My humble top 10 for 2021

Hello everyone,
beeing active member of this forum for less than a year this is my first thread of this type. Due to the high letter thievery peak during christmas time I normally stop purchasing coins during decembre so I wont add beyond this in this year. Since I started collecting ancient coins about 2 years ago I never really specialized to much apart from mainly buying roman imperials and trying to get every emperor from Augustus to Constantine IX. but thats just because I mainly collect because of historical interest and not to get the most lustrous coins the market can offer. Maybe take a more quality over quantity attitude next year. Anyways here my top 10 additions for this year:
1. This As of Emperor Tiberius is my first and yet only coin from the reign of this often overlooked or despised Emperor. In my opinion Tiberius like Domitian where very competent rulers who fell victim to historians who held a grudge against them. The obverse features a nicely conditioned portrait of Tiberius and the legend TI CAESAR AVGVST F IMPERAT VII. The name Augustus became a title later under Claudius which makes the legends between Augustus and Claudius a bit more interesting because Tiberius is not having any fancy titles besides beeing the adopted son of Augustus and his military successes. The Reverse features and altar erected in honor of Augustus in Lugdunum (There seems to be a little debate about this).
Emperor Tiberius - AS - ROM ET AVG - Rome mint?

2. Denarius from the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus. Not too special but I liked this Minerva reverse and its also my only coin featuring this goddess yet. Next year I will definetly try to get a Domitian-Minerva denarius.
Emperor Septimius Severus - Denarius - PM TRP III COS II PP (Minerva) - Rome mint

3. Denarius from the reign of Severus Alexander. I had to purchase this because of this high quality depiction of Mars as Pacifier on the reverse. The obverse features a young bust of Severus Alexander without any traces of a beard yet.
Emperor Severus Alexander - Denarius - PM TRP II COS PP (Marti Pacifero) - Rome mint

4. Tetradrachm from the reign of Emperor Philip "the arab". I just love everything about this coin. The nice portrait on the obverse, the eagle on the reverse, the size, the weight... . I just wanted it when I saw it.
Emperor Philip I. - Tetradrachm - TRP COS IIII - Antioch mint

5. Antoninianus from the reign of Herennius Estruscus as Caesar. This son of Emperor Decius didnt have much historic significance besides from beeing killed together with his father in the Battle of Abritus. But he is part of my goal to get all the emperors and the reverse is my first coin to feature Mercury.
Herennius Etruscus Caesar - Antoninianus - PIETAS AVGG - Rome mint

6. Antoninianus from the reign of Emperor Gallienus. While I added a lot of new Gallienus coins this year this one is the one with the reverse I favor the most. It celebrates one or all of the many victories Gallienus had against the germans and shows victory standing on a globe with defeated germans around. Its also one of my most silvery pieces of this reign.
Emperor Gallienus - Antoninianus - VICTORIA GERMANICA - Lugdunum mint

7. Antoninianus from the reign of the usurper Postumus. What made this coin interesting to me is not only the high quality of the design and silver but the fact that Postumus who reigned in Gaul seems to have been an devotee of the greek/egyptian god Serapis.
Emperor Postumus - Antoninianus - SERAPI COMITI AVG - Treverorum mint

8. Follis from the reign of Emperor Diocletian. A nice example of Diocletians big coinage reform is this big and heavy Follis. I also liked the bust style.
Emperor Diocletian - Follis - GENIO POPVLI ROMANI - Treverorum mint

9. Maiorina from the reign of Emperor Constans. After the follis got inflated into oblivion the Maiorina was a another comeback of high quality bronze coinage. The main message on this coinage was always the return to the happy times through military means. This Emperor with globe bust type is one of my favorite bust variations and I wonder why it fell out of usage so quick after the fall of Constans. The reverse shows exactly how you can bring back the happy times: Show those barbarians their rightful place!
Emperor Constans - Maiorina - FEL TEMP REPARATIO - Alexandria mint

10. Big follis from the reign of Emperor Arcadius. The late roman bronze coinage often gets easied down to the names AE1-4 so we have to wonder if there was another name to this short return of quality coinage before the roman bronze coinage fell down to a dark age of small low quality coins that would be minted until the coin reforms of Emperor Anastasius. The whole design of this coin still got a nice quality. The obverse features the young Emperor in armor with spear and shield. The reverse had the generic Theodosian message combined with nice military imigery.
Emperor Arcadius - Follis/AE2 - GLORIA ROMANORVM - Constantinople mint

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Very nice coins. I like #4 and #10.

 

Excellent acquisitions for your collection, @wittwolf! I like the Septimius Severus Minerva type, too.

 

You captured a nice set of coins, each with their own interesting features.

 

A nice set of coins for 2021!

I personally like the Postumus best. The Serapis reverse might be a nod to Postumus' troops. Many soldiers from the eastern parts of the Roman Empire served in the Rhine fleet, and on some examples of this type, there is a ship's prow at Serapis feet. This might indicate that Postumus struck this reverse to honor a deity that was particularly worshipped by the soldiers serving in the Classis Germanica.

 

Excellent selection of coins! I voted for Postumus (beautiful coin with interesting reverse), Constans (I just like the style and the left facing bust) and Arcadius (I like larger LRBs in good conservation, my only Arcadius is also nice but a small coin)

 

I really like 3, 4 and 2 in that order. The reverse on the Severus Alexander denarius is outstanding. Great coins.

 

A great, eclectic set of coins. Nice collecting! Do you concentrate wholly on Roman coinage, or do you collect anything else?

 

Nice selection. I think my favourite is the Diocletian with the excellent portrait from Trier. Would happily add it to my own collection.

 

@John Anthony I basically collect all historic monarchies issuing coinage with the rulers portraits but mainly roman imperials. Next to romans big collection parts are the Holy Roman Empire, German states, Prussia - The German Empire, the english and the french monarchies. Sadly this makes me even less specialized but I just cant resist when I see a nice piece of history for a good price.

 

Very nice ! The Constans majorina is very attractive; the Postumus with Serapis is a good testimony of Ancient globalization (a Gallic emperor with a Egyptian god!); the Septimus Severus denarius has a good depiction of the Palladium.
It is not Minerva at all, it is the Palladium, the most sacred relic of Ancient Rome, brought from Troy by Aeneas, and kept in a secret shrine inside the temple of Vesta. Nobody but the Pontifex Maximus could see it.

 

Excellent selection of coins @wittwolf.....Particularly like #9, 10 and 2...
Congrats on a good collecting year and thanks for posting.

 

wittwolf, My 3 favorites are the Diocletian follis with a military bust portrait, the Philip I Tet, & the Constans maiorina with the amusing reverse composition . I've always found the Antioch coinage of Philip I & family interesting. The number of different coin types in this family seems endless .

 

Looks like you had a good year, @wittwolf . My favorites are the Tiberius, Septimius Severus, and Severus Alexander. The Arcadius looks unusually nice for the type.

 

Beautifull coins, Wittwolf

I like #2/3/4 the best. You have been posting nice coins on the "world Forum" too
John

 

I voted for 1, 4 & 9. Congrats and roll on 2022

ATB,
Aidan.

 

My preferred coins are 4 , 9 and 8. Congrats !!

 

I like #10 best. You can't go wrong with a guy being crowned by the hand of God.

 

Nice selections! I especially like #9 and #10.

 

Very good selection @wittwolf. The Constans maiorina is a beauty.
I voted for 4, 9 and 10