NEWP: Trajan, AR Drachm, Bostra.

Here's a type that I've been hunting since last summer. Although a handful of pieces have come on the market since then, this is the first coin that satisfied my aesthetics as far as the engraving style goes. On many of these issues, Trajan's portrait gets all the artistic attention, while the camel is drawn quite simplistically. The engraver of this coin gave the camel some serious work as well, although the portrait is a bit "off" compared to mainstream depictions of the emperor. That isn't unusual, however, in provincial types, and the bust is well-done regardless of its inaccuracy.

Trajan annexed the Nabataean kingdom after the death of Rabbel II, to create Provincia Arabia, moving the capitol of the Southern Levantine empire from Petra to the new capitol of the Roman province, Bostra. Various sources suggest that many Nabataean drachms were either struck over by Roman types, or melted and refined to produce silver of higher fineness for the various drachms of Bostra. This might account for the scarcity of late Nabataean silver.

Trajan, 98-117
AR Drachm, 17mm, 3.37g, Bostra: 114-116
Obv.: [AVTOKP] KAIC NEP TPAIANW APICTW CEB ΓEPM ΔAK; Laureate, dr. and cuir. bust r.
Rev.: ΔHMAPX EΞ [VΠATOS]; Bactrian (two-humped) camel to left
Reference: SNG ANS 1058

 

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Great coin. Love the portrait.

 

I'd walk a mile for a Camel.

 

Showing your age TIF?

 

I had a friend who smoked Camel filterless - I tried one and almost choked from coughing - way too strong for my tastes. Anyway, I've really got to stop smoking, and I've tried everything on the market - nothing seems to stick. Zero willpower I guess. I can go a whole day without a cigarette, but by the evening I'm ready to axe-murder somebody.

 

Never quite trying to quit, brother ...

Amazingly => I've now quit for 5 years (smokin' that is)

=> sadly, all of my other addictions ramped-up to compensate for my nic-fits!!

 

Oh, sorry JA => absolutely fantastic camel-coin!! (she's a beaut)

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. It feels like sweeping water.

 

I quit smoking a couple of decades ago. Used nicotine gum.

Can't get off the damn gum! I love that stuff.

 

I chew stir-straws ... I have pink lungs, but chapped lips!!

 

I've told myself that if I quit smoking, that would add $150 to my coin budget every month, and that works for about a day. But by the end of the day I'm thinking, "F--- COINS, GIMME A KNIFE SO I CAN BUTCHER THE KITTEN!!!!"

 

I'm a little bit jealous. My only expenses are food (so much food) and coins. Rent and other forms of entertainment are a distant third. I would love to have something big I could cut out and divert straight to coins!

 

Rent is a form of entertainment? Lol.

I'm sending one kid off to college this year, and my wife wants to go to a culinary academy. These people think I'm made of money.

 

Keep trying, John. Smoking is so horribly bad for you. Nicotine gum may not be great but it poses fewer health risks than smoking. Give it a try. Or those new vaporizers.

Won't help your coin budget though-- that gum is expensive! Cheaper than the medical bills you may eventually have from the long-term effects of smoking...

 

I suppose it is more entertaining to live in a house than a box.

 

I've tried the gum, the ecigs, the patch, etc. But I suppose one just has to keep trying until something sticks.

 

Lol. I guess I phrased that wrong. Let me try again.

 

Awesome new coin.

I was never tempted by smoking. Of course having minor asthma growing up was definitely handy because I would usually succumb to a fit of coughing even if there was too much second hand smoke. It was a nice deterrent.

Then I worked in a convenience store and saw my regulars spend 10+ dollars a day on a pack of cigarettes. The price tag was another nice deterrent.

My mom smoked when she was younger and picked it up again when my sister and I went to University. She always tries to lecture me on how I shouldn't drink so much coffee. I told her she could lecture me on my one cup of coffee a day when she stopped smoking. Usually stops that right there.

 

I quit 32 years ago. I smoked two packs per day, three cigars per day, and occasionally a pipe. I quit cold turkey. I walked around with an unlit cigarette in my mouth and an open pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket for about two months. It was like having a pacifier in my mouth and an emergency pack close by so I never got nervous. Well, it worked for me. My wife still smokes, but that doesn't make me want to smoke. I will tell you this, though. If I'm ever told I'm terminal with some illness, I plan on buying two packs of cigarettes. One to smoke and the other to eat. I miss smoking, but I will not go back to it till I know I'm dying soon.

 

Hmmm.... Having never formed a smoking habit, I think I'll work out how much I've saved on cigarettes in my lifetime and go increase my coin budget accordingly. I can't wait to explain this logic to my wife. Thanks, JA!