Here are three groups I just bought, so do not have them in hand yet. The first group I just bought for the anepigraphic piece, the second and third group I bought for the Vabalathus pieces. The rest of these coins will just go into my "Mixed Romans" pile of stuff I suppose.
I thought so. For all three lots what I paid for the whole lot was less than what I see the one coin I am interested in go for. So to me I bought three coins, the rest are freebies.
Yeeehhhaaaa!! => wow, you dudes are really rockin' it lately!! Firstly TIF's treasure chest and now you're gonna be bringin' a new cluster of unknown winners!! (great and gutsy purchase!!) drool-drool-drool => I can hardly wait to see what you got!! (congrats!!)
very nice...that doulbe bust coins is super cool...aurelian and ...who on the reverse? several neat coins there.
Vabalathus. He and his mother Zenobia were rulers of the breakaway empire in the East, the Palmyrian Empire. I didn't have one of these, and now I will have two.
Ive had mine for awhile. Vabalathus (270 - 275 A.D.) AE Antoninianus O: VABALATHVS V CRIMDR, Laureate and draped bust right. R: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, Radiate and draped bust right. Antioch RIC-381 20mm 3.3g
So the marks under Aurelian are maybe control marks? Looks like yours is a Delta Mat, and I have an H and a B, whatever that means.
They are officina marks using the Greek letter system. Mine are S(6) and H(8). The fact that officina numbers are found on the reverses shows that we should display these coins as belonging to Vabalathus with Aurelian on the reverse.
Thanks Doug. I thought both of my Vabalathus' were pretty good shape for being in group lots. I am impressed I might actually own a more full flan coin than Doug Smith. I will make sure to post the anepigraphic coin when I get it. I found an interesting paper on these online, discussing how they were struck as the emperor visitex the various cities celebrating the founding of Constantinople. Since they were short term commemorative issues, I guess that explains their rarity.
Where Doug's H coin is a little soft on the Vaba side and sharp on the Aurelian side, mine is the other way round. This one is a 'B', however.
Having a coin better than one of the leading cheapskates in the hobby should be small consolation. I was once told by a very respected dealer that I was the #2 cheapskate among his customers. I took that as a challenge to try harder. It is very common to find these with one good and one bad side. I am toying with the theory that they were struck with pincer dies and it made a difference which side was up but that could be a complete fantasy. It does make sense that coins of a foreign ruler like V might have been made differently than the standard Roman of that day. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=86009.0 A coin with two really sharp sides is worth buying.
In coins like everything else, some people expect an item purchased actually to be better if it costs more. Other people believe that if it costs more, it must be better. I do not mind coins with faults but that does not mean I will pay extra for the privilege of owning a faulty coin.
