A new Lucilla Sestertius that arrived yesterday.. Lucilla Sestertius Pietas Reverse 26.4 grams 33mm with a tag numbered 1051 glued to the obverse.., I also got quite a few other coins that are also from the same old collection with numbered tags glued to the front.. (Mostly with too much old blackened glue making it hard to read the numbers..
arnoldoe, That's a nice looking sestertius despite plenty of wear . The excellent patina brings out the coin's details. Pictured below is the only coin I have of Lucilla.
That's lovely, @arnoldoe ! It has nice, smooth surfaces and a very attractive patina. I also think the old glued on collection tags add interest to the whole group and may allow for identification of provenance at some point. That reverse type appeared twice on sestertii of Lucilla, first on coins with the longer LVCILLAE AVG ANTONINI AVG F obverse legend (BMCRE 1161 ff), and a later one, with the obverse legend LVCILLA AVGVSTA (BMCRE 1203). The empress's hairstyle also differs between the two issues. Here is a thread I once wrote about Lucilla's hairstyles. I only have the earlier one: Lucilla, AD 164-169. Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.14 g, 31.6 mm, 4 h. Rome, AD 164-166. Obv: LVCILLAE AVG ANTONINI AVG F, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: PIETAS S C, Pietas standing left beside altar. Refs: RIC 1756; BMCRE 1161-65; Cohen 72; RCV 5505; MIR 16.
For me the glued tags are the most interesting element of your coins. They give a glimpse into past practices of collectors that we can also read about in books like this one from Spink 1903: Roman Coins, Elementary Manual by Francesco Gnecchi, translated by Alfred Watson Hands This sentence shows us that it was at least common enough to label coins, as yours are labeled above, that the author felt the need to comment on page 15 (in chapter VII on "Arrangement of Coins in the Cabinet"): "Each coin placed in a cabinet ought to have its own number, as for instance on the accession list of a library, and as for this number, it should not be written on the coin itself, but on a small round card placed under the coins." The opening chapters of the book are especially enjoyable and surprising for both their relevance and the glimpse into a world of 1903, archaic in expression and thinking to a reader in 2019 e.g. "When, tired of work, weary of society, worried by business, the collector withdraws into his room; he finds there the most pleasant rest in his favorite occupation which he prefers to idleness" "Just as the unmarried man feels in his old age the want of a good wife who renders him in the last days of his life the comfort of affection and of old memories, so he who was not a collector in his youth cannot experience in his old age the satisfaction of reviving memories of a life-time among these old and faithful friends" "The first collectors did not lay much stress on the state of preservation of their specimens, to which in the present day, very great, and I might say excessive importance, is attached." "Among a hundred individuals who begin to collect one can count on ninety at least setting to work on a general collection, and that because nearly all are ignorant of the vastness of the material before them." "Forgers of gold and silver Roman coins, who swarm now as of old, no longer give themselves the trouble to reduce their forgeries to reasonable appearance of wear, as it is recounted that the famous forger Becker user to do"
That OP is just lovely - I like how strong the strike is and that mellow tone. The portrait is exquisite. I like those old-tyme collector's tags too. I have two of the Lucilla/Pietas types - the green one is one of my favorites just because of the color. The other one has been stripped pretty harshly - 1500 years from now it's going to look great.
Nice Sestertius, @arnoldoe ... great color and patina... very attractive coin! I have nary an AE of Lucky Lucilla... just a couple Denarii: RI Lucilla 164-182 CE AR Denarius 18mm 2.8g Rome mint 166-169 CE Pudicitia RIC III 780 RI Lucilla AR denarius Juno seated flower child in swaddling clothes Seaby 36
Very nice coins!.....And that extra bit of history attached to them..Cool.. Here's a little Venus... Lucilla Denarius...165-169 AD Rome 2.64g...18mm Obverse- LVCILLAE AVG ANTONINI AVG F, draped bust right Reverse- VENVS, Venus standing left, holding apple and sceptre. RIC:784
..yeah, i think those are kool too.......a farm implement(or something) has Lucilla on my sestertius garroted..
