type of each of the emperors. A dealer noted he was thinking of selling coins from his collection and entertaining offers. I made offers on two and mentioned that I would consider making an offer on a few others if we were in the same ballpark. Well we weren't in the same ballpark on the first two, but he came back with a offer on this one that I accepted. #5. Severus II, 305-306-307, as Caesar SEVERVS NOB CAES VIRTVS AVG ET CAESS NN Horseman spearing kneeling foe with a second foe prostrate on the ground. AQΓ RIC VI Aquileia 67a If you follow CT, you know I like AE coins of the tetrarchies. There are several "GENIO" types and I have a website on them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/GENIO.html One of the scarer types has legend beginning "BONO GENIO" and was only issued by Maximinus II at Alexandria in the names of Maximinus II, Licinius, and Constantine as Augustus. The mint of Alexandria belonged to Maximinus II and coins with this reverse are almost all in his name. #6. Maximinus II, 305-310-313. Struck as Augustus c. 311-312. 24 mm. 5.97 grams. BONO GENIO PII IMPERATORIS This type, with BONO, is unusual and unique to Alexandria. MA-Shops One of my first loves was late Roman AE, largely because they were and are inexpensive and on a budget you can have more coins coming in the door when they are cheap. In the pre-internet age I took copious notes on all the AE types from RIC IX which covers Valentinian (note my username) and later. I have RIC on a shelf so close to my desk that I don't have to move to reach it, and I reach for it many times a day. When the internet arrived, Doug and I were the first two to make significant educational websites about ancient coins. Mine: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ His: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/ Before searches on Google were so effectively monetized, there was a period when a search on "Roman coins" would bring up my site at the top. Those days are long gone. There is no money in educational websites so they dropped down the search lists. I just searched on "Roman coins" and my site came up on page 11--I doubt many searchers get that far. I took all those notes and made a massive website which has grown to well over 100 pages: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/ which has been improved many times since then. One of the rarest types in RIC IX (which covers most of this time period) is FELICITAS ROMANORVM (Type 11) which I did not have. In 2020 a CT member posted it in a late Roman thread and I eventually bought it from him, at a price he picked and I was very happy with. #7. Valentinian II 17 mm. 1.87 grams. FELICITAS ROMANORVM An very rare legend, only from Aquileia, with the design of the common SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE Victory left type. RIC IX Aquileia 16a. I love Byzantine copper. I wrote a beginner's website on it: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Byz/ In addition to seeking an emperor set, there are some odd denominations that are fun to find. Usually early Byzantine copper are denominated in nummia: 1, 5, 10, 20, or 40 (the common "follis"). Here is a bold 30. Almost all 30-nummia pieces are, like this one, from Tiberius II. When this one came I was very pleased with the larger-than-usual size: 34-32 mm. It is hard to get a feeling for the diameter of a coin from the image on the internet unless you know the type. You can see the extra millimeters around the rim on the reverse. #8. Byzantine emperor Tiberius II, 578-582. Remarkably large. 34-32 mm. 12.46 grams. Struck 579-582 at Constantinople. XXX for a 30-nummia piece Sear 432. European auction. My CT thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/unusual-denomination-byzantine.357164/#post-4281885 Here is a very common Byzantine coin, but in uncommon condition. It is an anonymous follis. Here is my website on anonymous folles: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ByzAnon/ #9. An "anonymous follis" of Class G 28-26 mm. 7.30 grams. Attributed to Romanus IV, 1068-1071 Sear 1867 European auction. One good reason to like Byzantine AE coins is that it is possible to get coins inexpensively that are almost as good as (sometimes, even better than) the ones in the reference works. With Byzantine coins you learn the concept of condition "for type". If you have looked at Byzantine AE coins for many years and have illustrated references (including on-line), you can research types and learn what makes a coin one that would be difficult to improve upon. When I saw the bold lettering on this one, I knew it might be remarkably nice in spite of being holed and squashed. Research confirmed it, and an eBay offer was accepted. Old CT thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/empire-of-thessalonica-1224-1242.356621/#post-4244969 #10. Theodore Comnenus-Ducas, of the Empire of Thessalonica. 33-28 mm. 3.10 grams. Holed and squashed, but remarkably good details, especially the lettering. Sear 2167. If you spend more you can buy better coins. That's obvious. But, you don't have to spend over $100 to get a coin you can love.
Nice coins, especially for $100 or less, a challenging task in this times of seemingly endless increases in coin prices. For many years I've collected Byzantine bronze coins, and I think your Tiberius II 30 nummia is a good match with my coin from Cyzicus.
I just typed in "ancient greek and roman coins" and Google places us both on the first page. What happened??? That was the name of my site in the beginning. I believe Valentinian reversed the two so I tried that and I disappeared from the first ten pages but one of Valentinian's sub-pages got a second listing on page one. I forgot when I added my name to my pages but doing that placed me as the first Doug Smith (over the piano player and guitarist) on Altavista (when did Google take over???). Now I am on page 6 of Doug Smiths. The first listed on both searches is a sales site that is illustrated with familiar coin photos (you may recognize some of them).
Wonderful coins. It's difficult to pick a favorite, but I really love the Tranqullina. As for your website, I don't think I'll ever run out of new things to look at. It's certainly one of my most visited ancient coin sites! The most visited, I'm quite sure, is Coin Talk.
Great bunch of coins you have there, Valentinian. That 30 nummi piece is a killer-diller - I am hoping to blunder into that denomination someday. I wanted to say too that your website is truly a gift to ancients collectors - I consult it all the time. A couple years back when I got my first Maximinus Thrax coin, your explanation of all the portrait types was a big help to me. Here is one I got early last year - it was a $4.99 "buy it now" auction on eBay, so it goes on my (imaginary) Top Ten Under Ten Bucks List: Maximinus I Æ Sestertius (236-238 A.D.) Rome Mint [MAX]IMINVS PIVS AV[G GE]RM, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / F[IDE]S M[ILITV]M S-C, Fides draped standing left holding two standards. RIC 78; Cohen 13. (17.88 grams / 29 x 27 mm)
Great scores for less than 100 bucks each. I like a lot the Maximinus Thrax sestertius, the Tetricus II (unusually good on both sides) and the Bono Genio Maximinus II Q
