Hi Everyone, My wins from the CNG 475 EA arrived today (how quick!) and I wanted to share! First up, the most terrible brother in Roman imperial history: Caracalla. AD 198-217. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.75g, 5h). Laodicea ad Mare mint. Struck AD 200-201. ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / SECVRI T ORBIS, Securitas seated left, holding scepter and resting head on hand. RIC IV 351b. From the Richard McAlee Collection And the unfortunate brother he chose to murder, in front of his mother no less: Geta. As Caesar, AD 198-209. AR Denarius (20mm, 3.31g, 11h). Laodicea ad Mare mint. Struck under Septimius Severus and Caracalla, AD 200-202. P SEPT GETA CAES PONT, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICT AE T E RN, Victory advancing left, holding open wreath; to left, shield set on base. RIC IV 101. From the Richard McAlee Collection And in the far less repugnant category: Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.28g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 111. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate head right, slight drapery on shoulders / COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, Pax standing left, holding cornucopia and setting fire to pile of arms to lower left; PAX in exergue. RIC II 102. From the Richard McAlee Collection Something that I really appreciated being included with these coins was the original storage flaps and notes! Especially the Trajan one, where it says the coin was found in Israel. Crazy to think this coin went from Rome, to Israel, and now resides in corn filled Indiana. It’s also interesting to me that the sellers flap says RIC 125, but CNG identified the coin as actually RIC II 102. Who is right! Post any recent pickups or coins you haven’t showed off yet! PS: I wanted to also share how I take my photos, I hope it’s as funny as I think it is! So I place the coin on the blue velvet on top of the books, and then hang my phone over the edge of the chair. Then I put the giant light above the coins and snap the pic! It’s pretty fun
i won a few LRB's including this interesting coin which initially had a brockage then they restruck it...so it has two heads Crispus A.D. 323-4 19x20mm 2.9g IVL CRIS PVS NOB C; laureate head right. CAESARVM NOSTRORVM surrounding wreath enclosing VOT X. In ex. PTR crescent RIC VII Trier 440
Good point! So I had to do some quick rereading as for some reason I thought Geta had tried to assassinate Caracalla as well, but actually it does seem like he was on the defensive the whole time. The Severan dynasty isn’t one I’m usually at all interested in so the details are sometimes fuzzy. I actually never intended to buy any Severan coins sans Severus Alexander but they just make too pretty of coins to pass up! I’ll update my original post.
Excellent coins! And the bad blood between those two brothers is definitely worth the time reading. The ancient writer Herodian claims that the brothers actually barricaded up parts of the imperial palace so that each had his own side (Herodian, 4.1.5). They kept clashing in all areas of life until Caracalla decided to have his brother murdered. A very dysfunctional family indeed!
Once thing was he effectively ran the Empire (administratively) from Eboracum (York) along with his mother, Julia Domna, while his father and brother took to the field to do battle against the Caledonians, and other warlike northern British tribes, during the Scottish campaign of Septimius Severus. Geta, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 91 Obverse depiction:Geta, Laureate head facing right Inscription clockwise from bottom: P SEPT GETA PIVS AVG BRIT Reverse depiction: Victory standing left holding wreath and palm branch Inscription: VICTORIAE BRIT Added from my notes relating to the campaign based on: 1. Septimius Severus Brought his entire Imperial court with him to Britain and set up shop in Eboracum (York) which in effect became the Capital of the Roman Empire until his death. 2. It is apparent that he knew he would very likely not survive this campaign - this would be his final act. 3. He and Caracalla departed Eboracum as field commanders of their legions to commence the Campaign soon after their arrival there. 4. Geta was tasked with running the Empire and was left behind at Eboracum along with his mother Julia Domna. 5. I have not been able to determine so far when, or if, Geta actually led a legion in the field during the campaign.
My recent win from the same CNG auction 475. But haven't received it yet. Maybe tomorrow. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 26.45 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 145-147. Laureate head right / Antoninus Pius driving slow quadriga left, extending hand and holding eagle-tipped scepter. RIC III 767a; Banti 120. Light brown surfaces with some hard green deposits. Good VF. From the Toliver Besson Collection. Ex Heritage 3021 (6 January 2013), lot 21544.
Great coins, photographs and photography set-up @Restitutor! I used a similar set-up (different book stack and background than yours) until recently, but now I can no longer get around easily enough to take many pics - darn it!
Congrats to the nice new coins. I also like your photo rig, trying to think of a good solution to take better photos myself, it's a bit tricky. Considering the severan brothers I guess if Caracalla hadn't kill Geta it would have been the other way around making Geta the worst brother. But maybe he would not have done it infront of their mother.
I believe this is a clashed die. Restruck brockages are very rare. I have a page explaining my beliefs and am sorry that the confusion still is present. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/brock.html
Rube Goldberg would be so proud of you. I thought my camera rig was over the top but yours is so very much more rubegoldbergian. Yes that is a word. I once heard that Rube Goldberg is the only human name to have entered the dictionary as an adjective. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rubegoldbergian
Lets make no mistake, CNG is a professional outfit compared to some of the outfits out their that claim to be worthy of your bidding dollars. It hurts less to pay CNG too much because they actually make an effort to deserve that buyer's fee. My one win also came yesterday but he was sensitive about his status (worst known of the three I have seen) so he asked that I try to show off his good parts to advantage. He asked nicely so here is a fine example of the Alexandrian eye, a drunk look on Liber's face and truly great vase detail. Lot 143 Of my coins, this may be the best of what the catalogs call an oenochoe but I'm not fully convinced that the die cutter was thinking of that shape due to the handle loop at the bottom and tall stem. Do we have any vase experts here? It really is hard to interpret things cut in this size. Notice there is a rim indicated at the top of the vase. I do not want to hear people call the Alexandrian coins crude. They are what they are.
Lol!! I am going to have to start incorporating that word more into my vocabulary. What an apt description!
Here's a recent arrival, a rather downcast Athena - a late-ish mass production owl, I'd say. This was lot 334, Roma Numismatics E-Sale 74. Nobody placed a bid on this lot, probably because of the minor flaws, crude strike and the distraught look of Athena, so I decided, why not? Let's give her a home with the other owls. 17.20g, 25mm, 6h.
It seems that history is littered with people who are remembered primarily for being murdered. The two sons of Edward IV, allegedly murdered at the Tower by Richard III is a good case in point.
