Secret Saturnalia 2018

Well, I am just blown away. Flabbergasted. Stunned.

Whoever sent this... it is far too generous! I sincerely appreciate the gift and it will always have a special place in my collection.

I had to giggle about the "Open once you have attributed the coin" note. It took about a nanosecond to attribute it... I was the underbidder at its last auction appearance .

Really, you shouldn't have. But I'm so glad you did! Thank you thank you thank you. And thank you some more.

Aelius. An Aelius tetradrachm from Egypt. Wow!! And, it is in wonderful condition and it was struck from exceptionally artistic dies! Look at that portrait!! Wow!!


EGYPT, Alexandria. Aelius
137 CE
Billon tetradrachm; 23 mm, 13.16 gm
Obv: ΛAIΛIOCKAICAP; bare head right
Rev: ΔHM EΞOVC VΠAT B; Homonoia standing left, holding cornucopiae and patera over garlanded altar
Ref: Köln 1271; Milne 1539; Emmett 1350.2
Ex John A. Seeger Collection

Aelius... Hadrian's intended successor; father of Lucius Verus. In Historia Augusta the wag of an author hints that Hadrian chose Aelius because of his looks, and that he came to regret the choice. Had Aelius not died before Hadrian, the author suggests Hadrian would have had eliminated him .

...

In the same package I received separate and unexpected gifts from @TypeCoin971793! This is just too much!!

The first is a 10 cash. I'm glad my first Chinese coin was from TypeCoin . It's really lovely and the characters are rendered in "Slender Gold Script".


China, Northern Song Dynasty
Chong Ning Thong Bao 10-Cash
1102-6 CE
35 mm, 10.87 gm
Ref: "similar to 621"

I'm trying to read more about this but the variations in spelling are making searches difficult. I'll try again over the holidays

Secondly, and amazingly, an Agrippina of Roman Egypt! Holy guacamole! I did not have an Agrippina and am delighted to receive this!


EGYPT, Alexandria. Agrippina Jr.
RY 12 of Claudius, 51/2 CE
Diobol; 25 mm, 8.7 gm
Obv: [AΓPIΠΠINACEBACTH]; bust right
Rev: bust of Euthenia right with head wreathed in corn; ]EYΘH / L] - NIA / B
Ref: Emmett 103.12; Milne 124

...

Wow. Just, wow. What a package! Thanks, Secret Saturn and thanks, @TypeCoin971793!

Io Saturnalia!​

 

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Love the Aelius

 

IO SATURNALIA!!

My gift arrived weeks ago, but it was shortly before I left for a trip and I completely forgot to mention it here. After awhile, my concerned SS contacted to JA to ask if it had reached me. Sorry, SS!

My gift is a drachm of Apollodotus II, which will go very nicely with my hopefully-soon-to-arrive AMCC 1 Indo-Baktrian elephant head AE Demetrios Aniketos. Many thanks to my Secret Saturn for the thoughtful gift!

 

My Sec San gift arrived a couple of weeks ago. Since the giver sent me a very nice card identifying himself, I feel no guilt in revealing the name here. It was @Ryro and what a great package he put together! @Ryro did his research and knew exactly what me make me smile the most. He sent me a book, 2 coins, and 2 artifacts! These are my first 2 ancient artifacts. I want to sincerely thank @Ryro for his generosity and for the thought he put into these gifts.

First..the book. I always enjoy reading the histories of the medieval British kings so this book on Henry II is very welcome. I am sure to get many hours of enjoyment from it.


Next are the artifacts. First, a lovely bronze arrow tip.

and the tag


Next, a lovely bronze ring. I can only assume that this must be Roman and almost 2000 years old. The nice thing is...it actually fits!



Now for the coins. First is the controversial coin of Cleopatra VII. Some say it is her others argue not.





and last but definitely not least...Augustus and Julius Caesar!







I love them all. Thanks @Ryro and Io Saturnalia to all!

 

I am just humbled and stumbled by the amazing generosity and awesomeness that my SS showed!
My SS even had a most inventive and enjoyable theme! The Good, the Bad and the COUNTERSTAMP!!!
I took pictures along the way, as they did such a funderful job of adding excitement to my journey.

By Jove, Watson, I like a good mystery

What's next?

An awesome watercolor post card of everyone's favorite hero (except King John of course) Robin Hood!

As well...

Another beautiful watercolor!
And then...

WoWiE! 3 BEAuuuutiful coins!! All right in some of my favorite areas of collecting.
Even with a bunch of clues I still haven't figured out who on CT my SS is though?? I have their real life name, but know not who they are as I would possibly know them better by from CT.
Whomever you are, thank you so very much!

I believe I have correctly attributed these. If not please let me know.
1st, the Good:


Alexandru cel bun (Alexander the Good) Half gos type 4. 11.7 mm diameter, ? g, copper or billon
Obverse Moldavian coat of arms: urus head bearing a five ray star between its horns, the uneven ray pointing down, waning crescent at left and five petal rose at right, the odd petal pointing down (heraldic positioning)
Reverse shield split vertically; three bars at right and five fleurs-de-lis at left arranged 2-2-1 (heraldic positioning); over the shield the Moldavian urus having at heraldic left a waning crescent (in the missing portion of the coin a five petal rose); partially visible outer pearl circle.

