Saturday Night Free For All

I'm sure this has been played before.




Caria, Rhodes. Early 1st c. AD. AE20.
Obv: Radiate head of Helios to right.
Rev: EΠITYXHΣ / P - O Rose seen from above; below, winged kerykeion to right.
Epityches, magistrate.

 

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Two Palaiologoi Thessalonica trachea:


Andronikos II ca. 1312-15 S.2387, DOC Class XXX 800



Andronikos III ca. 1322 S.2490, DOC Class X 931

 

A couple of more or less recent purchases that I want to properly photograph and write tags for this weekend. I guess they represent well what I tend to add to the collection these days:

 

Your bottom right coin reminds me of this ex @Bing French feudal coin @Orielensis

 

« Saturday night free for all your ». Two things to do tonight: 1) searching if my latest Victorinus imitation has a twin in a hoard somewhere 2) maybe a bit of shopping tonight ?

 

That's a great coin! I have yet to get any Victorinus CONSECRATIO coins.

I recently received this coin. I really like it. As you know with Gallienus coins, they are never perfect or perfectly round but this coin has good detail, full legends on both sides, a rarer reverse legend variation, some underlying silvering, and an interesting reverse. It's a fun addition.

Gallienus - APOLLO CONSERVA - Milan - RIC V-1 467c

 

I love how large the lyre is on these very scarce types. Great score!

 

Just noticed that that Sol coin is a Constantine II CLARITAS REIPVBLICAE rather than the more usual Constantine SOLI INVICTO COMITI coin. Nice coin!

Thanks! Yeah, the obverse figure portrays a sense of life, movement and emotion. And who doesn’t like ancient representation of musical instruments?! I love it!

 

Yes, you're right – they are visually quite similar, though a couple hundred years and miles apart. My coin is a witten from Lübeck, Germany, minted after the monetary reform of 1410. Its obverse shows the imperial eagle, highlighting Lübeck's status as a free imperial city, which is also mentioned in the reverse legend (CIIVITAS INPER):

Thanks for the compliment. This coin was indeed quite a catch, especially considering that I paid about 10 USD. Since I'm on a tight coin budget until construction at our home has ended and is paid for, most of my current collecting is hunting for small medieval and LRB bargains like this one:

 

It is Saturday again. As noted before I have been going through old on line auction cats looking for hidden pedigrees. Of late I have not been having a great deal of success. However my friend @Romancollector noticed that one of my coins is in Sear's Roman Coins and Their Values Millennium Edition Here it is
Vespasian Ae Dupondius 73 AD Obv. Head left radiate. Rv, Felicitas standing left RIC 581 Sear 2346 var This Coin illustrated
11.93 grms 27 mm Photo by W. Hansen Here it is again in Sear This has definitely made my day So far this week I have found nothing but this really helps. Thanks very much.

 

It’s very cool to have a coin that is shown in the Sear volumes. Congrats on that capture! Although we know any pricing information is pretty useless these days (especially in a book 22 years old), it’s interesting to see that your coin is listed as worth $200 in VF condition. I’d guess these days, that’s probably lower than the opening bid before things take off!

 

Wow.... I was only 5 when that was released (1974) however I do remember it very well as my older brother loved it and played it constantly.. The tartan army... hilarious to look back now.

I will show my first Owl which arrived this week... which after many years of waiting is a big deal for me as a collector.

Its been a long search to find an owl that fit my meager budget yet met my simple requirements. I am very happy that the day has finally come!

I've been on cloud 9 all week.. what a feeling!



Speaking of Cloud 9.... we used to all be Fab..

 

Well I guess. Over the last few weeks I have been working my way through the rNumis site hoping to find some 'hidden pedigrees' Last week I found what maybe one of my best discoveries.
Marcus Aurelius Ar didrachm Caesarea in Cappadocia 161-165 AD. Obv Head right laureate Rv. Mount Argaeus with star above summit. Sydenham 328 3.84 grms 20 mm Photo by W. Hansen I purchased this coin from an English V Coins dealer in August 2013. While going through the Adolph Hess Luzerne auctions I ran across the reference that his Auction dated April 28 1936 Featured the Sydenham Collection. Edward Sydenham was one of the major numismatists in the first half of the twentieth century. He was one of the driving forces behind the publication of the Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) and had written a number of other books including this one. This book was published originally in 1933 and was reprinted and augmented in 1978. I have exactly two coins from this mint so I looked and found this Lot 143 turned out to be my coin and most likely was the coin referenced as his No 328. I cannot be certain as 328 in his book is not illustrated thought the reference given in the Hess Auction Lot 143 is the only coin given with that reference number. However I guess I must consider myself to be extremely fortunate. Out of roughly 10 coins of Marcus Aurelius listed in this auction only 2 were photographed this one and one other.

