Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ValiantKnight, post: 1960837, member: 44210&quot;]Finally got around to taking my own photo of one of my favorite coins from my early Germanic collection, my very rare nummus of Gelimer, the last king of the Vandals. My only camera (besides my phone camera, which isn&#039;t suited for small things like coins) eats battery energy so fast, it is always running out of power, so its not often I shoot photos on account I don&#039;t want to keep buying batteries for it (its pretty much the only thing besides tv remotes I use that runs on run-of-the-mill batteries). But now that I recently bought some for my camera I decided to shoot my own photos of my Gelimer. It&#039;s more olive-green in hand but to show the details well I had to photograph the coin at an angle.</p><p><br /></p><p>About the coin (basically a revisit):</p><p><br /></p><p>Gelimer was the king of the Vandals and Alans, barbarian tribes that had migrated to Roman North Africa over the course of the early-mid 5th century AD, in the process taking the vital region away from the deteriorating Western Roman Empire. During their rule, the Arian Christian Vandals oftentimes came into religious tension and conflict with their Catholic Roman subjects. Later on, the Vandals expanded their kingdom to include Sicily and the other islands of the western Mediterranean, and would go on to sack the city of Rome in 455 AD.</p><p>Around 75 years after attacking the imperial city, Gelimer took the throne from his predecessor and cousin Hilderic in a coup. The Eastern Roman Empire under Justinian used this as an excuse to invade Gelimer&#039;s kingdom (since under the pro-Roman Hilderic, relations were good between him and the Eastern Romans). The Romans quickly conquered the Vandal Kingdom, bringing Roman rule back to the region for the first time in a century, and Gelimer was taken prisoner. But clemency was shown to the barbarian former king, and so Gelimer took up an offer to live in retirement in the region of Galata (in today&#039;s Turkey).</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelimer" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelimer" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelimer</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalic_Kingdom" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalic_Kingdom" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalic_Kingdom</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalic_War" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalic_War" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalic_War</a></p><p><br /></p><p>This ruler is very tough to find for sale in any condition, so I feel fortunate to have come across this one at a price I could agree to (it cost me around $50).</p><p><br /></p><p><u><b>Gelimer</b></u>, <b>Vandal Kingdom of North Africa (reigned 530-534 AD)</b></p><p>AE Nummus</p><p><u>Obv</u>: GEILAMIR , pearl-diademed, draped bust right</p><p><u>Rev</u>: Monogram of Gelimer within wreath</p><p><u>Mint</u>: Carthage(?), struck 530-534 AD</p><p><u>Ref</u>: MEC 1, 28-30; BMC Vandals 4-6</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa429/LurkingNinja/Gelimer_zps06f06053.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>(if you look closely at the lower right-hand corner of the obverse, like 3-4 o clock, you can see the vague outlines of IR from &#039;GEILAMIR&#039;, the original form of his name)</p><p><br /></p><p>Compare to the seller&#039;s photo:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa429/LurkingNinja/gelimer_zps72280a27.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in