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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2046924, member: 19463&quot;]On Boxing Day, I thought you were supposed to give the postman a gift but here it worked the other way and I got two coins from two different sources that were predicted to arrive next Monday.&nbsp; Neither will thrill most of you so they get one thread.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The first is &#039;My Favorite Coin&#039; take 3.&nbsp; It is a denarius of Septimius Severus from the Emesa mint with a reverse legend copied from Pescennius Niger and one of the dies dated COS I.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you have not read my reasoning behind &#039;My Favorite Coin&#039; by now you are either new here or don&#039;t care.&nbsp; I first wrote about this type in a magazine article in 1966.&nbsp;&nbsp; On my favorites page I show my first two:&nbsp; </p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f01.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f01.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f01.html</a></p><p>Of course, my favorite pages two, three and four are related coins with the IVST reverse so you could say any VICTOR IVST is a favorite for what time I have left in the hobby.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]374997[/ATTACH] </p><p>Today&#039;s arrival is my third of this type with the COS I obverse.&nbsp; It also come with other early Emesa obverses (some of which I have; most of which Martin has) but the one I got when I was a teen is still &#039;My Favorite Coin&#039;.&nbsp; The new one is yet another die set for the three.&nbsp; This one has a distinctively ragged looking IVST on the reverse.&nbsp; I do have the same obverse die with a different reverse type.&nbsp; There is no reason a sane person would want a third example of this coin but I never claimed to be sane.&nbsp; This one cost more than the 1963 one but less than the one I got in 2005 which is the worst specimen of the three.&nbsp; Will I buy a fourth one?&nbsp; Perhaps.&nbsp; How many of these exist?&nbsp; I don&#039;t know.&nbsp; I was wrong for years thinking the first was unique so there are probably a handful now.&nbsp; I can justify owning as many die sets as I find and am happy to have it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The second coin today was purchased simply because I thought it was worth more than the $21.75 postpaid it brought the eBay seller.&nbsp; I&#039;m not hard to talk into any ancient if it is decent and cheap.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]375004[/ATTACH] </p><p>Similar AE folles of Licinius with Jupiter have been shown on another thread today but this one is Maximinus II from Heraclea workshop A.&nbsp; Notice the double G at the end of the reverse legend indicates that there were multiple recognized Augusti (Licinius, Maximinus II and Constantine).&nbsp; This is one of the unusual Heraclea marks using HT for Heraclea Thracia.&nbsp; What other mintmark included the province?&nbsp; We learned previously that Victory was presenting Jupiter with a wreath but this Heraclea shows that wreath with a very long tie trailing down.&nbsp; Also different from the Siscia coins shown is my eagle&#039;s wreath which is opened into a curve.&nbsp; These coins are not always as well struck as the ones we have been seeing here.&nbsp; I&#039;m happy to have this one, too.&nbsp; Neither of these made my top ten of the year (although the spare Septimius might get shown on that favorite page) but that is another post.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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