Coin show to remember

Friday I left home for the 25 mile drive to our local coin show in downtown Richmond VA. Very soon the radio had an ad for the show saying 'new location'. I had in my pocket a postcard they sent me last week that said nothing about a change. I pulled over where I could surf safely and found the coin club website did indeed show a new location. It turned out the usual hotel space had a fire earlier this week and the show could not be held as usual. I felt very lucky to have stumbled upon this information.

When I got to the show I discovered my favorite dealer was sick and not doing the show. I hope he is better soon. Another dealer had a lot of new (to me) material so I was able to find eight new coins saving the day from being a loss.

Every show includes purchases I like better than others. This is part of the game as I know it. I wonder why I never learn to spot things I will like the next day and things that I will not. This haul included two AE1 folles - one I like one I should have realized I would regret. If I end up with 7 I like and one I don't, I consider it a good day.

Unlike many collectors, I do not require ever coin to be mint state. I do like pleasingly worn coins with some degree of eye appeal. One I like is this follis of Constantius I from Lugdunum. The RIC listings show dozens of minor variations of these which certainly mean more to some specialists than to me.
The above shows Constantius wearing a studded cuirass. I like the style and color. I don't mind the amount of wear. This is a keeper.

Below is the one I may have to learn to love. Can anyone see anything here that makes this one a keeper?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I often have buyer's remorse following coin shows. I make better coin choices from diligent review of digital photos in online venues than during the whorl of a coin show. Mediocre lighting and mediocre eyesight add to the equation. Yet, I keep going back to shows, largely because I like the person-to-person contact, coin chat, intel and gossip that I pick-up (in addition to maybe 1 or 2 keeper coins out of 4).

 

it's a pretty common coin, but it is a London mint for Maximianus with an unusual obverse legend, and also from his second reign.

 

I love the first and like the second, each having different elements of ancient eye-appeal....both would be keepers for me

 

That was the thinking. I did not have a second reign coin and there has been a lot of hype on London mint but this one is common. At the show I saw what I considered pleasing shading on the portrait. At home, the awful reverse and missing letters in the legends overshadowed the good points.

The above is a fact. The gossip alone was worth more than I paid for this coin. The dealer I bought it from has been a friend for 30 years. I saw other collectors that I see at most shows and enjoy seeing what they are buying. One dealer showed me a fake half shekel of type that one of his customers bought on his last trip to Israel and the certificate of authenticity that came with it. The coin was not even close but the certificate was nice.

Yes, shows are fun.

 

I’d consider both keepers. First one has nice eye appeal and I need a second-reign Maximianus myself. I like the portrait on that one too.

 

I haven't been to a coin show in years but I like reading about the experiences. I like both of those coins, Doug. I'm just starting to get into LRB and those both have a really pleasing look to them. That London Max has a really marvelous portrait, common or not - I'd have no regrets.

 

Sounds like you got lucky with the radio add. A lot of people don't listen to the radio much/at all any more.

Nice additions!

 

miss-post

 

"Can anyone see anything here that makes this one a keeper?"

To me any London Mint coin that isn't damaged or worn out is a keeper!

 

I have always liked coins of this issue. I have owned several examples over the years, most of them quite “scuzzy”. I just bought the second coin pictured below from Victor Clark because I simply couldn’t resist the superb portrait - the best I have encountered on a coin in this series:

RIC VI, Londinium, No. 85/90, Maximian Herculius as Augustus emerged from retirement:


DN MAXIMINIANO PFS AVG ................................... GENIO POP ROM -- PLN

The only differention in RIC Volume VI between No. 85 and No. 90 is that the personification of Genius on the reverse wears a modius on his head on No. 85 and a towered headdress on No. 90 (his loins are draped on both). I have always found it difficult to discern the difference on worn reverses.

RIC VI, Londinium, No. 85/90, Maximian Herculius as Augustus emerged from retirement:


Same legends as the above coin.
I believe Genius is wearing a modius on his head here.
Victor Clark photo used with his permission (I haven’t had the opportunity to photograph the coin yet).

 

One thing I held against the coin was my inability to tell the tower from modius question. I see both of yours as a modius which I usually think of as a more narrow but taller item. I was calling mine the tower mostly because it did not have a tall, narrow thing and because I thought I imagined the last remnants of a crenelated wall texture. I would like to see a certain, high grade towered coin. In truth, mine is just worn to a point that it can not be cataloged properly.

 

PFS AVG? I get the Maximiano legend because I've got a Constantine with a "CONSTANTINO" Legend. What is the significance of PFS as opposed to PF (Pius Felix)?

 

P F S = Pius Felix Senior (faithful and happy/contented, etc. - retired - Augustus)

 

The cool part here is that Diocletian wanted to retire and pass the power to the next generation of rulers (his Caesars). He bullied Maximianus into the idea but Max soon wanted his old job back. The Tetrarchy worked fine while there were four Tetrarchs but things went downhill fast when we had so many guys jockeying for position that we needed to invent titles like Senior Augustus and Filius Augusti. By that time Maximianus could not even get along with his own son Maxentius.

Politicians are slow learners. Studying the history of the period turns up examples of trying to fix the too many rulers problem by appointing even more of them (Valens and Martinian come to mind). Constantine came in and executed or otherwise defeated the surplus and left his empire to three sons and a couple nephews. Really? It went so well for Septimius Severus and he only had two sons.

 

Well that is a more enjoyable (and entertaining) summary than that in the majority of my expensive references! I wish you wouldn’t sugar coat things so much though.

 

25-24 mm. 6.61 grams.
Modius or tower? I'll go with towered headdress, but without certainty.


26 mm. 6.63 grams.
S A in fields, PTR in exergue.
Also post abdication, but without the "S" for Senior. This one struck at Trier "autumn 307-end 308" RIC VI page 217 unlisted with this shorter obverse legend. Reverse of Trier 766-769 but obverse legend of 772b.

This one seems to have towers. It does not look like a modius to me.

 

I prefer the method utilized by the Cloke and Toone in London Mint of Constantius and Constantine "this catalogue abandons the practice employed in RIC VI of assigning different numbers to coins on which the figure of Genius is crowned with a modius or a tower." pg 47

Bastien also did this for his catalogue of the Lignières hoard.

So I use something like RIC VI London 85/90

 

Thanks for pointing that out. I have the book and didn't think to look in it. Pages 86-87 discuss this point thoroughly with ten greatly enlarged examples. Sometimes it pays to have the specialist references. Apparently, it is even better if you read them!

 

I agree. That is what I do if I have any doubt.