Gordian III project continues with Gordie Aequitas

Well, the Gordian III project took another small step today with this Gordian III Aequitas from Antioch. This is my 9th Gordian III antoninianus reverse, and a fairly common reverse design for Gordie. I need to work on the denarii more, as Ive only got 3 reverses in that department. Provincials also needs some work...only 3 so far.

Coming soon, Im exploring the idea of a website of Gordie III denarii and ants, as well as general ancient coin collecting tips, and perhaps a few sections too documenting my non-Gordian coinage suxh as my Greek, other Roman, and Parthians. But definitely I want to focus on 3rd Century coinage more on the website, as that is my passion, and Gordie would naturally be center stage.


Gordian III, 238 - 244 AD
Silver Antoninianus, Antioch Mint, 22mm, 5.36 grams
Obverse: IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS PIVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian right.
Reverse: AEQVITAS AVG, Aequitas standing facing, head left, holding scales and cornucopia.
RIC177


Anyway, feel free to post whatever, or leave tips and comments for my website idea. I will also be exploring the idea of doing a presentation to a club or something. I know there is a coin club in Broward. Maybe I could win ancients converts there by doing a simple ancient coins presentation. Just some ideas for now, but hope to translate some of that into reality soon.

 

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Nice Gordie example. With all of the reverse types he issued, that should keep you busy for a long time.

 

I know...this isn't so much a sprint as it is a marathon. It will take a long time to track most if not all of his denarii and antoninianii reverses. With such a daunting task, I may decide to avoid more provincials, as the official silver is an inmense task by itself.

The good news is that Gordie III hasnt been my only area that has grown. My 3rd Century imperials collection in general has done well lately, plus I've increased my Roman Republic coinage this year by nearly 50%. So lots of things to be happy about.

 

Cool that 3rd Century eventually coalesced into your collecting focus. You were exploring-experimenting a bit. What is it that draws you to 3rd C (and I know you enjoy GIII)?

Goodluck on website.

One of my collecting focus is Etruria (COMPLETELY off-beat from your area!):


Etruria Populonia AR 1 As 0.60g 10.0mm after 211 BCE Male Head L - Plain Rev Vecchi 3 68-70 HN Italy 181 RARE

 

Nice new Gordie. The website sounds like a fun project.

The latest Gordie to join my pile is a Laetitia reverse.

 

Nice Eastern roach. I think a website would be a nice idea since he's someone you like to focus on.

I'll just share my eastern roach.


Gordian III (238 - 244 A.D)
AR Antoninianus
O: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right.
R: ORIENS AVG, Sol standing left, raising right arm and holding globe in left hand.
Antioch Mint
5.43g
22mm
RIC IV, Part III, 213

 

How do you tell these are Antioch, btw? I'm no expert but just looking at the coin I would have said Rome.

 

For me, it was the cuirass on the back having the square shapes. It isn't 100% all the time, but most. Just look:

https://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.as...alse&Unassigned=False&searchOrderBy=price_asc

 

Just to clarify, I meant Sallent's coin. I have an eastern ORIENS AVG as well.

 

My only GIII:


RI Gordian III 238-244 CE AE As 25mm Hercules S-C

 

So far, I have an AS, a Sestertius, a Provincial bronze and two ANTS (I'm from NY and HATE roaches!!)....and now you almost made me bid on another provincial---damn your eyes @Sallent

 

Well, I listed seller's atributions for now. That doesn't mean it is right. I'll be rechecking the atributions on all my Gordies soon. So far it hasn't been a big priority as I have so many reverse types still missing, but eventually it will become a priority.


As for the question, why the 3rd Century? Because it was an era of chaos and incredible events. The Roman Empire tore itself appart, became 3 empires at one point, and managed to pull itself together again. And on top of that, there were countless coups, usurpers, wars, etc. Heck, at one point there was even a Britanic Empire (foreshadowing the future I guess). I think all of that is more interesting than the eras of peace and abundance with the occasional rotten emperor.

That's not to say I don't care for the other eras. I do...which is why I have so many RR, 1st and 2nd century Roman coins, and even a decent Greek Collection...but the 3rd century is my long term pet project.

 

I agree that the Aequitas is Rome. The matter of getting more denarii may be more difficult than you think. Most you see are very few types. The Provincials are the opposite. There must be a million of them.

I agree with this 100%. If you define the 3rd century as Pertinax through the pre-reform of Diocletian (about 100 years), it includes most of my top interests. If you exclude the Severans, you have a short century.

 

Those of you who have websites...can you recommend me a company with good templates and reasonable monthly or yearly fees?

 

I use Nixihost for my website. I am using their "Professional" plan, which is $9/month, as I use the hosting for more than just my coins. If you're just hosting a website for your coin website, the $6 basic plan would be more than enough. They don't really have templates like you see on some sites but they have Cpanel and Softaculous which allows you to very easily administer your site and deploy apps like WordPress and Piwigo, which I use for my gallery. Really most similar shared hosting outfits have similar setups for similar prices but Nixihost support has always been great and that's the biggest reason I prefer them. I usually get a response within an hour which you rarely see for such cheap hosting.

 

I hand-code (and maintain via my own routines) all of my web pages and so I produce my own templates. I have used Fat Cow as my Web Service Provider for the past fifteen or so years and have found their service to be outstanding -- 99% "up time", unlimited storage (I presently maintain nine web sites consisting of 77 pages and over 800 images) and their FTP is very fast and reliable for access. My total current yearly expense is $97 (reduces slightly each year for customer loyalty).

 

I'm ashamed to post my 2 Gordianus III. They are both very ugly. But that's what I have for the moment:

Ar antoninianus, RIC IV 84, 3.9g, 22.8mm, Rome mint, obverse IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right; reverse IOVI STATORI, Jupiter standing facing, head right, long scepter vertical in right, thunderbolt in left.

Ar antoninianus, RIC IV 210, 3.1g, 21.8mm, Antioch mint, 242 - 244 A.D.; obverse IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right, from behind; reverse FORTVNA REDVX, Fortuna seated left, rudder in right hand, cornucopia in left hand.

 

Here are 11 of my now 13 silver Gordies.

 

@Sallent - unrealated to Gordian but a project I am working on is creating a website dedicated to the military trade tokens I collect so if you get something going, I would be interested to hear about how you did it. And really this goes for everyone else too!

My only Gordian III:


Gordian III, AD 238-244
AE, sestertius, 25.46g, 32.5mm; 12h; Rome, AD 238-239
Obv.: IMP CAES MANT GORDIANVS AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev.: VICTORIA AVG; Victory advancing left, carrying wreath and palm; S-C

 

I've really been enjoying your Gordian III project, Sallent. Keep up the good work. As for a Gordian III website, have you seen the one by Michael Mihalka? It is really well-done and very helpful with attributions. Here's a link: http://mihalkam.ancients.info/gordianiii.html

I have several Gordies myself and just picked up an AEQVITAS reverse example this week, although mine is, I think, RIC 63. Like your OP Aequitas, it is fairly heavy for one of these - I could tell as soon as I got it out of the envelope. It weighs 4.54 grams. Unlike most of my Gordians, it is considerably toned (and worn):