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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Claudius_Gothicus, post: 8351730, member: 116315&quot;]Despite the fact that coin shows here are uncommon and usually focused only on modern currency, this weekend I still took the chance to visit a local one which I hadn&#039;t attended in many years; back then I didn&#039;t care that much about ancients, but I did remember them being few and overpriced, so I wasn&#039;t expecting much. Surprisingly, however, I ended up finding this military bust of Gallienus; it was already at an affordable price and, when the dealer offered me a hefty discount as well, I had no choice but to pull the trigger:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1481796[/ATTACH] </p><p>Roman Empire, Gallienus (253-268), Antoninianus, Rome mint.</p><p>Obverse: G-ALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust left, holding spear pointing forward and shield;</p><p>Reverse: GENIVS A-VG, Genius standing left, holding patera in right hand and cornucopia in left hand, standard to the right; V in left field, I in right field;</p><p>RIC V - (c.f. RIC V 197); MIR 371p;</p><p><br /></p><p>While all the military busts of Gallienus from Rome are very rare, this one is particularly challenging to find, as there seem to be no examples in the sales archives: the only one I could find a photo of is the following, which is illustrated on <a href="https://bnumis.com/gallienus.net/index.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://bnumis.com/gallienus.net/index.html" rel="nofollow">bnumis</a> and is a double die match to mine, suggesting a limited output. If anybody has access to MIR, though, I&#039;d like to find out how many examples are listed there.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1481829[/ATTACH] </p><p><i>(Image courtesy of bnumis.com)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>This Genius issue is not that common even in its standard type with a radiate head, so finding the other military busts, which feature the longer obverse legend IMP GALLIENVS AVG, is equally challenging:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1481823[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1481826[/ATTACH] </p><p><i>(Images courtesy of Leu Numismatik)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>This coin is also significative from an historical point of view, as it belongs to the first group of coins struck at Rome for Gallienus&#039; sole reign; considering the turbulent time period, it&#039;s no wonder that the engravers introduced there the military bust, which had made its first appearance on a rare Viminacium antoninianus a couple years earlier. Several varieties exist, and they are all very rare and sought after:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1481824[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1481825[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1481827[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1481828[/ATTACH] </p><p><i>(Images courtesy of Leu Numismatik)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s all for now; post your favourite purchase from a coin show, your coins with military busts, or anything else you feel like might be relevant <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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