SA's favourites 2017: top 10 IHBCT

During my first year of Coin Talk, dozens of regulars have opened my eyes to numismatic vistas my poor benighted former self couldn't even imagine. In honour of all of you, here is my top 10 If it Hadn't Been for Coin Talk coins!

(This is my third list of favourites this year, the previous two were medieval and under $100.)

Please post your own IHBCT acquisitions, from any year!

10) Back in June, @John Anthony started a cool thread on dated Phoenician bronzes. A few months later this nice example showed up in an auction, and I had to have it!

Arados, AE16, Zeus/prow

Arados, a small island completely occupied by a walled city, was one of the oldest republics in the world and an important trading centre. Reading from right to left under the prow, the first two characters mean "year", the next two mean 1 x 100, then 1 x 10 for the next two, then four strokes for 4 = CY 114 = 146/5 BCE. 146 was the year that Rome destroyed Carthage and won the battle of Corinth, subjugating all of Greece. The Seleukids, the Ptolemies, and Rome were all vying for power and influence in Phoenicia, and Arados may well have enjoyed relative autonomy during this period. Perhaps that's why the Seleukid name is dropped on this coin in favour of the ancient name, abbreviated above the prow: = "Aynook".

9) In the years BCT (Before Coin Talk) I paid little attention to Alexandrian provincial coins, I think because they struck me as rather crude. Many friends here (I might mention @TIF and @Mat in particular) have cured me of this attitude, and I now own a handful and intend to get more. Often it's the cool reverses on these coins that attract, but in this case it was the portrait of a 13 year old Severus Alexander that grabbed me:

Alexandria tetradrachm issued 222/3 (year 2). Obv: A KAI MAP AVP CEVHP AΛEΞANΔPOC EVCEB. Rev: Dikaiosyne (= Aequitas)

I also like how the tail end of the obverse legend is crammed under the bust. Crude? Well, maybe, but also charming! And there's certainly nothing crude about that portrait.

8) Another failing of my previous self was insufficient attention paid to fabric, minting techniques, and the oddities that can sometimes result when things go wrong. Things definitely went wrong when this Gallienus antoninianus was produced in in 258 or 9 in Cologne:


As you can see in the bottom image, which shows this coin on the left and an ordinary ant. on the right, it is double-thick. It is also double the weight of an ordinary ant., at 6.29g. This is because two flans were somehow struck together! Maybe two blanks were accidentally placed on the bottom die, or perhaps a struck coin was left in the top die and a new flan put in place, producing a stuck-together brockage. You can see the line separating the two flans snaking along the rim.

I would not have looked twice at this coin last year, so thanks for showing me how cool this kind of thing is! Special thanks to @dougsmit who has been primarily responsible for bringing out the engineering nerd in me (and no doubt others of us too).

7) Previously, my eyes tended to glaze over when I saw 4th century Genio types, so much so that I somehow failed to notice the varieties that Coin Talk has christened "head-on-a-platter." I mean, how cool is that!? Here's the one I picked up this year:

Maximinus II (“Daia”) (308-313), follis, Alexandria mint. Rev: Genius standing left, holding head of Serapis and cornucopia; N over palm.

It is also ex-Dattari, a neat provenance that was also brought to my attention via Coin Talk. (Special thanks to @zumbly on this one!)

6) The bizarre horn featured on some portraits of Elagabalus has come up a few times this year, for example in this thread. While I'm highly skeptical of the bull penis theory(!), it was obviously something I had to have! (The coin, not the bull penis.) So here it is:

Elagabalus denarius, Rome mint. Obv: Draped bust r., with horn. Rev: Emperor, standing l., sacrificing with patera over tripod (?) and holding branch; in field r., star. On r. on ground, unidentified object (cap or horn). RIC 87.

RIC 87 appears to be rare (brought to my attention by @maridvnvm), but the main reason I like this is the portrait and its crisp reverse. (Maybe with the horn visible there too?)

5) This coin and the next are tiny Greek fractions, which are both charming and apparently under-researched... and I was unaware of both of these big pluses until this year. I also didn't realize quite how tiny they get! This tetartemorion is only 6mm and 0.18g:

I purchased this coin unidentified, but after some research I now have a pretty secure ID: Lampsakos (a wealthy and strategically important city in the northern Troad that was part of the Delian league, aka the Athenian empire.) Less securely, I have hypothesized that it was issued right at the transition of small change from tiny silver fractions to more practical bronze coins; you can check out my reasoning here. As far as I know, this coin is unique with its right-facing Athena. In short, I've had a lot of fun with this coin, all thanks to Coin Talk!

4) Here's my newest tiny fraction (never posted before), also purchased unidentified:

I don't know about you, but I think that lion is pretty awesome for a 5mm flan! I haven't yet researched this coin thoroughly, but my best guess at the moment is that is was issued by a Thraco-Macedonian tribe around 500 BCE. (It's similar to this coin, except without the dots in the incuse square.)

I'm very grateful to all the Coin Talk folks for showing me the pleasures that come in tiny packages!

3) As demonstrated by @Valentinian, Tacitus issued some rare "double antoninianii" with twice the amount of silver found in the usual issues. Without the discussion these received on Coin Talk, I never would have been able to spot this one from Antioch, which was represented in the auction as just an ordinary ant.:

It's a particularly nice example of this rare coin. I did have to pay a premium over the usual expectation for an ant., so I wasn't the only one to notice the significance of the "XI" in the exergue (the usual, lower silver content ants are often marked with the familiar "XXI"). Still, I got a good deal, thanks to y'all!

