It happened that other threads seemed appropriate for most of my new coins from the show Saturday. Here are the others - all too late to interest many of you. I give some reasons but get real, most were just cheaper than I thought they were worth. Gallienus Alexandria 4dr year 13 Emmett 3806 (a common one) - All three reverse letters have a squiggle to the vertical strokes. Is this a factor of the strike or was the die that way? Postumus billon but still gray antoninianus - Mars walking - This is just one I did not have. I only recently realized I like Postumus. He is such a handsome fellow. Maximianus Jupiter is interesting (not rare) to me because it honors the god associated with Diocletian rather than Max's usual Hercules type. It is also a workshop S=6 which I like because of all the variations of letter form found for that numeral. Severus II AE1 Moneta reverse from Rome SAC MON VRB - I had been telling myself that I was weak in this ruler and this was attractive to me. It is unusual in that the portrait is about as low relief as I have seen and Severus' coins are not usually very high. The letters are raised even higher which makes the coin very stackable. How many folles are there in a roll? Constantinopolis commemorative - This has four attractions to me besides being cheap. It has smooth surfaces and is a mint (Trier - TRS) I don't have. At the reverse left is a palm branch angled to the left. Finally it is a product of a clashed reverse die which explains why you had trouble seeing the mintmark and the branch. Perhaps you see the inverted incuse nose just right of the branch and prow??? I do not pay extra for clashed die coins but I don't refuse them like many people would. At 2.49g, this is the heavier series that acompanied the two soldiers, two standards types and is found in RIC volume VII (#563 page 218). Constantius II AE3 Phoenix on globe Constantinople - This is a different officina than my other one of this mint but I though it outclassed the other coins in the junk box. Even with some texture problems, a full legend Phoenix with patina does not belong in a box with electrocuted trash. Constantius II AE2 Thessalonika soldier with one captive (more commonly seen with two) - My other one is a different officina but I am not really trying to get all FEL TEMP's by officina (I hope). This has an uneven strike favoring the Chi-Rho and soldier's face but loses some of the captive detail. There was a time I considered these more scarce than I do now but I bought it anyway. Nothing I got at Baltimore comes close to JA's Gaius coup but I had fun. Over half the money I spent went to the Nero I showed on another thread so I'll go work on updating my favorites page where it with now put in an appearance.
Nice additions, Doug. Not a fan usually but I really like that Severus II best. And im always a sucker for clashed dies & sometimes I do pay a bit more for one depending how severe it is.
And until I scrolled back up and re-read the first paragraph, I believed all the reasons too! Nice pickups, Doug. I like the Postumus (not surprising) and the Gallienus tet (surprising to me) best.
The Nero is a fabulous coin, and if you feel any jealousy over my acquisition of the Gaius, I assure you the feeling is reciprocated in the case of the Nero. I would very much welcome that piece into my collection with open arms. You bought one "big" coin and a handful of "small" ones, and I don't mean "small" in a pejorative sense. The more I study Bruck, the more I become interested in varieties, (and I have some new ones to post, but that's for another thread). Was that an intentional approach, or did it just work out that way? In either case, you made away with an attractive and eclectic set, and as usual, your photography highlights the true beauty of the coins.
All nice coins and worthy of your adoption. I suppose I like the Gallienus and the Sev II best for looks.
nice roman mix! almost all of these would be on my list...either a type i don't have or a ruler, like severus. i really like the tet! is the year weird? so instead of delta it's 1 + gamma= 4? if so, that's cool. if not...what's going on there?
'I' is not 1 but 10. It is a coincidence that I fell there in the alphabet making it easily confused. Gamma is 3 so iota gamma is 13. Greek numerals work like ours except that you have a different symbol for each 'place' eliminating the need to keep columns straight. That means PIA or AIP (order makes no difference) each mean 100 + 10 + 1 or 111. They don't need a space holder zero so PA or AP would be 101. I suggest you learn Greek alphabet for their use in dating and workshop numbers. Some letters used lower case in antiquity while some never did until more modern days. Between the two reverse heads are the numbers 4,60,400 or 464 in their era making this 152AD. Coins the next year would have replaced the delta with an E. Clear? Prove it: What is E plus H minus A? Did you say IB?
oh....ok, when I read it at first I thought it said year 4. your post clearly states year 13. that's still cool. I did say IB...but had to count on my fingers.