What's up with "Good guys" having such crazy sons and grand sons. Ol' Alexandru is the other grandfather of Vlad the Impaler (presumably on his mothers side). Better known as Dracula! I had just recently posted a long sought after coin of Mircea the Great his grandad on his fathers side in my "Coins that go bump in the night" Halloween thread! A truly awesome SS present...but wait there's more!

The Bad...

Caracalla, Caesar, 196-198 Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 2.92 g, 12 h), Laodicea, 198. M AVR ANTON CAES PONTIF Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla to right. Rev. SECVRITAS PERPETVA Securitas standing front, head left, holding inverted spear in left hand and resting with right on shield set on ground. BMC 459. Cohen 566. RIC 330.

One of my favorite bad boys and with such detail and a fantastic old cabinet toning

And last but certainly not least,
The Countermark...

Mysia (van Alfen type 2) Kingdom of Pergamon
Philetairus, 282-263 BC Bronze, with countermark: owl. Head of Athena with Attic Helmet / Serpent of Asclepius. SNG BN 1650 ff. 2.99 g

What an excellent Owl CM "perched" ontop of the serpent of Asclepius! Owls and Gorgons are what started me down my path of Greek coins. And now I have a countermark owl!
Again, whomever my SS is from my family to yours, have a happy Saturnalia!!!


Io Saturnalia all!!!

 

Button collection inspired by @John Anthony ​

 

Io, Saturnalia! I am really glad to see everyone sharing and hopefully liking all of their gifts! Gives me lots of ideas for next year, and I can't wait to participate again. This has been a blast.

I have had my gift package laying on my desk for a while now, looking at it with anticipation each day. And today it's finally here! I'll post proper photos of the coin later, but for now here's the beautifully wrapped package within a package that I received:



And a bit more wrapping beneath, to keep things nice and safe... you can get an idea of what's inside now:



And then... behold, Nero, which I have tentatively attributed as a Rome mint RIC 351:



It makes a great addition to my collection of Julio-Claudian asses, leaving me needing only a Rome mint Augustus to complete my Rome mint set. The only Nero and Augustus asses I had previously were both Lugdunum issues. Though my quick photos don't show it very well, the coin has a very lovely toning to it.

This is the first NGC slab I've held, so that's an interesting experience, but it's much more nicely presented than an ANACS slabbed coin I acquired (and liberated) a while back. It'll be staying safely in there for now.

Let me just offer a heartfelt thank you to whoever my gifter was. You chose a lovely coin, so please know that your generosity is recognized and appreciated, and I hope you receive something equally lovely from your gifter.

 

Nothing came today, and my Saturn has not posted the receipt of his package yet, but I remain patient and hopeful.

 

Looks like Celtic ring money

 

Io Saturnalia! So, I'm in the same boat as you @TypeCoin971793. Although, I hope I find something when I get home tonight. Really hope my Saturn got their gift.

 

Received!!! But I will go one step longer and wait until Christmas! This is gonna hurt...

Thank you TEXAS!

 

Good observation typecoin! It is Celtic "proto-money". I was gonna wait to see if anyone caught it and if not send a PM.

 

Absolutely amazing Saturnalia gifts all. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else received. I didn't participate this year since I'm new and still learning but I'm mightily impressed with what I've seen.

The generosity and kindness here in the Ancients forum is top-notch and never ceases to amaze me.

Io Saturnalia all!

 

My Secret Saturn messaged me! Looks like its still stuck in the mail. I blame the postal strike backlog cause I'm still waiting for a tin of very very late mustache wax from the States.

 

That was my first thought as well. However, upon close examination you can see bevelled edges on the piece. I have seen this on Roman rings but not on Celtic ring money. Regardless it is an excellent artifact and I am already enjoying it.

 

I received an amazing gift of 5 Byzantine coins from Rodolfo Spahr’s collection. I have all the attributes mixed up and have yet to photo them and do a little research. Byzantine coinage is a new venture for me, and owning coins that were in such an amazing and important collection is beyond cool!! Very generous!! I’ll have pics up tomorrow!! Thank you!!!

 

IO SATURNALIA!

While my secret Saturn was not so secret, the gift certainly was. I was dropped a little hint in the attached letter, which was enough for me to suss out that a Medieval Coin from Lyon would be inside. However, I didn’t expect to see more!




An absolutely gorgeous Roman was included (which I haven’t IDed yet, as my students are working on their coins and they have all my books!). The Archbishop of Lyon coin had the tell-tale crossed L, but what was unexpected was that this is an obole and not a denier! My first obole at that - amd while I do not know if this is true for Lyon, the obole’s tend To be rarer than deniers... lastly, a very cool Louis VI 12d. From the midst of the revolution. We just covered this period in my modern European history class, and I have been thinking I need to buy some examples from the time period... perfect! I don’t know enough about these (yet) to give a full attribution, but needless to say, I will have some fun in the future.

Thank you @Cucumbor!

 

Happy to open my package today. I’m thinking along the lines of @lordmarcovan that I hope the prices on the inserts are not entirely accurate or else I reallyneed to step up my gift giving.

First is a cool Ptolemaic




And an Alexandrian Tet from a few hundred years later





Very cool and generous choices.
Thank you Secret Saturn and I hope the holidays and new year are fantastic.

Jim