Saturday Night Free For All

I do! If they're in Crawford, they count as far as I'm concerned. My total includes six coins also listed in Sear's Roman Imperators book [David Sear, The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 BC (1998)] -- which covers all coins issued during that period, even if their subject matter had nothing to do with the ongoing civil wars.

 

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I went in with high hopes and a long wishlist - I didn't get one from the sock drawer - but I did end up with this one....

T. Vettius Sabinus, 66 BC, AR denarius (Silver, 20mm, 4.00g, 7h), Rome.
Obv: SABINVS - S•C, bare and bearded head of King Tatius to right; below chin, monogram of TA
Rev: IVDEX / T•VETTVS Togate figure in slow biga to left, holding reins in his right hand and scepter in his left; behind, grain ears
Ref: Crawford 404/1

My Gallery of RR favorites

 

Central Italy, Emilia(?). Late 4th to early 3rd century BC. Æ Ramo Secco (47.4g). Fragment of a bronze ingot. Obv: Branch with no leaves. Rev: Branch with no leaves. Ref: Thurlow & Vecchi AS 1; Haeberlin pl. 7, 6. Fair, attribution uncertain.
Ex Mortown, Mar 2003.

 

(Dealer's description and pic)
Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
Eagle standing facing, head left, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; A to upper right, S-C flanking body, MON VRB in exergue.
AVTOK K M IOVΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOV CЄB
ΔHMAPX ЄΞOVCIAC
Prieur 305
-----
Grade (me) aXF

I've never been that into the Roman era Antioch Tets, although I get one here and there, but I've always loved the enigmatic Rome style Philip I Tets (why were they made?). I picked this up recently and I think I'd like to collect more of this series.

 

Great coin and gallery!

ATB,
Aidan.

 

I will work on improving things and adding the moneyer's name is a good idea - I will add that.

One Tantalus shortcoming is that the field for moneyer name is too short - my own database has a longer field, so someday that will work - I should be able to populate all fields in the list view with the data from the database.

As well as the RR coins, over the Christmas break, I managed to organise coins as late as Constantine I and Helena in trays. One or two more multi-day efforts will be needed to get the rest of the Roman coins done, then Greek and Byzantine - I don't have many Byzantine coins and Sear will do for organising these. For the Greeks, I'll use the Hoover books as the primary references to organise things, but TBD how it will go. I've found that there are some coins I can no longer locate and a few that have not been entered on Tantalus, so there's some tidying up to be done.

I don't have many provincials and am not sure how to organise them.

My Severan collection is limited - I did get the denarius part of it organised in 2020 during the first Covid lockdown. This is a photo' of it - there are one or two Caracalla ants which should be in the tray and one or two acquisitions since then, but this is most of it:


I need to add more web lists for the coins beyond Augustus.

I agree completely that Crawford is a very good reference and RR collectors are lucky to have something so comprehensive. I attended a talk a few years back by the guy who catalogued UCD Classical Museum's collection of RR coins - he said they started with the RR coins because of Crawford. So far, it's the only part of the collection online - http://digital.ucd.ie/view/ucdclm:10. There's nothing amazing there, but it's interesting enough - in the 2 years I worked on the UCD campus, I didn't manage to get to the museum

There are lots of coins I'd like to have - I drifted into RR collecting about eight or nine years ago. I entered the Numismatic Society of Ireland's display competition and decided to make a display of RR coins. Then, I gave a talk at one of the meetings. Before each of these, I decided I needed more coins to illustrate the display and the talk. So, the aim of the collection became "Make a representative collection of RR coins". Somewhere along the line it has become "Get everything in Crawford". Like collecting all the emperors, this is a hopeless pursuit, but it's interesting and I learn along the way.

For the representative collection - I "need" an aes grave as and a Julius Caesar aureus. Neither of these is rare (there are rarities, but at least there are common types too), but not especially cheap - perhaps this year I'll get one or both - that would be a good year.

There are many rarities I'd like and maybe can pick up one or two a year with the commoner coins mostly secured.

What's next for your Eastern Septimius/Domna collection? Is there something you've been seeking for ages? Are you still discovering new coins you didn't know about?

ATB,
Aidan.

 

Happy Saturday everyone.

So my wife got a ring light for Christmas to shoot clothes and things she wants to sell online. Anyway, I’d been eyeing it for coins and took a few minutes with it last night. Ring lighting is cool but probably not much use for ancients unless you’re making wall art or something. The resulting photographs look fun but are far from representative of the coins in hand. Anyway, anyone play with ring lighting with ancient coins? Here are a few quick shots. Below are two different coins… a Gordian III reverse and a Probus, both taken with just an iPhone.

 

@dougsmit has posted about his ring lighting experiments in the past. Perhaps he'll have something to add, or search his posts for "ring light."

 

I really like those photos - the details certainly come through and the overall effect is for me somehow dramatic, like an old Hollywood headshot. Anyway, I often prefer "art" to "representative."

Too lazy and cheap to invest in equipment beyond an old digital camera and the free light provided by the sun, I keep experimenting in a desultory way. Recently, I tried a couple of backgrounds at different times of day on this sestertius of Antoninus Pius:


Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(155-156 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[ANTONI]NVS AVG PIVS PP
IMP II, laureate head right / TR POT | XIX | COS IIII | SC in four lines within laurel wreath.
RIC 947; BMC 2003; Cohen 998; Sear 4250.
(21.71 grams / 30 x 29 mm)
eBay Jan. 2022 Ck

If anybody out there knows anything behind the issue of this odd "wreath-n-inscription" type for AP, I'd love to hear about it. Maybe everybody at the mint got tired of the goddess-standing-around type, so they just went with some titles? Nothing seems to be celebrated (VOT, etc.), just the usual titles.

