Odd Lot from eBay - Ancients, Papal States...Mystery Provincial

Gosh I do love junk! Just got this in from eBay, an undescribed lot. I need help with the Roman Provincial, but I thought I'd throw in the whole shebang in case anybody wants to see how the bottom feeders live.

Here's the lot:


Here's a Claudius II Gothicus antoninianus that has suffered a massive doublestrike - radiate crown all over the place, some doubling of the legend. Another oddity about this - it is a monster - weighing just over 4 grams (heavier than everything on OCRE for this - RIC 18 - 2.63 grams is the average):



Papal States, Pope Gregory XIII Quattrino - I had to work to figure this one out - not sure I got it, but I think I'm close. These seem to be a bit scarce - European auction houses find them worth listing separately. Believe it or not, this is one of the better ones I found - a very crude, tiny issue. That's a dragon on the reverse (from the Pope's heraldry, I think):


Papal States Billon Quattrino
Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585)
Ancône Mint
GRE(G) • X III•P•M• around arms / ANC•S - PETRVS• St. Peter standing holding keys
PC.1232 (var.?) Note: several types/mints for this issue.
(0.53 grams / 16 mm)

Byzantine, Constans II from the Syracuse mint - I posted this separately in an effort to confirm my attribution (SB 1107, maybe). It is nice and green, but otherwise not nice at all:



I can't figure this one out. Roman Provincial, Dionysius standing with thyrsus over altar (not a panther). Severus Alexander or one of the other kid-emperors? There are a lot of this reverse type from all over Asia Minor, the Balkans, etc. I've ransacked RPC online without getting an exact hit. Can anybody set me in the right direction?



The others are a Honorius AE from Constantinople, and a Tetricus I with Pax reverse (or a Barbaric imitation along those lines - the flan is tiny).

Share your lots, your cheapies, your plug-uglies, your mysteries, your bottom-feeding proclivities.

 

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Maybe 'Catfish-Mike' would better suit you...LOL!
Collect what you love & Love what you collect.
Great going Mike,
J.T.

 

Very nice discoveries and surprises. Here is an undescribed lot I purchased a month ago. Still soaking in DW and half of them haven't been identified yet. Looking forward for a stormy week-end soon...

 

Those are both great lots! Maybe I'm crazy, but I love stuff like this. These coins have been used and have seen things. I wouldn't consider any of these bottom-feeding. I consider them "diamonds in the rough"

I guess if I had to choose my favorite "bottom of the barrel", it would be this one. I've never had the opportunity to buy lots like what you guys have shown but this one came in a batch of uncleaned coins my wife bought me for Christmas last year. It was my first real attempt at cleaning and my first Probus. He's ugly but I love him.

 

The Claudius double strike and the pappal states are great finds. An interesting lot. I like the chance to attribute coins that I don't know from right off the bat.

John

 

The Claudius 180 degree double strike is fantastic! As is the quattrino. Sweet lot.

 

That's my kind of batch, Ocatarinetabellatchitchix - hours of Attribution Fun with nothing looking like the typical "un-cleaned lot" seen so much on eBay. This is pretty much my favorite thing to get in the mail, with a distressed sestertius coming a close second.

I hope you post these again after the stormy weekend of attributions.

 

furryfrog02, that's a real nice Probus, in my humble opinion. It looks like some of the silvering intact - that alone put's it in my Best of Show Category. Finding it in a batch makes it even better.

 

I like that Gallienus-Gallienus doublestrike - a zoo series to boot.

The Claudius II is by far the most dramatic doublestrike in my collection - it just occurred to me that one of the nice things about them is that you get two coins for the price of one, in a way. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks J.T. I do like the idea of Catfish-Mike, although I might have great difficulty coming up with an ancient coin Avatar.

Catfish on the Silver Obols of Naxos (Walter Bromphley, British Museum Monograph No. 126, 1879)

 

If you can figure out the remaining letters of the Obverse legend it would help narrow down the unknown Provincial a little.
I can see OCCE(B) in front of the bust, hopefully you can make out in hand what the rest are i.e. NOC, DROC, HROC, INOC etc.
Looking again I am pretty sure I can see an "L" as the first letter on the right side of the Obverse legend, which is making me think Gallienus.

 

Thank you for the help, tenbobbit - I thought I saw a "G" as well. My Provincials knowledge is rudimentary, and especially so around the time of Gordian III (which seems to have spawned a lot of coinage). But a "G" would eliminate Severus Alexander, and perhaps others (not Geta, of course).

I've tried to make a transcription of the reverse legend under good light, with magnification, but so many of the vertical lines just seem to jumble up I can't tell the lambdas from the Alphas from the whatevers. I'll keep staring and if I come up with a useful transcription, I'll toss it out.

Thanks again.