Top Ten 2021 - dougsmit

Your owl countermark example is very interesting, Doug. I wonder if the engravers just randomly punch the countermark wherever they want, or specifically in the middle of the sacred stone. I also remember seeing a "variety" with an owl at the left of the snake. Makes me wonder if that is related to Athena. Just my thoughts.

 

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Very nice selection, as always Doug. Your reasons for purchasing a particular coin I always find compelling - the debate between appearance-interest-affordability makes collecting ancients especially engaging, if sometimes frustrating. I'm too lazy to put together a top 10 list, but your inspired me to tag on a few from '21 that have something to do with your list.

Here's one of those Pergamum owl countermarks on a snake; I found information hard to find on these (the reverse is oriented towards the countermark; the snake's head is at 4-5 o'clock). Most of these countermarks are on the Zeus obverse types like yours; I only found one on an Athena type:


Pergamum, Mysia Æ 14
(c. 159-138 B.C.)
Helmeted head of Athena right / [ΦI]ΛETAIΡ[OY], coiled serpent, head raised right.
M in left field.
BMC 78; Sear Greece 7228.
Countermark: Owl standing right, head facing, within 6 mm circle (see notes).
(3.63 grams / 14 mm)
eBay April 2021 $14.99
Attribution Note:
"For Pergamon, 6 of the bronze found coins minted in Pergamon with counterstamps with owl standing to the right are recorded as the most frequent
counterstamps (Voegtli 1993: 7). Two more belong to a canal coin find in
Pergamon (Chameroy 2012: 162)".
Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger
Auction 423, Lot 109, 07.11.2018
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5414827

Thanks to a wrong description on eBay (I often get my best bargains this way), I managed to land a Gordian III sestertius "as Caesar." The price was about double of what I pay for the typical low-grade sestertius in my collection, but the "interesting type" (and scarcity) factor made me pull the trigger:


Gordian III Æ Sestertius
Late April-July 29, 238 A.D.
Rome Mint
M ANT GORDIANVS CAES, bare-headed, draped bust right / [PIET]AS AVG[G] S C in exergue, jug between lituus, secespita and patera left, simpulum and aspergillum right.
RIC 3; Cohen 183; BMC 64-66.
(21.33 grams / 29 mm)
eBay June 2021 $40.00 BIN
Notes: "In response to popular pressure shortly after their own elevation to imperial status, the emperors Balbinus and Pupienus adopted Gordian as Caesar. This scarce coin was part of a limited and formal coinage produced for Gordian." Wildwinds

Only a couple Julia Domna came my way in '21, and this is by far the best (despite my washed-out photos). Again, spent more than usual on a sestertius, and I already had one of these to boot, but I really liked the portrait, the patina and, to some extent the price (the Three P's of bottom-feeding). That it is quite heavy is a bonus too - I like this one a lot:


Julia Domna Æ Sestertius
(c. 196-211 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IV]LIA AVG[VSTA], draped bust right, hair in bun behind / [MAT]ER [DEVM], S-C, Cybele seated left, between two lions, holding branch and resting arm on drum.
RIC 859; BMC 772
(26.92 grams / 29 x 27 mm)
eBay June 2021 $41.00

Not a denarius, but I did get a Trajan "ALIM ITAL" type sestertius. I agonized over this one a long time (it was a "buy it now" eBay listing) - it is worn almost slick and not fully attributable because of missing legends. Seller photos were good and clear, the price reasonable given the scarcity of the type, so I have no reason to complain, but I think I feel a bit of buyer's remorse on this one. As low as my standards are, at a certain point, some coins are just too poor for me to fully warm up to:


Trajan Æ Sestertius
(103-111 / 112-117 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IMP CAES NERVAE] TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P[M TRP COS (V or VI) P P], laureate bust r. / [SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI] S-C, Abundantia standing l., with corn-ears & cornucopiae, child left, ALIM ITA[L] in exergue.
RIC 459 (V) or RIC 604 (VI).
(26.00 grams / 32 mm)
eBay May 2021 $25.00 BIN
Notes: "This coin celebrates the Alimentia, a public loan program intended to aid orphans and other needy children. The state loaned money to farmers to purchase land, the interest being used to feed the children. The program was initiated by Nerva and greatly expanded by Trajan."
(Wildwinds)

However, I can get pretty fond of something horrible if I know I paid very little for it. My Aelius for 2021 was under $2. I have a slightly nicer one, but this one is on my desk at work, something to remind me of the ravages of time and yet also giving me a little hope (SPES) at the same time


Aelius (Caesar) Æ As
(137 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[L A]ELIVS C[AESAR], bare head right / [T]R [POT] C[OS II], S C, Spes walking left, holding flower and raising hem of skirt.
RIC II.3 2700 (RIC 1067a (as)).
(9.65 grams / 23 mm)
eBay May 2021 Lot @ $1.42

I'll sign off with another Julia Domna and a Septimius Severus. Both of these came in a monster lot of ancient, most of them damaged with filled holes (but with a dozen or so un-holed). The price per coin was minuscule and I had hours of fun attributing them. The SS is my very first "Eastern Mint" type (and only has one hole - at the tip of the laurel wreath). The JD has a very pretty look to it - a kind of greeny "hoard patina" I think, which somewhat hides the fact it has been holed four times! What a mess. But I like it anyway:


