Saturday Night Free For All

Photographed some new arrivals --


Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman orichalcum dupondius, 13.81 g, 27.3 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 150.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Aeternitas standing facing, head left, holding phoenix (nimbate right) on globe in right hand and with left hand drawing out fold of skirt.
Refs: RIC 1157; BMCRE 1544-47; Cohen 13; Strack 1261; RCV 4638.


Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman Æ as, 9.87 g, 26.5 mm, 11 h.
Rome, AD 145-147.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AVGVSTA S C, Vesta standing left, holding palladium in extended right hand and long torch in left hand.
Refs: RIC 1178; BMCRE 1581; Cohen 114; Strack 1295; RCV 4648.

 

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Another interesting and this time early eastern siliqua of Valens:



AR17mm 1.61g silver siliqua, minted at Antioch, cca. second half of 364 to early 365.
DN VALENS - PER F AVG; pearl-diademed draped cuirassed bust r.
RESTITV - TOR REIP; Emperor standing facing, head r. in military dress, holding standard with Chi-Rho on banner and Victory on globe.
ANT in exergue
RIC IX Antioch 7 var. (obverse legend 2c), should be added as Antioch 7d

Notes: This is the first type of siliquae minted for Valentinian I and, starting with late spring or early summer 364, for Valens. The coinage was likely brief, and the specimens bearing the name of Valens are conspicuously scarcer than the ones naming Valentinian.

The PER F AVG (2c) obverse legend is not recorded for silver in RIC, although it is introduced for gold issues as early as mid 364 probably. In conclusion, this specimen is a rather rare variation of an otherwise scarce early siliqua type at Antioch. The type dates to before the usurpation of Procopius, providing a terminus ante quem before the autumn of 365. Although considering the scarcity of specimens, the issue was probably briefer than a full year.

There are other known specimens though, here, here and here.

 

Today I went for breakfast and it was so refreshing to be able to get away from politics and begin talking about numismatics and history. I mentioned something about my one and only Celtic coin. It is a tetradrachm from Pannonia with the obverse a rather unique rendition of Zeus facing right with the reverse a an armless and legless horseman right. Lanz 743 KMW 1391 200-100 BC 12.51 grms 20 mm Photo by W. Hansen

 

Wow.. that is a wonderful piece of art. Thank you for sharing. I do love how the Celts represented horses. The legs almost look like they represent celestial constellations. Their usefulness must have seemed magical.

 

I am still recovering from the October madness and now I am working on some of my coins that I may send to auction next year. This one I bought because it was interesting. It is the first issue where the quadriga is depicted running not walking. Syracuse Ar Tetradrachm Boehringer 604 440-430 BC Obv Charioter driving fast quadriga left. In this case Nike is crowning the driver. Rv head of Arethusa right 16.95 grms 24 mm Photo by W. Hansen

 

I have been rephotographing some coins this Saturday night. Over the years, I must have taken a half a dozen photos of this coin, trying to capture how it looks in hand. This is the best photo I've taken of this coin.

The identity of the female figure on this coin is in dispute, though it plainly identifies her as the personification of Pietas! If it did depict a real woman as Pietas, I subscribe to the Vipsania, mother of Drusus, theory.


Tiberius, AD 14-37.
Roman orichalcum Dupondius, 14.32 g, 29.15 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 22/23.
Obv: PIETAS, veiled, diademed and draped bust of (Vipsania? as) Pietas, right.
Rev: DRVSVS CAESAR TI AVGVSTI F TR POT ITER around large SC.
Refs: RIC Tiberius 43; BMCRE Tiberius 98; CBN Tiberius 74; Cohen 1; RCV 1741.

 

Attempting to photograph this coin: is it possible this is a goddess and not Zeus on the reverse? The reverse monogram interesting on this coin:

Celts in Eastern Europe AR Drachm, imitating Alexander III 'the Great' of Macedon, 310-275 BC
Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress
Rev: Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; monogram in left field

 

Saturday night, working up an unattributed batch of Greek and Roman Provincials I just got in from eBay.

Here's a couple from the batch:

That double-face obverse bust is Artemis. The reverse is Athena and I think this is from Sardes, Lydia. There were several magistrates who issued these but I am not having any luck matching mine. Close, just not quite there. 23 mm, 6.5 grams.






Here's another oddity - this little AE from Bithynia, Prusa ad Olympum (Commodus - RPC IV.1, 4799 (temporary), I think) has these weird striations all over it, but only on the reverse. Deliberate damage? Erosion? A horrible cleaning? 15 mm, 0.95 grams. That's Artemis with 2 torches.



Wavy Gravy, man:

 

Textile impressions in the patina from the cloth purse in which it was stored! VERY cool!

 

@Sulla80, my two cents (to mix cliche: ), for what they're worth, would be that, anyway as of the late 4th-3rd. c. BCE (...Dang, your example is Early), it's like, they're Celts (cover your children's ears); they can do what they Want.

 

That is seriously bizarre... and incredibly cool!

 

Wow. I had no idea. That is really interesting.

 

I think you are probably right - they were Celts and could do what they want. My preferred over-reach on this coin is that the Celts had had enough of the Greeks, and enough of Zeus and his capricious ways and decided that they preferred a Goddess on the throne.

 

Makes all the intuitive sense in the world. The Celts were at the opposite side of the spectrum from the Germanic tribes of the 4th and 5th c. ACE, falling all over themselves to assimilate.

 

Yes, I agree that the Vipsania ID makes a lot more sense than the Livilla one BUT we are dealing with politicians here and lying is a profession in that crowd. When a politician makes a strong point about how truthful and honest he is, my tendency is to wonder just who he is trying to fool. In this case, the least Pietas like woman in Rome may very well have been Livilla so a part of me wants to stick to that ID even though Vipsania, being dead, is more likely. In any event it is not Livia as it was labelled by the old crowd of experts.

 

Today was the Masters golf tourney finale. The winner, Dustin Johnson, was greeted afterward by his fiancé who is only a couple degrees of separation from ancient coin collecting. Who here knows how she might be described this way?

 

I won't give it away, but it was fun while it lasted.

 

Bruce McNall, erstwhile owner of Numismatic Fine Arts, was also the owner of the LA Kings, who brought the Great Gretsky to the USA. Gretsky's daughter is Dustin Johnson's fiance.

McNall's autobiography is indeed titled Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune. It was a fun read while it concerned ancient coins, but when he started talking about race horses and hockey, I lost interest.

 

I enjoyed it a great deal. It was interesting to read how an extremely intelligent man (McNall) dealing with major money belonging to other people (The Hunt brothers and others) can guess so wrong about the direction of a market he knows very well that he goes hundreds of millions of dollars in the hole.