I have several coins of Philip and family from Antioch and many have the name of the mint spelled out at the bottom of the reverse. There was one smaller group produced in Rome and sent to Antioch for use. These have a more Roman style and the mintmark (in Latin on a coin otherwise in Greek) MON VRB. I always wanted one of these. A dealer in Baltimore had one in a bit lower condition than I might have bought for three times the price in the Robinson sale closing in a couple weeks so I decided it was good enough for my needs. The billon could be a bit better and not with quite so much roughness but this one will fill my needs. An advantage in buying less than the best is always that you can afford another coin. The same dealer had a similarly imperfect Antioch mint Billon 4dr of Philip II which I probably would not have wanted except for it being a left facer. I always have been a sucker for left facing busts. I talked to several dealer/friends ranging from those selling coins I could never dream of owning to those selling trash and claiming them to be museum treasures. Some of these people have been known to me for 30 years but still are friendly even though I may not have bought coins from them since they grew up and I didn't. I asked one what he intended to do with his stock on retirement (a real consideration for people with thousands of coins that are not the sort of thing welcomed by big auction houses). He said that he was instructing his heirs just to put them away and wait until a family member comes along that thinks they are worth having. This may be great grandchildren of currently uninterested grandchildren but the theory is that selling a collection for what today's market would offer for trash level coins would help the family very little but we have no idea what the people of 2100 may have to say on the matter. At the rate overgrading has become fashionable, these could be Proof 80 by that time. I have to admit it has appeal as an idea over my old plan of melting them down to be cast into an urn for ashes. Do you know what will happen to your coins in the next century? Me neither, but our coins have lasted 2000 years and are likely to still be around when we are not.
cool mint mark instead of a little device! i would be delighted if one of my elderly grandchildren had some of my coins in 2116! maybe they'll take some with them when they move to mars! "ancient coin club meets in pod 3, the third sol jovis of every month excluding simha". proposed martian calendar... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darian_calendar
I always welcome your explanations why you purchase some of the coins you do---always interesting and informative. And I hadn't noticed the 'MON URB" before. I'd like to think that the half of my coins that fall within the 'lack of auction interest' will stay in the family and be passed as a legacy for generations to come. But who knows. Perhaps they'll be offered on eBay or Amazon as group lots even before I become acclimated to my new eternal abode LOL
The condition looks nice IMO, not that my standards at high . Cool finds. I wonder if a Martian slabbed coin would carry a hefty premium.