2) I already mentioned my previous neglect of Alexandrian provincials... this is my favourite from the handful I acquired this year:

Maximianus (286-305), AE tetradrachm of Alexandria, year 11 (295-6). Elpis advancing left, flower in right hand, hitching skirt w/ left.

I really enjoy firsts and lasts. This coin is from the very last year that Alexandrian tetradrachms and associated denominations were issued, before Diocletian's massive reform of the coinage. As such, I think it's very numismatically significant. A special bonus is that it is ex Keith Emmett. (Its Emmett number is 4114.) The funky pink highlights are pretty cool too.

1) Another area I had previously neglected was fourrées. I did have ancient imitations, but for some reason I always stayed away from plated... for no good reason! (Did I think they were ugly? Well, I suppose sometimes they are, but I think Byzantine bronze is beautiful, so how could I turn my nose up at fourrées?) I became so enthusiastic about fourrées after seeing many on Coin Talk that I could easily have produced a top 10 just in that category! One from Ionia at the dawn of coinage, Stevex6's famous Zombie Jesus (to check its fame just google it!), a sweet Gordian from JAZ... I could go on. But tops has got to be this one (new photo):

Gallienus, joint reign (253-60), fourrée antoninianus; source coin not in RIC.

The silver content of antoninianii from this period is so low that a counterfeiting operation would have produced extremely meagre profits, if any. In his study of them, the latest fourrée @Valentinian had seen (before this one) was a Trebonianus Gallus; this one is at least 3 years later (since the copied obverse comes from 256). See Valentinian in action, helping me out with this coin here... thank you so much!! Thanks also to @zumbly who got me to take a second look at a lot coin that I thought was a dud. I'm elated to own what is possibly the latest existing fourrée antoninianus from the 3rd century crisis. (Did I mention I like firsts and lasts??)

OK, that's a wrap. (There were 3 other coins that would have been on this list, except I like them so much they made my top 15...TBA.) Thank you, thank you, thank you... you are all awesome!!!

 

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I don't know about "top ten", but this one was inspried by Stevex6:

OTACILIA SEVERA
Æ Sestertius
OBVERSE: MARCIA OTACILIA SEVERA AVG, diademed and draped bust right
REVERSE: SAECVLARES AVGG, SC in ex, Hippopotamus standing right, head raised
Struck at Rome, 248 AD
18.6g, 30mm
RIC 200a, Cohen 65
ex Warren Esty

 

Glad your liking Tets.

Great pics.

Love #9, #7, & #6 best.

 

That's another great list SA.

I definitely agree with you, there are many types I've only learned about or become interested in through threads on CT. I've also got the Elagabalus with horns bust on my wish list - along with a selection of other types - thanks to discussions I've read here.

It's a great selection all round, but I particularly like 7 & 6.

 

and purchased from Valentinian! An excellent coin with excellent CT credentials.

 

I certainly am, thanks in no small measure to you!

 

Terrific coins and I loved your individual clarifications....So many of mine were inspired by posts and threads of so many other CT members over the past three years that I have extreme difficulty separating them from my non-IHBCT coins

My favs are 6 and 7!!!

 

Even though I bought this Carthage in 2016 it falls in the category of the OP.
I was inspired by a person here on CT when I bought it.

It was also my intention to get the kids out to attempt some better pics this past week but health and holidays kept me from it.

 

LOL, I’m sure that’ll be me too, sooner rather than later!

Looks like 6 & 7 are taking an early lead...

 

Sorry to hear about the health issues, @Smojo, I hope the holiday rest fixes that up. Both obv and rev are beauties on that Carthaginian, I hope to do better on that front in 2018. I’m sure @Alegandron will continue to encourage us both in our efforts!

 

A great list overall! As far as aesthetics go, #7 would be hard to beat.

 

Many on this list may have been inspired by CT, but the examples you picked are truly in a class of their own. Between best-I’ve-ever-seen (10, 7, 6, 3) and best-I’ve-never-seen (8, 1), this is a truly an envy-inducing group of coins.

If I have to pick an absolute favorite, it would be 8 as if really hits home as the one that got away. My not appreciating it enough at the point of bidding ensured that it ended up on someone else’s top 10 list of 2017. That said, I’m very glad that the someone is you, and that you enjoy it as much as you do . Congrats on the great year!

 

Really nice coin SA! I like the Tacitus a lot!

 

Thanks, zumbly! I'm sorry to have deprived you of that Gallienus double... if I see another, I will be sure to bring it to your attention! And thanks again for your posts, help, and encouragement this year... you are truly a gem on this forum. Happy collecting in 2018!

 

Thanks, David... I'm sorry my lists this year don't include any Flavians. But I can tell you this: a nice denarius of Domitian as Augustus is a major target for me in 2018, and I hope to have one in my top 10!! I'm especially interested in the couple of years you identified as the engraving high point. Buying tips by pm would be most welcome.

 

And another list! Great coins here, #10 strikes me as the best, probably because of the date and the quality of the coin.

 

I liked reading what interested you to each coin.

Without this forum I never would have started collecting ancients!

 

Guilty as charged, I couldn't help myself! I promise to be better next year. (Thanks for the compliments!)

 

If it wasn't for CoinTalk members, I would not have gotten 15 Sol Invictus Comiti coins this year. I think I might make a top 10, but it will all be Sol coins.

 

I would like to see that, I hope you do!