Secret Saturnalia 2020

The gift that I sent out was successfully delivered, but I am still waiting for mine to arrive. Hoping for a Saturnalia miracle in the mail today!

 

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You and me both!
Perhaps sacrifices need to be made to the appropriate god?
Anyone know who the god of the USPS is?

 

Fortuna?

 

Try a turkey, it might be of some use in a short future

Q

 

I have a small frozen one I was saving for Christmas, but perhaps now is the time to bring it out!

 

The sacrifice of a frozen turkey will need a chainsaw I'm afraid !

Q

 

Ok, I guess we will let it thaw first. Looks like the sacrifice is off for today, boys and girls. Sorry....

 

Me eager to jump into Saturnalia:

 

It's already december 17th where I leave, but I can't show anything yet, having not received a package from my Secret Saturn. Whoever my Saturn is, I sincerely hope their parcel isn't lost somewhere...

Q

 

The sacrifice should be the lady who answers ups complaints at the Longwood FL location, she is rude and on a non coin package when I called to say I didnt recieve my package one year, she yelled in the phone "what do you want me to do about it!?". So lets sacrifice her tonight and please the god and everyone will get their packages. Lol.

 

We could always try a libation to Hermes... he does fast deliveries right?

 

..........No packages arriving today........

 

It's the 17th where I live, and I opened my Secret Saturn's (aka @Cucumbor 's) letter today.

Q, I'm overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of your gift! This beautiful Henry II douzain from your home region in France fits my late medieval and early modern numismatic tastes perfectly, and it is a great addition to the French coins I already had in my collection. I was also very touched by the attached Saturnalia/Christmas card.

Vraiment, mille mercis. Je te souhaite de joyeuses Saturnales, un joyeux Noël et une bonne année!


Kingdom of France, under Henry II, AR douzain aux croissants, 1550 AD, Lyons mint. Obv: + HENRICVS 2 · DEI · G · FRANCORV · REX · F · (lis); crowned French coat of arms; to l. and r., crown above crescent. Rev: + SIT · NOMEN DNI · BENEDICTVM · 1550 · (lis); pellet below 12th letter; cross fleurée with H and crown alternating in quarters; D below. 27mm 2.46g. Ref: Duplessy 997. Ex Cucumbor (Secret Saturnalia 2020).

 

Io Saturnalia!
We have our first reveal!
Looks like my Secret Saturn gift will not be arriving today but FFIVN received a package in the mail yesterday that he will be opening after school. He and I are looking forward to it and joining in the fun.

 

I have to thank @Al Kowsky for my amazing Saturnalia gift. He gifted me a billon tetradrachm of Philip II minted in Antioch.


My poor quality pictures don't do the coin justice. This is my first Roman tetradrachm and I love the coin. It has great in hand size and feel and the eagle on the reverse is a beauty. Thank you for your generosity Al, I love the coin.

 

I just opened my Saturnalia gift(s). Very thoughtful. Enclosed were three coins. Much more than I expected or deserve. I have some errands this morning, so I will take images later today and post them then. Thank you so much to my (not very) secret Saturn.

 

Ed, I'm happy you like the coin ! I had this coin chosen before I knew who the recipient was, & after learning you would receive it I became worried thinking it wouldn't fit into your fine collection. Below are some better photos I took of the coin earlier this year, it is McAlee 1042 .

 

Io Saturnalia!!


Opened my gift this morning.. and wow. Extremely thoughtful and overly generous – amazing!

Some time ago I wrote a post about my weird relationship with the book “Coinage in the Roman World” by Andrew Burnett. I purchased a copy a few years ago – and was only a couple of chapters in (and thoroughly enjoying it) when I had an uncle come visit and stay with me for a few days. He showed great interest in my coins – so I sent him home with a few LRBs and the book. About a year later I purchased another copy and left the darn thing in a hotel room in Pittsburgh after a work trip.. again only a couple of chapters in!!

You guessed it – here is the first thing I noticed when I opened the box today!


Needless to say – I will ensure the 3rd time is a charm.. it is not leaving my house!!

As if that wasn't enough a wide range of coins was included: ancients, medieval and modern.

Russian wire money: Ivan "The Terrible", Feodor I, Michael I and Peter The Great:


Next, these highlights:


(the bag is a selection of LRBs)..

And an excellent assortment of very interesting modern coins.. Canadian, United States and Britain.


The return address is always the giveaway - so I would like to thank @Orfew for this fine gift. It really is too much. I hope you enjoy your gift as much as I do mine.

Looking forward to more reveals..

 

I opened mine today and my first Roman Bronze appeared! I was just saying how I was going to start collecting the Bronze coins so I can up my collection with alot more reverse types, and my first one being a SS gift is way cool. I more than appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gift that adds to the roman side of my collection. I am going to have to re attribute the coin. But heres a couple pics.

 

IO Saturnalia! Many thanks to my Saturn who took on this difficult bastard child in the ancients section. He discovered I not only collect medievals, but have a love for the issues of Caracalla, and got me a lovely Denarius with a stunning portrait (and I was thinking earlier that I hadn’t done much to advance my Caracalla collection this year, so this is perfect!)