Gordian III Provincial As

This is the other coin I purchased along with the Elagabulus As.

Gordian III & Tranquillina AE As AMNG II 675 struck at Anchialus 238-244 AD
OBV: ΑΥΤ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡ∆ΙΑΝΟC ΑΥΓ ΤΡΑΝΚΥΛ/ΛΙΝΑ, confronted busts of Gordian III and Tranquillina
REV: ΟΥΛΠΙΑΝΩΝ ΓΧΙΑΛΕ/ΩΝ, Tyche or Homonoia standing left wearing modius, patera in right, cornucopia in left
12.44g, 26mm


Originally I had this coin mis attributed. But thanks to Doug, I was able to fully ID and attribute it. It too has a beautiful green patina.

 

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I usually see your posts on coin community *I lurk* & forvm so its nice to see you & your coins come here

 

Thanks Mat. I plan to make CT my home (if they will have me and my coins).

 

Were always looking for more ancient talk around here. It goes in spells.

 

I wish I knew what to post to be of any interest to the ancient sub-group but it is always a guess. This Gordian is a beauty and the easiest way to get Tranquillina in the collection. I suppose there are reverses that are more thrilling but the coin is still a winner.

 

I read all your posts on CC that you dont post here, same on forvm.

 

man the patina on both of your new coins is just GREAT!

 

That is for sure. Tranquillina is not an easy one. The only other one I have is a provincial from Hadrianopolis.

 

Fallen horsemen seem to catch the eye of everyone but me. Try as I might, I just can't bring myself to care about the varieties.

 

I can't get into LRB varieties much either. From that group I got I looked at all of the campgates, how many rows of bricks, turrets, etc. Yeah, I just couldn't make myself give a rip. Different strokes is what makes this hobby interesting.

OP, I love the toning on your piece. Its an interesting obverse. I am so bummed they chose to publish the volume on RPC for Gordian III in French. Seriously, French is spoken by such a tiny percent of the world nowadays, why can't they just default to the most spoken language to make more universal access?

 

Because numismatics, as a discipline, is stuck in the 19th century. One must be proficient in at least French, German, and English. You are also expected to have a reading knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek. Additional languages are required for various specialty areas, ie, Bulgarian and Russian for the Black Sea region.

 

C'est la vie.

 

Google translate is a tremendous help.

 

Yeah, but its pretty tough trying to slog through a text that way, plus for numismatics I find it "less than thorough". I am a typical American, meaning I don't have much education in foreign languages. It would be nice if I read German well, (Gobl), French well, (Bopierchi, RPC 6), and Russian, (my Sogdian references). But, I don't, so I do what I can do. I do vote with my wallet, though, and I believe anyone publishing such material nowadays not in English is losing millions in sales. It has to be a definitive work for me to buy a foreign language text.

I do have my wife who can read Thai, Lao, Cambodian, Chinese, and Swedish, so she is some help but gets bored translating boring coin stuff for me.

 

Ya, it's good for French, passable for German, and useless for Russian. At least you don't have references in Chinese. You'll long for the simple references in Latin characters!

 

One must do whatever one must. I read and speak German, no French, Latin has been forgotten, and Greek is Greek to me (my son in Afghanistan translates the Greek and Cyrillic languages for me).

 

Lucky man to have a son who can read the cyrillic for him. I can get by on the Greek usually, having been around enough of these. Anything I don't know is easy enough to look up.

Btw, do you think provincials with the publication of the RPC series will get more respect? They are fun coins, its just the lack of references make them so bloody tough to collect usually. I really enjoy their styles at time, though I don't own a lot. I mainly have a mini collection of Tyche/river god coins that I like.

So many coins, so little time/budget.

 

I agree on all accounts. I have been collecting a lot of Tyche coins here of late. I'll have to show off a couple that I'm particularly fond of.

 

Silvers for sure, provincials are not too hard to find though.

My only one of her.


Tranquillina (241 - 244 A.D.)
Æ 21
Cappadocia, Caesarea Year 7 = 244 AD
O: CAB TPANKVLLINA AVG,Diademed and draped bust of right.
R: MHTP KAI B NE ET-Z, Six grain ears bound together.
6.1g
21mm
Syd 618

 

That is definitely a nice Roman Provincial Gordian III As! Wish I could afford coins like that. I could probably find one in lower grade and lower cost though.