Three Months Later

I purchased a coin from a German auction house in November. It was shipped to the USA in a package that was postmarked on December 12th:




On March 12th I finally received it! I was sure that it had been lost in the mail. Here it is in all its glory:


Septimius Severus. AR denarius, Rome, 207 CE; 3.08g, 19mm, 6h. BMCRE 531–2, Hill 913 (R), RIC 207, RSC 493. Obv: SEVERVS – PIVS AVG; head laureate right. Rev: P M TR P XV – COS III P P; Africa, wearing elephant-skin headdress, standing half-right, holding out fold of drapery upon which fruit are displayed, lion at her feet standing r., head front.

Please post anything you feel is appropriate: coins of Septimius Severus, coins showing Africa, or coins you thought were lost in the mail but that eventually showed up!

 

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Wow!
This gives me hope that my Secret Saturnalia coin will arrive eventually!

 

Oh dear, I just bought a sestertius of Faustina Major from Germany two days ago. Here's hoping it doesn't fall into postal purgatory for the next few months.

 

I hope it does. I sent a coin via USPS standard mail to my Secret Saturnalia recipient on December 2nd. He received it February 8th. It took the package two months to travel 500 miles.

 

This Nicephorus I follis took a year and a half to get to me. (Not entirely the fault of the postal service, though. It was sent back to the seller, and they sat on it for months.)



Coins from Germany seem to be particularly slow at the moment. I'm still waiting for one shipped in early December...

 

That's a great coin -- nicer than my example, I think, especially the figure of Africa (given that mine has no face!), although I do like the lion's head on mine:



My other Septimius Severus lion denarius, showing Dea Caelestis riding a lion as water flows from a rock in Carthage:



This lifetime Faustina I took more than two months to arrive from Munzhandlung Ritter in Germany last summer, a record for me (for a coin that eventually arrived), which put me off from ordering from Germany again until recently:



And this lovely portrait of Faustina I never arrived at all from Belgium in 2019, a great disappointment that still makes me sad to think about:

 

Me too. I’m waiting for a gift from one of our friends that was sent out in early December.

I hope our gifts come soon so we can share them and relieve the stress of the givers.

Erin

 

Yours does have a handsome lion. It looks to me like yours shows the lion with its head in profile while mine shows the lion with its head front, which seems very unusual.

This is one fantastic coin. I don't have the Dea Caelestis type yet, but it's on my wantlist.

 

I think your lion might be in right profile, but I'm not sure. I can also kind of see it your way.

 

Its body is facing right, the head turned front toward the viewer. The lion's face has two eyes and a muzzle.

 

Fantastic coin and photograph!

 

Now I see it! It is interesting that two different dies of the same type differ to that extent, since mine is clearly in left profile. Also, do you subscribe to the theory that that's fruit that Africa is holding in a fold of her clothing?

 

I received a package from Germany 3/10/21, mailed one week
before Thanksgiving 2020. I had one travel 9+ months last year
from Italy. Waiting on one mailed 3 weeks ago from Germany.

 

Yes, it's definitely fruit (my opinion). What else could it be? There are coins of later emperors such as Constantius Chlorus showing the personification of Carthage (in Africa) and she's holding what are clearly some kind of fruits, and the symbolism is derived from earlier images.

 

Wow, 9+ months. Crazy, but it's good to know that it's possible for something to show up that we thought was long lost.

 

That's a great-looking coin - well worth the wait. Though waits are frustrating.

This gives me an excuse to post my Septimius Severus Africa - a sestertius:


Septimius Severus Æ Sestertius
(194 A.D.)
Rome Mint
L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IM[PIII], laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder / [AFRICA] S-C, Africa standing right, holding out fold of drapery containing fruits, lion std. right.
RIC 668b; Cohen 26.
(18.67 grams / 28 x 26 mm)

Attribution Note:
Appears to have slight drapery; only RIC 668 has this option, per OCRE. IMP number obverse not visible, two versions possible:

RIC 668; Cohen 26: IMP III
RIC 676; Cohen 29: IMP IIII

 

I think I must consider myself happy for the last package that spent 2 weeks with FedEx! (1500 km from Munchen to my location).
Certainly not a big delay but I was starting to think it's lost, since FedEx never had 2 weeks transit time.

My worst experience was also with a package from Germany sent with DHL. Took 28 days. For 3 weeks it was lost and it suddenly appeared in a town away from the normal route, with the comment "slightly damaged".
It contained some banknotes from a gentleman I bought a lot of modern coins and notes from + some surprises he added including an excellent album.
The item was not damaged at all, I think it was their excuse for the delay, I confirmed with the gentleman that the box was exactly like he sent including his original duct tape.

This was one of the coins in the last 2 weeks shipment, I like this one very much



Divus Lucius Verus AD 169. Rome
Denarius AR
18 mm., 2,70 g.
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596B; RSC 55, BMC 503
Date: AD 169
Obverse Legend: DIVVS VERVS
Type: Head of Lucius Verus, bare, right
Reverse Legend: CONSECRATIO
Type: Funeral pyre in four tiers, adorned with statues and garlands, quadriga on top