 

The pedigree information is very interesting. Being able to track a single coin out of millions just blows my mind sometimes

 

As I said someplace else, I have found a liking in Roman provincial coinage, as it reminds me of why I fell in love with feudal coinage: the amount of variation and specific meaning stored into these is unmatched. Plus, the large denominations, the 'multiple assaria' are struck in the nice yellow brass-orichalcum that makes them look like offshoots of the sestertius, which is such a quintessential Roman symbol.

Here is Nisibis in Mesopotamia for Otacilia Severa:


AE22mm 10g brass (orichalcum) (multiple) assarion, minted at Nisibis ca. 247-9.
[ΜΑΡ ΩΤΑΚΙΛ Ϲ]ƐΟΥΗΡΑΝ ϹƐΒ; diademed and draped bust of Otacilia Severa, r., crescent at shoulders
ΙΟΥ ϹƐΠ ΚΟΛΩ ΝƐϹΙΒΙ ΜΗΤ; temple with arched pediment and four columns enclosing draped, veiled and turreted Tyche seated facing, with ram leaping r. above her; below, river god (Mygdonius) swimming r.

RPC VIII, unassigned 2575

Nisibis minted a copious local provincial coinage in the first half of the 3rd century starting with the late Severan period until the reign of Philip 'the Arab' in 249. This is the most eastern provincial mint of the Empire in Mesopotamia and it minted off and on but in very large quantities -- a hint to the rich commerce that took place here between Romans and Persians. After the death of Severus Alexander the city and the whole area of Mesopotamia was disputed between the Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire, being overrun by the Persians in 235-6/241 and then re-attached to Rome in 244. This period between 244 and 249 saw the most abundant coinage at Nisibis, the large brass-orichalcum multiple assarion used as the local variant of the Imperial sestertius. As with many other provincial coinages, this one also focuses on the specific local cult, with the statue of Tyche and the river god Mygdonius at its feet, inside its temple.

 

Here's a Nero provincial to get the party started!


Nero, AD 54-68.
Roman provincial Æ 17.7 mm, 4.17 g, 1 h.
Lydia, Tralles, c. AD 60.
Obv: ΝΕΡⲰΝ ΚΑΙCΑΡ, bare head, right.
Rev: ΚΑΙC-ΑΡΕⲰΝ, bundle of four grain ears.
Refs: RPC I, 2657; BMC 22.345, 125-27; SNG Cop 692; RG 5426; SNG von Aul --.

 

Here is something a little random. I finally got around to taking photos of my Chinese coins. The problem was with the hole in the middle. For photographing, I usually set my coins on a little wooden pedestal mounted within a black box. The setup works with these Chinese coins, but it does mean some additional editing to cut out the middle. I'm glad I finally got around to it though!



Last night I was reading about these ancient Chinese empires. Very interesting, a completely different world from what we usually see with ancient coins.

 

Well it is Saturday and I am still at it. I have been going through the online sites and I have been finding a number of coins in auction cats that i had no knowledge of. I will admit the process is very tedious however once in a while...…
Augustus Ar Denarius Rome 19 BC P. Petronius Turpilianus Moneyer. Obv Diademed head of Feronia Right. Rv, Parthian kneeling right presenting Roman military standard. RIC 288 4.03 grms 19mm Photo by W. Hansen I bought this coin at an Edmonton coin show back in 2011. The dealer that I had bought it from got the coin at a US coin show some time before. At the time I knew it was in a Lanz auction the year before. However just last week I discovered it had been in a Superior auction back in 1988. So the coin went from USA to Germany Back to the US then Canada.

 

Saturday Afternoon and the sun is shining so what am I doing inside? Must be daft. I thought I would showcase this coin,
Kingdom of Cappadocia Ariarathes VII Ar Tetradrachm 107-101 BC, Tyana? In the name and types of Antiochos VII of Syria Obv. Diademed head of Antiochos VII right. Rv Athena Nikephoros standing left holding Nike all within laurel wreath SC 2136 16.60 grms 28 mm Photo by W. Hansen It would seem counterintuitive to mint a coin that is going to be your principle denomination using a type that features the king of another kingdom. However this phenomenon is rather more common than one might think. Most of the posthumous Alexander coinage was minted by states outside the sphere of influence of the Macedonian Kingdom and there is the contemporary copies of the Athenian Owl. There are others as well. This experiment in Cappadocia is rather unusual in that it appears to have occurred over a short period of time and the Kingdom had already established a fairly successful silver coinage based on the drachm.

 

Although though the patina is a bit sparse on this coin, the obverse portrait is excellent in my view & Homer is featured on the reverse. Strabo's comment about bronze coins of Smyrna being called "Homereium" most likely would include this coin from late second century BC:

Notes accumulating here: Home to Homer.