Won't win any pageants but they fill a couple of holes in my collection... and at a total $20 shipped... all good. CONSTANTIVS P F AVG - Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Constantius II, holding globe. Reverse: FEL TEMP REPARATIO - Soldier, holding spear, leading barbarian from hut under tree. AQT[dot] in ex. (Aquileia mint). IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS P F AVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Valerian I Reverse: FELICITAS AVGG - Felicitas, holding long caduceus and cornucopia. (I HAVE to say that i think BOTH Valerian AND FELICITAS need to skip dessert!) -please post any of your inexpensive RECENT pickups (that keep you engaged between larger coin purchases)
Nice snacks. The hut coin reminds me of the ex Doug Constans I picked up from November's AMCC for about the same price. I believe the pics are Doug's. CONSTANS AE2. 3.95g, 21.6mm. Heraclea mint, AD 348-350. RIC VIII Heraclea 7. O: D N CONSTANS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust left, holding globe. R: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier advancing right, head left, holding spear, leading small figure from hut beneath tree; SMHΔ in exergue. Ex Doug Smith Collection, acquired in 2000 from Pete Burbules AMCC notes that, "On some examples from Heraclea, including this one, the barbarian emerging from the hut appears to be holding a bow." Others suggest that this may be a pedum and not a bow. As for recent, I won this 'thing' in the last FSR auction. That's literally how it was described in the catalog... THING. BYZANTINE EMPIRE AE 'Thing' (Anonymous Class F Follis cut into a 12-pointed star). 4.35g, 22.8mm. Constantinople mint, AD 1059-1067. Sear Byzantine 1856. O: Christ seated on throne without back, raising right hand in benediction. R: IS XS / bASILE / bASIL, cross below.
Yes... I noticed the "THING" prior to the auction.. didn't bid but thought it was cool. Have you had time to invest in the attribution? Is it correct?..because...wow!
A tag that came with the thing said it was a Class D follis, but Frank in his catalog says S1856, which is a Class F. I believe on the obverse I see Christ with his right hand raised, which would make Frank's attribution correct.
Here's a $15.01 (including shipping) snack: Valerian I, AD 253-260. Roman AR antoninianus, 2.75 g, 20 mm, 7 h. Uncertain Eastern mint, 2nd emission, AD 256-260. Obv: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS·P·F·AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the front. Rev: PIETAS AVGG, Valerian, holding eagle-tipped scepter, and Gallienus, holding parazonium, standing facing each other, sacrificing over lighted altar between them. Refs: RIC 285; Göbl 1684e; Cohen/RSC 152; RCV 9955; Hunter 73. Notes: The ANS attributes this issue to Cyzicus, Göbl to Samosata, and RIC to Antioch. According to the introduction of RIC volume V, during Valerian's reign, some coins minted in Asia cannot certainly be attributed to either Antioch or Cyzicus (p.22-26). RIC dates this issue to AD 255-56.
I very much like the hut-type LRB – that's an attractive example from a good mint! Here are some of my recent purchases under $25: Maximian, Roman Empire, AE1 (“follis”), 296–297 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP MAXIMIANVS P AVG; bust of Maximianus, laureate, r. Rev: GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI; Genius standing l., holding patera and cornucopia, modius on head; in fields, A–Γ; in exergue, TR. 25mm, 9.30g. Ref: RIC VI Trier 181b. Arcadius, Roman Empire, AE2, 392–395 AD, Nicomedia mint. Obv: D N ARCADI-VS P F AVG; bust of Arcadius, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed, r. Rev: GLORIA ROMANORVM; emperor, head r., standing facing, holding standard and globe. Ref: RIC IX Nicomedia 46B. 21.5mm, 5.23g. Prince-Bishopric of Passau, under Otto von Lonsdorf or his successors, AR “ewiger Pfennig,” 1254–1451 AD. Obv: wolf l., crozier behind. Rev: griffon with shield l. (weakly struck as usual). 16mm, 0.56g. Kellner 36. Mamluk Sultanate, under Baybars I, AR fractional dirham (struck from dies for full dirham), 1262–1278 AD (662–676 AH), al-Quahira (Cairo) mint. Obv: partial names and titles of Baybars: "al-salihi / al-sultan al-malik / al-zahir rukn al-dunya wa al-din / baybars qasim amir al-mu'minin;” below, lion l. Rev: partial central kalima: "la ilah illa allah / muhammad rasuluallah / arsalahu bi'l-huda;" marginal legend: “duriba al-quahira / [date off-flan].” 14mm, 1.04g. Ref: Album 884.
