Post your latest ancient!

Sigh... Yes I recall a story years ago of someone buying a silver milarense cheaply on EBay.

Yours is an exceptionally nice coin but it does take a lot of time looking I guess to find such a piece.

 

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It does look better than an EF. For the higher grades it depends on the surface quality which is hard to tell in this photo.

 

Vandal Silver 50 Denarii of Gunthamund (minted in Carthage sometime between 484 and 496):

 

Roman Silver Denarius of Lucius Verus (minted in Rome in 166):

 

A very impressive Antonine Era denarius! Where did you find it?

 

Thank you, I found it here: https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/...rius-19mm-310-g-6h-rome-mint-struck-ad-166-ef

 

Both Azes II tets you posted recently are nice examples, and are well-centered to facilitate the obverse and reverse legends! I like these KMW (King Mounted with Whip) types aesthetically, historically, and for the complexity involved in the seeming plethora of similar attributions. Here is my best example:

 

Wow -- thanks. I deal with CNG as I'm originally from Pennsylvania but I don't look thru their stuff a thoroughly as I should. Not only is the coin in stunning condition but as you know Rome and Partha were the two superpowers of the day. They were constantly at war with each other which exhausted both empires. Actually Caracalla did a very despicable thing in faking making peace with them.

Thus the reverse is particularly interesting!

 

I always thoroughly look through their auction listings, because there is almost always at least one (very) interesting coin amongst them.

Yes, and the mint year makes it even more interesting, since 166 is the year the Romans won the war against Parthia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman–Parthian_War_of_161–166

 

Most recent pick ups!

 

Roman Silver Denarius of Geta (minted in Rome sometime between 200 and 202):

 

The type Gordianus III Prieur 282 is anything but not rare, but there are simply beautiful coins, so I only look at the exterior - Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but I think this coin is simply beautiful.

Gordianus III (AD 238-244). Syria. Antioch. BI tetradrachm (28mm, 12.95g, 7h). NGC AU. AD 240. AYTOK K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Gordian III right, seen from behind / ΔHMAPX ЄΞOYCIAC, eagle standing facing on ground line, head and tail left, wings spread, wreath in beak; S C in exergue. Prieur 282. McAlee 860. RPC VII.2, 3488.

RPC-Online: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/7.2/3488

 

I recently upgraded my Fausta portrait coin. The old one had a provenance to the Dattari Collection, but this one features a better portrait IMO, is struck on a better flan, and has a nice patina for greater overall eye appeal.

FAUSTA as Augusta, AD 324-326
AE3 (20.76mm, 3.61g, 1h)
Struck AD 326. Rome mint
Obverse: FLAV MAX FAVSTA AVG, bust of Fausta wearing necklace and mantle right
Reverse: SPES REI-PVBLICAE, Spes (or Fausta as Spes) veiled and draped, standing front, head left, holding two children; R [wreath] P in exergue
References: RIC VII 292 (R4), RCV 16567
Dark green patina. A rare type with an attractive portrait.​

 

A Koson gold stater is nothing absolutely rare, yet these coins fetch a certain minimum price at every auction - although, as written, they are available at auctions every few weeks and months. It is probably due to the “reputation of the coin” that the coins were used to finance Brutus' campaign against the Caesarians, among other things. This naturally sells well.

According to my current knowledge, there are four possible scenarios:

1) The Koson Gold Stater were actually struck by an allied king in support of Brutus' campaign.

2. the coins are merely a regional prince who - like other regional rulers - simply imitates a coin, in this case a design of the Roman Republic (in this case two designs).

3. it is the (historical) Geto-Dacian king Kotison, who repeatedly undertook raids into northern Thrace and Scythia. As there is said to have been an attempted marriage between his daughter and Octavian, the issue would have been later than in Brutus' time - see also: https://www.muenzen-online.com/post/die-gold-und-sibermünzen-des-koson

4. these gold staters were first discovered in the 16th century, before that this type of coin was apparently completely unknown. The hoard finds must have been considerable when you see what was and is offered in bulk at auctions. I am still slightly skeptical as to whether these coins actually date from the turn of the century / Roman Republic. In this context, is there any information on when and where the silver Koson staters appeared? They have been appearing more and more in stores in recent months - all of a sudden.

If anyone has any further, more recent information about the Koson Stater, I would be delighted to read about it.

And of course I don't want to withhold this “new” Gold Stater from you.


Pedigree: From the Euclidean Collection

KOSON GOLD STATER; King of the Scyths, probably Military mint for Marcus Iunius Brutus; Reign: Geto-Dacians Epoch, Roman Republic, Civil War; Mint: Probably Olbia (?), King of the Scyths; Date: ca. 44/42 BC; Nominal: Stater; Material: Gold; Diameter: 18mm; Weight: 8.62g; Die Axis: 12h; Reference: RPC I 1701A; Reference: BMC Thrace 208; Reference: Bahrfeldt, Berliner Münzblätter 1912, 366–81; Obverse: Procession of Consul Marcus Iunius Brutus and two lictors, left; the foremost and hindmost carrying an axe over shoulder. Monogram in the field; Inscription: KOSON ΟΛΒ; Translation: Koson Olbia (?); Reverse: Eagle standing, left, on sceptre, holding wreath in on claw.