Another one I 've been wanting to scratch of my "list" for a while now :yes: Traded with another member here for it Probus AE Antoninianus. Antioch mint. IMP C N AVR PROBVS P F AVG, radiate draped and cuirassed bust right / RESTITVT ORBIS, woman presenting wreath to emperor, ΕΔ between, XXI in ex. RIC 925, Cohen 509.
Nice picture. I prefer the lower one. I always liked this type with the OR doing double duty as the last two letters of Restitutor and the beginning of Orbis. Yours has the space between the two letters while mine placed them together leaving BIS by itself. Romans showed little care for where they broke words. There was a time I bought every workshop 9 coin I found. I still think it is a neat story. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/probus.html 3rd from last photo These two coins bring up another point. Your coin has better looking even and smooth surfaces. Mine is not rough but is hard to photograph and looks raggedy because it still has a lot of the original silvering. Often high grade coins of this period are made ugly by patchy, partial silvering. I am not suggesting that it should be removed on a coin like mine but the best looking examples of coins of this period have lost either all or none of the silver. Half way is not so good.
Nice Probus coins. To second Doug's words, here is my Aurelian showing a similar reverse, where OR is separated with both RESTITUT and BIS, so you can really choose which one to put it with :thumb: Aurelian, Aurelianus minted in Serdica, AD 274-275 IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, Radiate and cuirassed bust of Aurelianus right RESTITUT OR BIS, Pax with laurel wreath she gives to Aurelian. In field *, at ex. KA.A. 4.15 gr Ref : RCV #11592, Cohen #192 Q
Nice examples of probus coins posted. He is one emperor that I struggle to find a type I like. So many bust & reverse types at various prices, its hard to pick just one to start with. Same with Constantine I. Love the reverse of your Aurelian Q. As for silvering, I dont mind some with a ugly look to them, gives it character.
Mat, if you like Probus, you should visit this (I guess others are allowed : http://lesmonnaiesdeprobus.blogspot.com/ Q
Nice pictures everyone and nice article by Ancient Doug. :thumb: Although I agree no silvering many times has a lot more eye appeal than patchy silvering, I think it is akin to copper coins. A brown copper coin can be a lot more attractive than a 20 % patchy red copper coin. That said, having any natural redness on a copper coin more than 150 years old is no small feat. The same can be said of silvering of silver coinage of the third century. guy
Thanks all There are alot of different and interesting types to choose from with Probus. Didnt know this "Antioch Mint - officina 9 avoided using the unlucky numeral 'theta' by adding up 5+4 or E+delta" "In classical Athens, it was used as an abbreviation for the Greek θάνατος (thanatos, “death”) and as it vaguely resembles a human skull, theta was used as a warning symbol of death, in the same way that skull and crossbones are used in modern times. It survives on potsherds used by Athenians when voting for the death penalty.[2] Petrus de Dacia in a document from 1291 relates the idea that theta was used to brand criminals as empty ciphers, and the branding rod was affixed to the crossbar spanning the circle.[3] For this reason, use of the number theta was sometimes avoided where the connotation was felt to be unlucky - the mint marks of some Late Imperial Roman coins famously have the sum ΔΕ or ΕΔ (delta and epsilon, that is 4 and 5) substituted as a euphemism where a Θ (9) would otherwise be expected." Some silvered coins can only be appreciated in hand :/ like this one, but yours looks quite nice Doug, and Cucumbors as well!
Nice site. It isnt so much I like Probus its I dunno what type to get for my first one. There is a few emperors I know I would get more then one example like I have been doing since I started.
One of the best Probus sites is http://probvs.net/. It's just a shame it is no longer being updated with new types. It still provides a great reference site for one of my favourite collecting themes. I couldn't just stop at one and at one point ended up with over 500 Probus coins in my collection. Some might think that excessive! The coin in the OP has ED as the officina mark, which is 5+4 rather than using Theta as the ninth letter of the alphabet and is the initial letter of Thanatos, the Greek god of Death and thus this letter was often avoided on coins. Regards, Martin
Wow. I don't think I've accumulated 500 total coins of all types combined. What was your motivation to collect Probus coins? Was it the history? (He was one of the many poorly documented emperors during Rome's third century of crisis.) Was it the portraiture? (His portraits are interesting and varied, but not the most aesthetically pleasing.) Or was it that his coins are relatively inexpensive and readily available? Since I enjoy the coinage and history of Rome in the third century, I admire your passion. :thumb: guy
I had started collecting Roman coins with a MARS VLTOR denarius of Severus Alexander. My second ancient was a MARS VICTOR of Probus from Lugdunum, which was inexpensive and started me looking at the wider coinage of Probus. I considered a collection of Mars types and before long I had bought a Mars coin of Probus from the Rome mint, Siscia and Ticinum as well as a spattering of LRB. I started communication with some Probus specialists and before long I had started a Probus sub-collection with a much wider focus than the Mars types but I began to focus on Lugdunum. I also stumbled across the Eastern denarii of Septimius Severus at this point and so began yet another collecting theme/obsession. My collecting has been a bit eclectic in style with various sub-themes over the years. You can look at my Lugdunum mint Probus coins here as a taster if you so desire... http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=138 Obsessive? Me? Probably! Regards, Martin