Nice pickups Claudivs - I was eyeing that Valerian. Virtually everything I buy is inexpensive - the "bargains" keep my budget fully occupied. Just recently I got a lot of 6 Greek AEs for what worked out to being $3.75 each. Of the six, one was very bad - a Macedon Philip II horseman AE (not shown), but the other five, although rough, pleased me greatly. And so, let me inflict these on the Community... Here's the best - the better of the two Philip II horseman AEs. This was pretty much worth the price of the whole lot, I think. Bing has one like this with the bucranium, which I found while researching: Macedonia Kingdom Æ 15 Philip II (c. 359-336 B.C.) Uncertain Macedonia mint Head of Apollo, hair bound with taenia, right / ΦIΛIΠΠOY, naked youth on horse right; bucranium below. SNG ANS 847; SNG Cop. 604. (5.46 grams / 15 mm) Here are two Macedonians of Kassander, a new ruler for me. The big one has perhaps my favorite AE patina - black with green highlights around the devices. Even a very worn coin looks pretty good with this color scheme, in my opinion: Macedonia Kingdom Æ 18 Kassander (c. 317-305 B.C.) Pella or Amphipolis mint Head of Herakles right, wearing lionskin / AΣIΛEΩ[Σ] [KAΣΣA]NΔΡOY above & below youth on horse r., AN monogram right field, ΠY monogram below. SNG Cop. 1148; Mionnet I, 789. (6.01 grams / 18 mm) Macedonia Kingdom Æ 14 Kassander (c. 317-305 B.C.) Pella or Amphipolis mint Head of Herakles right, wearing lionskin headdress /[KAΣΣAN]-ΔΡOY above and beneath lion lying right, EY in right field. AMNG 1; SNG Alpha Bank 878. (3.78 grams / 14 mm) This one took me a lot of effort to attribute - it appears to be a bit scarce (one was posted on CT a while back, which helped me out - it is owned by David@PCC: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-cornucopia-challenge.349910/) I was quite confused by the "Pentalpha" mint bit - that isn't a place, it is a description of the mintmark - a star made up by interlocked Alphas. Mine is hard to see, but it is there, if you get just the right light. The ludicrously off-center obverse doesn't bother me too much - not sure why, but off-center ancients appeal to me. Seleucid Kingdom Æ 15 Demetrios II Nikator (146-138 B.C.) (first reign) 'Pentalpha' Mint (Syria/Phoen.) Diademed head right / BAΣΙΛEΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY ΘEOY right, ΪIΛAΔEΛΪOY [NIKATOPEΣ] left. Cornucopiae between, pentalpha inner left. SC 1937; HGC 9, 998. (6.98 grams / 15 mm) Technically, this is Roman Provincial for Thessalonica. It is quite rough, but the ones I found online were hardly any better. Portraits of Augustus always welcome in my collection. Augustus Æ 15 Macedonia, Thessalonica (c. 17 B.C.) KAIΣAΡ [ΣEBAΣTOΣ], bare head right / ΘEΣΣ[A]ΛONIKEΩN, three lines within a laurel wreath, star above inscription. RPC 1559; BMC 72; Moushmov 6673. (5.12 grams / 15 mm )
Two centenionales of Magnentius from Ambianum, found by a British detectorist in a field in Northamptonshire and sold for 20GBP both: Small AE2 or AE2/3 21x19mm 4.53g RIC VIII Amiens 16 - ca. 351 Small AE2 or AE3 20x19mm 5.01g RIC VIII Amiens 29, ca. 352 And a follis of Maximinus II as Invictus from Heraclea from a French collector for 14EUR: AE24mm 5.08g RIC VI Heraclea 66, 312