A New Coin That I Am Already Sure Will Be In My Top 10 For 2021

@DonnaML........That's a wonderful looking example!...Especially like the portrait and although we all know he did have a large Roman nose your new coin puts it more into perspective and is probably quite a realistic depiction...Nice little bit of golden toning in the hair maybe a good sign for the future look of the coin?

Nerva was the thorn in my side for a year or so to complete my 5 Good Emperors set as I kept being outbid on in the final minutes but finally picked up this one which I'm really pleased with...
Nerva AR Denarius. Rome, AD 97.
Obverse..IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR POT, laureate head right
Reverse..COS III PATER PATRIAE, Priestly emblems: simpulum, aspergillum, guttus, and lituus.
RIC 24; RSC 48. 3.12g, 17mm, 6h.
Near Very Fine.
From a private Swiss collection.

This one will definitely be in my top 10 for this year....It's one of the nicest examples I've seen..
Phoenicia, Arados 2 B.C
Aradus mint, year 258 (local Era) = 2/1 BC. 8,9 g - 20mm
Obverse: Bust of Astarte-Europa right with smaller head of Augustus in front.
Reverse: Humped bull galloping left, head facing, Phoenician letters beth (B), taw (TH), zayin (Z) & aleph (´) above, Aradian era date 258 (ΣNH) below.
RPC I 4483.

 

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A coin that will be for sure in my top 10 2021 :



Sicily, Syracuse - 25 Litrae circa 310-305, EL 3.58 g.
Obv. Laureate head of Apollo l.; in r. field, horse’s head.
Rev. ΣYPAK – OΣIΩN Tripod.
Jenkins, Essays Robinson, Group C, plate 15 (O18/R34).

 

This Aes Grave will certainly will be in my Top 10 2021

 

Although it has flan issues, missing the legend and the reverse could have been better I think this coin will make the top .


Also this (again centering issues) but the artistry of the portraits made me like it very much


Pretty sure this one will.

 

Donna, Nice score ! The reverse design is especially attractive . The coin pictured below will certainly be posted in my top 10 for the year .

 

Nice! That's one of the more accomplished Nerva portraits I've seen. I can see why you'd expect for that to be in your Top 10 for the year. While I would have loved an example with a cartoonishly prodigious honker myself, I'm still quite pleased with what I consider an appealing and fairly realistic portrait on mine.


NERVA
AR Denarius. 2.88g, 17.4mm. Rome mint, AD 97. RIC 14; Cohen 20. O: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P COS III P P, laureate head right. R: CONCORDIA EXERCITVVM, clasped hands.
Ex Ratto Sale, 19 January 1956, lot 366

As for a 2021 acquisition that I'm sure will be making my top 10, here's one that's actually my very first purchase this year. I'd be surprised if it doesn't end up in the top 5.

NERO
AE Contorniate. 18.18g, 36mm. Rome, circa late 4th century AD. Alföldi, Kontorniat 200; Cohen VIII pg. 290, 129. O: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX, laureate head to right; engraved palm leaf before. R: Olympias reclining left on couch, extending hand to serpent coiled at her knee.

 

Great coins @DonnaML and everyone!

This Nerva denarius has one of my favorite designs: clasped hands

 

Wow...stunning coin. Love the use of clasped hands through the ages, I have quit a few.

Nose is a bit understated here.

 

Nice coin of Nerva there Donna and certainly a Top-10'er.

 

That's an atypically attractive Nerva portrait, @DonnaML , and a worthy top 10 addition!

I've posted it a few times already but my first coin of the year will quite possibly be my best:



Pantikapaion Stater (Gold, 9.09 g 2), c. 350. Head of bearded Pan with goat’s ear and unkempt hair to left. Rev. Horned griffin, with its head facing and a spear in its mouth, standing to left on stalk of wheat. Gulbenkian 580. Jameson 2144 (this coin). Prinkipo 166. SNG BM 855. Extremely rare. With a head of Pan of remarkably fine style and delicacy. Minor scrapes on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the de Guermantes collection, and from those of R. Jameson, 2144, and the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich.