 

..ah, this lQQk like a good place to slip in my new-t0-me Louie XVI ECU i got today....not in as good as shape as XV, but nice for the price Louis XVI ECU 41.5mm 28.92gms

 

The only thing I could find about the purpose of the issue is this brief explanation on p. xc of BMCRE4:

Dedications of laurel-wreaths seem to call attention to the fact that the Emperor had reached his nineteenth tribunician year. Preparations in advance for the celebrations of 'vota' are suggested.​

You've made a slight error in your attribution. You catalog this as BMC 2003; it's actually 2002. Here's the listing:



BMCRE 2002 has a laureate head, right, (bust a), like yours. BMCRE 2003 has a laureate bust, r., with slight drapery on far shoulder (bust b). Here are photos of the specimens in the British Museum.

2002:



2003:

 

Thank you RC for the additional information and the correction! I appreciate the help.

 

Well it is Saturday Night well actually morning. One of the additional benefits of the NYINC was that one of my coins finally got a home. It is this one.
Heraklea Pontika Ar Tetradrachm 235-220 BC in the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Obv. Head of beardless Herakles right wearing lions skin headdress. Rv. Zeus Aetophorus seated left. Stancomb 840 var Price 936 var. 17.01 grms 27 mm Photo by W. Hansen When I bought the coin in 2014 the auction house said it was from Audoleon one of the Kings of Paeonia. Once i had examined it I concluded very quickly that it wasn't. I came to the conclusion that it actually came from Kallatis. The problem was at the time most of the coins ascribed to that mint were being shifted over to the mint of Kalchedon. At this point I contacted Constantin Marinescu who is working on the coinage of the region and he said. "No not Kalchedon" So the coin went back to Kallatis, though I was none to happy about this. Just before I went to New York I had another look at the coin and thought. I got to talk to Constantin again. On Saturday when things were somewhat more quiet at the show. I sought him out and showed him a pic (The one you see above) and he indicated that it was not from Kalchedon but probably came from Heraklea Pontika. This suggestion came like a bolt from the blue, and when consulting the SNG Stancomb, I could see that his suggestion had merit. Actually Price had included this group of coins Price 936 to Kallatis. I am now more confident that my coin has finally been given its proper home. (I hope)

 

Saturday night and I'm grooving on this denarius I purchased from our very own @PeteB of Akropolis Ancient Coins. It honors Julia Domna as Mater Castrorum, a title first awarded to Faustina II.


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.13 g, 16.0 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 198.
Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: MATRI CASTRORVM, Julia Domna standing left, sacrificing over lighted altar from patera held in right hand and holding box of incense in left hand; to left, two standards.
Refs: RIC 567; BMCRE 57; Cohen/RSC 134; RCV 6596; Hill 370.

I ask you very confidentially, ain't she sweet?

 

Wonderful portrait and coin!

 

Er, Faustina Jr. called and wanted to know who this Julia person is. She sounds very upset!


Faustina II Æ Sestertius
(176-180 A.D.)
Rome Mint
DIVAE FAVSTINAE [PIAE], draped and veiled bust right / [MATRI CASTRO]RV[M] SC below, Faustina II seated l., holding globe w. phoenix and sceptre; two standards in l. field.
RIC 1712; Cohen 163.
(24.43 grams / 29 mm)
eBay Feb. 2019

But seriously, nice Julia D - she's a looker.

 

I have a web page on this type:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MATRI/

Here is the first example on that page:



Faustina II
Sestertius, 31-30 mm. 22.02 grams.
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA

MATRI CASTRORVM
Empress standing left, holding patra over altar
three standards to left

Sear 5280 this coin

RIC 1659 (under Marcus Aurelius) "R"

"Faustina was awarded the title of 'Mater Castrorum' (Mother of the camps) in AD 174 in recognition of her compassion for the soldiers in sharing the hardships of military life on active campaign." Sear II, page 346.

Here is the page link again: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MATRI/

 

It's Saturday!!



This just arrived from @John Anthony and it's my nicest VRBS ROMANA yet!


Constantine I, AD 307-337.
Roman billon reduced centenionalis, 2.11 g, 17.3 mm, 12 h.
Siscia, 3rd officina, AD 334-335.
Obv: VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma, left, wearing imperial robes.
Rev: Lupa Romana, left, suckling Romulus and Remus; two stars above; •ΓSIS• in exergue.
Refs: RIC vii p. 456, 240; RCV 16515; LRBC I 750; Cohen 17.

She goes nicely with her sister from this mint and issue.


Constantine I, AD 307-337.
Roman billon centenionalis, 2.22 g, 17.8 mm, 6 h.
Siscia, AD 334-335.
Obv: CONSTAN-TINOPOLIS, bust of Constantinopolis, laureate, helmeted, wearing imperial cloak, left, holding reversed spear in right hand.
Rev: Victory, winged, draped, standing left on prow, holding spear in right hand and shield in left hand; •BSIS• in exergue.
Refs: RIC vii, p. 456, 241; RVC 16469; LRBC I 751; Cohen 21.

 

I don't have any coins to share until tomorrow but check out this unofficial music video from my favorite band... It borrows some footage from a movie (the "First Man") about he X-15 and the exploration of the space between space and us. This is what's making me smile this late at night.. free for all right?!? I guess this has to do with reaching towards all of the solar deities (Sol, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, etc.)