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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2947659, member: 19463&quot;]There are thousands of wonderful Provincials that trade at prices I will never afford and tens of thousands so &#039;ordinary&#039; I am not tempted to buy.&nbsp; In the middle are the ones I am happy to own.&nbsp; This category includes:</p><p>Coins of Alexandria.&nbsp; If I were honest I might say all my best 2017 coins were from Alexandria but for this thread I will show just one, a Septimius Severus tetradrachm with Serapis, to represent the city and the others I bought this year.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]719363[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This scrappy remnant of Caracalla&#039;s hate for Geta from Stratonicaea may be the ugliest coin I bought this year or, perhaps, the most beautiful if you choose to see it that way.&nbsp; I have posted it so many times here there is nothing gained by repeating the story.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]719365[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Not this year but recent is this bronze of Tomis by a young Caracalla.&nbsp; The dealer who provided it was a major supplier for my hobby over the last two decades and retired recently.&nbsp; As a parting gesture he showed me this coin an suggested I would appreciate it.&nbsp; I do.&nbsp; The reverse of this 4 assaria shows the Dioscuri reclining as if retired from their lives riding on the reverses of so many coins. I am fond of coins of Caracalla in his youth. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]719366[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This little Geta assarion of Nikopolis introduced me to the Apollo Sauroktonos reverse and has as clear a lizard on the tree trunk as any I have seen.&nbsp; Through a series of correspondences the coin introduced me to friends who understood the appeal of the coin while most would prefer proof sets.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]719367[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Of the Roman emperors who issued Provincials, one of the most Prolific was Gordian III here shown representing all his coins with wife Tranquillina on a coin of Tomis with the denomination mark erased from the die leaving a raised mound on the reverse.&nbsp; I would love to find a coin of this die before the erasure to prove whether the erased letter was E=5 or Δϛ (ligate)=4 1/2.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]719371[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>...and last but not least is one of my several Augustus/Agrippa dupondii of Nemausis which I bought at the beginning of 2013 when the crocodile fanaticism overcame me. I have shown better ones but this one was special because it came from a friend and has great surfaces despite the uneven strike and wear.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]719372[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, it is not mine, either.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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