 

That's a really great looking coin @DonnaML, with an interesting history behind it. I got my 'clasped hands' too this year, but it won't be in my top 10 I think. Tiberius and Nerva should do a nose contest one day...

from a private Dutch collection, (namely mine). Up with the value! ;-)

 

After seeing these wonderful examples of coins people think will be in their Top 10 lists, I can tell it's going to be a great year for a lot of you. Not that I'm in any hurry for December/January to arrive again, but I do look forward to seeing more of everyone's favorite coins for the year, when the time comes.

And thanks for posting all the great Nervas, even though I forgot to ask for them specifically. I wanted a Nerva clasped hands example for a long time; I didn't really care whether it was the one with the hands alone or the one with the legionary standard behind the hands, and would have been happy with a nice example of either.

I must say that after seeing some other examples of my type, I remain very surprised that Mattingly & Sydenham (RIC II), H.A. Seaby (RSC II), and David Sear (Sear RCV II) all state that the clasped hands are actually holding the standard. (I haven't checked to see what Cohen said.) As @curtislclay said above, that's probably a physical impossibility -- unless the hands are larger than humanly possible! Did all these noted experts actually independently think they were seeing the hands holding the standard, or were they simply all copying whoever was the first to make that mistake? I guess it's a lesson that sometimes you have to trust your eyes, and your common sense, over what a catalog says, no matter how expert and famous the author!

 

Of course, thanks for asking. This lot arrived on Dec 31 of last year, but after I posted my top 10 of 2020. They looked like good candidates for this year. The seller's pics are shown below.

I have seen several of these. Mine looks to be above average, but below a couple that have posted here.
Roman Republic, Aes Grave, Apollo/Apollo Series, Cast Triens, Rome, ca. 270 BC;
Obverse - Head of horse r.; below, °°°°,
Reverse - Same type l.
Green patina, about extremely fine. Scarce.
114 grams
50 mm
12 H
Crawford 18/3;
ICC 35.


Cast Semuncia
Unknown mint in Central Italy, AE, 3rd century BC
Obv - Beetle, three identifications for this coin are: Scarab, Beetle and Acorn
Rev - Sunburst of four rays. Based on the pictures from Haeberlin, I think the reverse is a 4 petal flower.
aVF, irregular shape, features worn, but mostly there. Brown-green tone. Very rare.
11 grams = 264 gram equivalent As
23 mm
12 H, seller said 2 as did several other vendors. This cast coin is like several others in that I do not know what the maker of the coin intended to be “up”.
BMCG Italy pg 60 shows 3 similar coins
#40 & #41 – Scarab / 4 leaved flower
#42 – acorn / 4 leaved flower
HNItaly 397; beetle / star of 4 rays; notes this coin is probably related to BMCG-I 60.42
ICC 318, wt range 8.0 – 20.4 grams
TV 235, 252 – Vecchi identifies the obv as Beetle or acorn and the rev as 4 leaf flower
Syd AG 116
Haeberlin pg 171, 1 – 28; pl 69, 12 – 14
Obv: Kafer von oben gesehen - Beetle seen from above
Rev: vierblattrige blume - four-petalled flower
Average Wt of 22 examples = 12.87 grams = 308.88 gram eq as



Cast AE Nummus (As), Apulia, Luceria, 225-217 BC;
Obv - Head Apollo left, hair tied with ribbon; below chin – mark of value: I
Rv. Rooster standing left.
Most books list 3 variations on this coin. Two types have letters around the rooster: L.SEXTI.SEP.BABI or M.LAVINIO. A third type has no letters.
Very rare, untouched green patina, about extremely fine.
214.5 grams
64.7 X 67.5 X 14.6 mm
2 H
TV 195 Note: 194a & 194b with letters
ICC 336 Note: 194a & 194b with letters