Septimius Severus Denarius
(194-195 A.D.)
Emesa/Uncertain Eastern Mint
IMP CAE L SEP [SEV PERT] AVG COS II, laureate head right / VICT[O]R AVG, Victory walking left, holding wreath and palm.
RIC 425; RSC 697.
(2.67 grams / 15 mm)
eBay April 2021 Lot @ $1.24


Julia Domna Denarius
(196-211 A.D.)
Rome Mint
IVLI[A] AVGVS[T]A, bust right, bareheaded and draped / [P]IE[T]AS P[V]BL[IC]A,
Pietas standing left, veiled, both hands raised, altar at left.
RIC 574; RSC 156; BMC 69.
(3.22 grams / 18 x 16 mm)
eBay April 2021 Lot @ $1.24


Here's to a happy and coin-filled 2022, Doug.

 

My preferred coin is the Nero teradrachm , on the second place I will put Nerva followed by Aelius . Congratulations !

 

Great ten Doug, but I really love your Galerius, Thessalonika. I have one not as good a quality as yours, congrats.

 

I think it's a very interesting group. My favorites are probably the Nero with snake, the Gordian III Caesar, and the Galerius memorial.

 

Interesting indeed. I was going to say that. Most of the collection are story tellers, even the overstruck coin. Very fine selection.. I agree. No complaint at all. Pride.

 

Very nice, and interesting additions. Too bad you couldn't prove the theory about the usage of the obverse/reverse dies.
All your coins have something interesting, either the story behind them, the obverse, reverse, etc.
It's hard to pick, but I find the Nerva sestertius quite appealing because of the portrait. Here's my Nerva sestertius. It's the other way around, I guess. I got this because of the reverse, the obverse having obvious flaws.

 

You picked up some very interesting coins again this year. I like the Gordian as Caesar tet -- you don't see those every day. And while you DO see Alexandrian tetradrachms of Nero every day, you don't see them with the Agathodaemon reverse type. Very cool. The Galerius consecration issue is very interesting, too, with his tomb on the reverse. I am a big fan of the middle bronze denomination and the Maximus and Severus Alexander asses are fine additions to your collection. This year may not have seen much expansion in the way of your collection (I think you sold more than you acquired), but you acquired some interesting pieces that anyone would be happy to have in his/her collection.

 

I think that reverse of the Nero tetradrachm is hard to beat. I also really like the Trajan Alimentalia denarius because I think it was a really neat thing for him to do. We don't often hear of very charitable events from the ancient world , and I think this shows they were humans with real feelings we can relate to.

 

I think you have #1 right. I'd move up #8 but I like the type

 

I like the way you collect @dougsmit, there's always something to learn from your coins whatever their condition

The Gordian III Caesar is exceptional to my eyes, as is the Galerius consecration

My only consecration follis for the period is that more common (by far) Constantius


Posthumous issue under the reign of his son Constantine the great
Trier mint, 1st officina, c. AD 307-309
DIVO CONSTANTIO PIO, laureate, cuirassed and veiled bust of Constantius right
MEMORIA FELIX, large altar between two eagles. PTR at exergue
5,62 gr, 26 mm
Ref : RCV # 16420 (200), Cohen # 179, RIC VI # 789

Q

 

Your #1 is my favourite as well. Just an awesome coin.

 

Awesome coins! I love the serpent god on number 1.

AncientNumis

 

Nice interesting selection!...I particularly like the Galerius especially the reverse!

 

Doug, it looks like you focused on provincial coins this year . My favorites are #3, #6, & #1, in that order .

 

How did I do on this one?

I've been digging denarius minted under Trajan. I was happy to see this one come up in a @John Anthony auction.

Trajan 98-117 A.D. denarius RIC II 291 112-113 Roma
From the Doug Smith Collection

 

How could I forget these two in my earlier reply? A Gordian III provincial and a Julia Domna denarius. I was rearranging my coins last night and found these. The Gordian III provincial has a snake design as well.


Gordian III (238-244). Thrace, Hadrianopolis. Æ
26mm, 9.14g, 1h.
OLaureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. R/Coiled serpent r. RPC VII.2 online - (unassigned; ID 67363).

Julia Domna denarius

 

The coin came to me in 1998 from the stock of Pete B. I included it in the sales group because I have been buying too many Trajans considering he is not one of my prime interests. This is another photo.

 

Well, I love the SA As of course, and being partial to middle bronzes the As of Maximus too. I sure wish I had Gordie as Caesar myself and the Divo Galerius is fabulous (did they remove the worms before entombing him? Or I suppose they were reduced to ashes along with him.)

As for #10,

Hopefully this video will post successfully:

I'm 99% sure it's the same die. The third straight prong on the radiate crown is misleading because much of it wasn't struck up the second time. What do you think? Is this video the proof you need, or at least close?

 

I love that Divine Galerius reverse. It really does look like an angel floating above that tomb or mausoleum. That would probably really upset Galerius! I suppose it’s just a victory. Spectacular coin.