My last two purchases came in the mail today and I managed to round out a few more for a "Final Five". All of them are budget coins but some of them I think I did pretty well on. Let me know what you think! These 2 were sold in a lot as "Roman Coins Late Empire". I could tell that they weren't. Unfortunately, so could a few other people. I ended up paying $32 for the pair, so $16 per coin. I don't think that was terribly bad all things considered. Hadrian EGYPT, Alexandria 127/128 AD (Yr12) Billon Tetradrachm Obverse:Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind Reverse: Sarapis enthroned left, holding sceptre, Cerberus at his feet left 24mm/12.58g Maximinus II Follis 308- 310 AD Obverse: GAL VAL MAXIMINVS NOB CAES; laureate head right. Reverse: GENIO CAESARIS; Genius standing left, modius on head, naked except for chlamys over left shoulder, holding patera from which liquid flows & cornucopiae; K in left, A over P in right. In ex. ALE Number 3 was a type that I've wanted for awhile. Something with a big serpent on it. This provincial Septimius Severus fit the bill. And for $10.50, I couldn't say "no". I had a bit of a tough time attributing it since it seemed to be an obverse die match for one coin (Varbanov 4803) but a reverse match for another (Ruzicka 397). I finally managed to find a match on acsearch from a Roma Numismatics sale back in 2017. I believe this to be Varbanov 8404 var. Septimius Severus Æ30 Pautalia, Thrace 193-211 AD Obverse: AVT Λ CEΠTI CEVHPOC ΠEP, laureate head right Reverse: OVΛΠIAC ΠAVTAΛIAC, Agathodaimon serpent, with forked tail to left and head radiate and erect to right That brings me to the last two, and one of the ones I'm most proud of for the year. These two were listed as "Lot of 2 Small Roman Bronze Coins". I started out by noticing the camp gate reverses which I like but I realized that one of them wasn't a normal looking camp gate. A bit of sleuthing discovered that the reverse was used by only 2 people: Magnus Maximus and his son, Flavius Victor. The obverse legend is a bit hard to read but if you know what you are looking for, you can make out DN FL V(IC)-TOR PF AVG. That coupled with the young portrait, lead me to it belonging to the young, though not sure how young Flavius Victor. You can read @savitale 's great post about Flavius Victor here. Flavius Victor AE4 Aquileia 387-388 AD Obverse: DN FL VIC-TOR PF AVG, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right Reverse: SPES RO-MA-NORVM, campgate, six layers, two beacons, star above, no doors. Mintmark SMAQS The other coin was easily identifiable as Valentinian II. It has a pretty good portrait and the camp gate isn't bad either. Unfortunately, I had a hard time taking a picture of such a small coin. Valentinian II AE12 Obverse: DN VALENTINIANVS PF AVG, diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right Reverse: GLORIA REIPVBLICAE, campgate with two turrets; A in left field Mintmark TES I thought I was going to get these for a steal at the 0.99c opening bid but at the last bit before auction ended, I got bid up a bit. I still only paid $14.50 for the two coins which I consider a win. Thanks for looking! The tadpoles and I have had a great year collecting and sharing with you all. We are still working on some uncleaned coins and attributing some others but these are the last purchases for the year. Now it's time to work on a "Top 10"!
Always a treat when coins arrive at the door/ esp. this time of year. I had a book come today/ coins of the "Ionian Islands" minus Crete/ Cyprus.
Nice December purchases, @furryfrog02. I like your Hadrian Alexandria coin. Your big serpent coin is another of my favorite.
The Hadrian is nice and chunky. I only have one other earlier Egyptian tetradrachm, a rough A. Pius. Not nearly as chunky or nice.
Just a heads up about checking those blue-ish spots on this coin. They look to be bronze disease from the photos.
I checked when it came in. Tried dislodging with a toothpick but they didn't move. I will keep an eye on it though. Thanks. You think a distilled water bath would hurt?
f.f., I like both of the Roman-Egyptian coins, & for $32 that was a steal . The Hadrian Tet looks like it has more silver than usually seen in his coins . I have only one Hadrian Tet that shows only a faint trace of silver. In regards to the Alexandrian nummus, if you haven't tried this already, try scratching the green deposits with a wooden toothpick. If nothing comes off, I wouldn't do anything else. I did the toothpick routine on a Justinian I bronze I got this year, & nothing came off . The coin will stay as is .
