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Message:: [QUOTE="Cucumbor, post: 3275262, member: 4298"]I'm pretty sure everyone here has seen my first ancient ever at least ten times. Anyway, it's your fault [USER=83845]@Curtisimo[/USER], you asked, and I will quote the write up taken from the epic battle against [USER=80147]@Ancient Aussie[/USER] from last year tournament : <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/q_1_normal_0160-310np_noir-jpg.615817/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Commodus,Sestertius- Rome mint, 192 CEWt.: 21.01 gObv.: L AEL AVREL CO---MM AVG P FEL,Laureate head of Commodus rightRev.: HERCVLI ROMANO AVG,Hercules facing, head left, holding club and lion's skin, resting on trophy.SCin fieldRef : RCV #5752, Cohen #203 Price: For me: Listening to my grandfathers’ old war stories; For my grandfather: Getting shot at My grandfather, born 1894, has been "lucky" enough to get involved in the whole WWI where he's been wounded five times (two actual wounds and three gas attacks). While digging a trench at Verdun battle (1916), he eventually found three coins that he carefully kept with him during three years (he's not been sent back home earlier than 1919). After the end of the war, being in a train, back home with two other "poilus" he decided he whould give one coin to each of them and keep the last one for himself (probably one of the first "ancient coin giveaway" in the 20th century). As written above, when I was 18, being the only one in the family showing an interest for coins he told me the story and gifted me with the coin. [MEDIA=youtube]YFtHjV4c4uw[/MEDIA] Why it’s cool:It is the very first roman coin I have ever possessed. It's of course the real start of my addiction for ancient coins. My grand dad finding it during his service and keeping it until the end of the war and for almost his entire life makes it the coin I will keep whatever occurs in my own life and/or to my coin collections. As for the coin itself, its coolness comes from it being minted the last year in Commodus' rule, in 192 CE, as he'd turn completely crazy finding himself being a reincarnation of Hercules. Even though the obverse doesn't show him with the lionskin, the reverse has an explicit legend and clearly shows the emperor/hercules with Hercules' attributes. And to finish with, the following comment is taken from the description of a similar example (in far much better condition) in NAC auction 4, # 477 :Few Roman coins excite as much commentary as those of Commodus, which show him possessed of Hercules. Not only do they present an extraordinary image, but they offer incontrovertible support to the literary record. The reports of Commodus’ megalomania and infatuation with Hercules are so alarming and fanciful that if the numismatic record was not there to confirm, modern historians would almost certainly regard the literary record as an absurd version of affairs, much in the way reports of Tiberius’ depraved behaviour on Capri are considered to be callous exaggerations. Faced with such rich and diverse evidence, there can be no question that late in his life Commodus believed that Hercules was his divine patron. Indeed, he worshipped the demigod so intensely that he renamed the month of September after him, and he eventually came to believe himself to be an incarnation of the mythological hero. By tradition, Hercules had fashioned his knotted club from a wild olive tree that he tore from the soil of Mount Helicon and subsequently used to kill the lion of Cithaeron when he was only 18 years old. Probably the most familiar account of his bow and arrows was his shooting of the Stymphalian birds while fulfilling his sixth labour. The reverse inscription HERCVLI ROMANO AVG (‘to the August Roman Hercules’) makes the coin all the more interesting, especially when put into context with those of contemporary coins inscribed HERCVLI COMMODO AVG, which amounts to a dedication ‘to Hercules Commodus Augustus’. My last purchase came from [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER]'s first sale a few days ago, and it's an ex [USER=57495]@zumbly[/USER]'s coin <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/0610-320-jpg.860024/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />Maximinus II Daia (308-313), follis, issued 312-313. Alexandria, 5.1g, 21mm.Obv: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMINVS P F AVG, laureate head right.Rev: GENIO AVGVSTI, Genius standing left holding head of Serapis left in right hand, cornucopia in left; star, N and palm-branch in left field, gamma in right, ALE in exergue.RIC VI Alexandria 160bFrom the zumbly collection, Ex CNG as Superb EF ($145) Merry Xmas to you all my coin friends Q[/QUOTE]

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