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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 2590766, member: 57495&quot;]This format was started by Doug in a <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/dougs-2015-5-to-100-list.271503/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/dougs-2015-5-to-100-list.271503/">post </a> last year, and I really enjoyed playing along.&nbsp; The idea is that we show ten coins bought this year costing between $1-$100, with each coin representing your favorite in its own ten dollar price category <b>(ie., your favorite coin between $1-$10, then $11-$20, and so on, all the way up to $91-$100)</b>.</p><p><br /></p><p>None of my coins below duplicate coins in my Top 10 list as the cheapest one in that list, at $125, slightly misses the $100 cutoff here.&nbsp; My hardest choices came in the $61-$70 and $71-$80 brackets, which is probably not surprising since my average per-coin spend for the year was just a bit north of $70.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please feel free to play along even if you have coins missing in some of the price brackets... post your own threads (better) or post in this one if you prefer.&nbsp; Here&#039;s my list, from cheapest to most expensive (prices inclusive of any auction and shipping fees)...</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$1 - $10</b></p><p><b>GALLIENUS. AE Antoninianus ($6)</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]564042[/ATTACH]</p><p>There may be a halfway decent coin lurking beneath the dirt and mineral deposits here, but I&#039;m not much of a coin cleaner and in any case quite like how this one looks in all its grungy glory.&nbsp; I have about thirty Gallienus coins, but didn&#039;t have one with this DEO MARTI reverse.&nbsp; $6 shipped?&nbsp; I&#039;m in!</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$11 - $20</b></p><p><b>GALLIENUS. ALEXANDRIA, Troas. AE20 ($14)</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]564043[/ATTACH]</p><p>Another Gallienus, but this time a provincial from Alexandria Troas.&nbsp; I really like the coins of this city and didn&#039;t have one of this type.&nbsp; It&#039;s a little raggedy but quite well-centered, and still sports a strong bust and nice detail on the eagle.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$21 - $30</b></p><p><b>KINGDOM OF AXUM. Anonymous. AE16 ($24)</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]564044[/ATTACH]</p><p>$24 bought me this pretty AE from Axum, the Ethiopian kingdom that adopted Christianity in the 4th century AD.&nbsp; The central depression on the reverse was once inlaid with gold, but on mine just a few flecks (in the lower right quadrant) remain.&nbsp; Still, how cool is this coin!</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$31 - $40</b></p><p><b>PISIDIA, Termessus Major. Pseudo-autonomous. AE30 ($36)</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]564045[/ATTACH]</p><p>Brian Buckland of Bargain Bin Ancients showed this colourful and impressive 30mm bronze from Termessus Major in a post here a couple of months ago.&nbsp; To me, it looked like a double striking accident at the mint compressed the figure of Tyche on the reverse into an oddity with just a head, robed legs and no torso.&nbsp; Naturally, I contacted him soon after to ask if it was for sale <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$41 - $50</b></p><p><b>CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS. AE Antoninianus ($43)</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]564046[/ATTACH] </b></p><p>Antoninianii of Constantius and Galerius are scarce, having been struck for a short period prior to Diocletian&#039;s comprehensive monetary reforms, which killed off the old workhorse denomination of the 3rd century for good.&nbsp; I had a Galerius but no Constantius, and this one made up for its worn reverse die with a great hook-nosed portrait that was struck nice and deep.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$51 - $60</b></p><p><b>TRAJAN DECIUS. AR Antoninianus ($51)</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]564047[/ATTACH]</p><p>Yet another one with one side better than the other, and if the reverse was as good as the obverse, I don&#039;t think the coin would qualify for inclusion on this list.&nbsp; The portrait here looks almost living to me, and at the same time stately in its toned silver and black.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$61 - $70</b></p><p><b>ILLYRIA, Apollonia. AR Drachm ($68)</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]564049[/ATTACH] </b></p><p>I bought at least half a dozen coins in this price bracket this year that I really love, but the rules are that there can only be one winner... this, a rare drachm of Apollonia showing the Fires of its famed Nymphaeum as part of the design on the reverse.&nbsp; I had to have it to pair with an equally rare hemidrachm, which was the first coin I posted <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-nymphaeum-the-nymphaeum-the-nymphaeum-is-on-fire.272860/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-nymphaeum-the-nymphaeum-the-nymphaeum-is-on-fire.272860/">here</a> this year.&nbsp; As much as this was a coin I wanted to win, nobody else seemed to want it, which was just fine by me <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$71 - $80</b></p><p><b>GORDIAN III. AR Antoninianus ($71)</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]564050[/ATTACH]</p><p>Another price bracket in which I had many favorites, and I waffled alot of which to choose.&nbsp; In the end, it was this common-as-cockroaches antoninianus of Gordian III, with its excellent strike, minty luster, and wonderfully detailed face of Jupiter.&nbsp; I know many here would probably balk at paying $71 for an ant of Gordian III, but this one called out, and my wallet duly answered.&nbsp; Sometimes, you <i>don&#039;t </i>hate when that happens.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$81 - $90</b></p><p><b>JULIAN THE APOSTATE. AR Siliqua ($88)</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]564051[/ATTACH] </b></p><p>It&#039;s a tad worn and nicked (....and cracked... and pitted...), but for me, this siliqua of Julian still has the goods.&nbsp; Decent strike, details, nice old cabinet toning, and a hammer price that says, &quot;it&#039;s too late now, you bought me!&quot; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.&nbsp; The reverse has black ink markings placed on it by a previous collector... some don&#039;t like their coins to have any physical vestiges of prior ownership, but I don&#039;t mind this one here at all.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$91 - $100</b></p><p><b>BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Heraclius. AR Hexagram ($99)</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]564052[/ATTACH] </b></p><p>I hardly ever go down as far as the Byzantine Empire with my collecting, but when I learnt that Heraclius had appropriated the silverware of the church to get enough metal to mint these hexagrams, I just really needed to get one of them.&nbsp; The art on it still looks cartoony to me, but this is a coin with actual historical coolness to its very fabric, and just for that, it beat out all the other coins in its category.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, I hope you&#039;ve not all suffered end-of-the-year-list fatigue by now, and that some of you will go ahead and post your $1-$100 coins... I look forward to seeing them![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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