[ancients] Happy Birthday Diocletian!!

dang...double post...sorry.

 

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got my diocletian yesterday! was needing a diocletian and an alexandrian tet, so got two birds with one stone.





i was surprised how thick this is...are all the alexandrian tets like this?



diocletian
year 5 (L barely visible left of reverse, E right...288-289 ad)
ae tetradrachm

o:Α Κ Γ ΟΥΑΛ ∆ΙΟΚΛΗΤΙΑΝΟC CΕΒ

rev: alexandria holding head of serapis and scepter, L E across fields, star above E.
bmc 1956, curtis 1956

9.1 g
18 mm

 

The coin has a lot going for it. The legends are more clear than many and the holding head reverse is decent. Chunky becomes more of a feature with theese later coins but Alexandrian tets never were thin.

 

great lookin' coin => yah, all of my Alexandria TETs are all chunky and very "Alexandria-distinctive" looking!! (I absolutely love the look/style!!)

 

Yeah the thickness is a big happy, happy, happy!

 

cool, I'm going to have to get some more of these. they feel great in hand....nice weight to them.
vlaha...yours is just great.

 

Here is the only Diocletian I have..

 

Diocletian AE Follis. London mint, ca 298-300 AD. 10g, 28.18mm

OBV: IMP C DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG, laureate & cuirassed bust right.

REV: GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI, Genius standing left, holding patera in extended right hand & cradling cornucopiae in left arm. No mintmark.

REF: RIC VI London 6A.

 

I like every Stevex6 post I come by. Every time I come across one I am more and more sad that I never got to share posts with this one of a kind character with an excellent and diverse pallet for ancients.
Thanks for the res-erection

 

I'd also like to take a second to point out that @dougsmit was taking micro photographs like this back in 2013!

I haven't seen anyone, to date, take as fine photos of ancients. And that includes the major auction houses.
I aspire to have this kind of ability to capture ancients.
"example of what $10 would buy in 2001" makes me wish I was more nerd and less lurid 1 year out of high school. Excellent coin.
To keep it legal, my Diocletian... sellers photos

 

Let's never forget Big-Dio's big cabbages, which he used as an excuse to be pulled out of retirement by Maxie-Boy.

According to legend, when Maximian petitioned Diocletian out of retirement, Diocletian replied something to the effect of, "if you could see the cabbages I've grown, you'd understand why your request is impossible."


This coin is a bit low grade, but for like $10 in a group lot I'll take it as representative of the abdication issue.


This one is one of my favorites, mainly due to the lovely blue-green malachite/azurite patina. Gorgeous.

 

Ryro is too kind but the statement actually is hurtful to me also because I am unable today to take photos as well as I did when that Diocletian was shot. I have excuses including my inability to find coins that are as photogenic and my tendency to try too hard to correct problem A while messing up B, C and D. My failure rate is greater than it once was. I am afraid to try to shoot some of the more photogenic coins again knowing I would fail. My cameras are better but my eyesight and attention to detail have slipped. Do note there is a big difference between photogenic coins a high grade coins. I have photos I really like of worn out old coins and fail to handle some of my few 'better' coins. 'People' photographers pay for professional models. Perhaps I need to put an ad in the paper for beautiful models of the denarius clan. However, the idea is not to make an ugly coin look good but to make an image that shows truth without being excessively graphic about the faults.

Lately I have been playing with super macro where sharp focus is difficult but arranging lighting is much harder. Tiny changes in angle make huge differences. This was yesterday's flop. I posted the whole Divus Galerius in other threads. This is the eagle atop the tomb on the reverse. Dust is killing me. This image shows my failure to wipe the coin clean as much as it does the scraping above the bird. Perhaps I need to go back to coins I have had longer that might show something worth shooting so closely but this was what was at hand.

 

Here's another abdication follis for cabbage-man.

Diocletian (A.D. 284-305) AE Follis

Weight: 6.90 grams

Diameter: 23 mm

Mint: Follis struck at Alexandria (ALE Mintmark) between 308 and 310, after his abdication.

Obverse: DN DIOCLETIANO BAEATISS, laurel-wreathed bust right wearing mantle, holding olive branch and holding mappa in the other hand.

Reverse: PROVIDENTIA DEORVM, Providentia standing right, extending right hand to Quies, standing left, holding branch and sceptre.

Reference: Sear 12922, RIC VI Alexandria 80 corr.

 

Diocletian, Annona on reverse

 

Here is a website about the title "DN":
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/DN.html

The short answer is "Yes".


Maximian, retirement issue
27-26 mm. 9.79 grams.
DN MAXIMIANO BAEATISSIMO SEN AVG
PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG

S F in fields (Saeculi Felicitas?)
PTR in exergue

RIC VI Trier 673b "1 May 305-early 307"

 

This is my only coin of Diocletian, an abdication follis, post reform from Antioch, officina Z, 308 AD

10.5 grams