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<p>[QUOTE="zumbly, post: 8114256, member: 57495"]I bought relatively few coins this year and was therefore not expecting to be able to put together this particular year end list variety that requires at least one coin in each ten dollar price bracket from $1 to $100. As it turns out, I did, and so can continue this tradition for at least another year!</p><p><br /></p><p>The most competitive price bracket this time around was the $51 - $60 range, where I bought three coins that I liked very much, with the favorite being one that very almost made my overall Top 10. Coins in a few brackets came from group lots, but instead of using the simple average cost that I paid (ie., total cost of the lot divided by number of coins), I show a weighted cost that proportionately reflects that coin's estimated value (as I judged it) against the value of all other coins from that lot. If a coin is from a group lot, it's mentioned below as being so.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>$1 - $10</b></p><p><b>ELAGABALUS. SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria, Laodicea ad Mare. AE18</b>. Thrice Holed.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412069[/ATTACH]</p><p>I love holed coins and was therefore especially attracted to this Elagabalus provincial that has three of them! I find it fun to wonder why holed coins were pierced by their ancient owners. Those with one hole may have been worn as jewellery or used as lucky talismans in homes, businesses, and places of worship. Those with multiple holes like this one may have had been used in other ways. Moonmoth's <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/holed_coins.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/holed_coins.html" rel="nofollow">page</a> on holed coins has a quote from Marvin Tameanko suggesting that some were sewn together to make scale mail armour, or even used as a strainer to separate grain from beer! If I remember correctly, [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] has a three- or four-holed coin that he believes might have once been nailed to a coffin?? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie100" alt=":wideyed:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>Cost: $4.50</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$11 - $20</b></p><p><b>CRISPUS. AE4. Trier mint. </b>Unrecorded Anepigraphic.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412070[/ATTACH]</p><p>This interesting Crispus came from one of the very few group lots I purchased this year. The average cost per coin was $5, but I record a proportionate cost of $13 for this one. I like anepigraphic coins and didn't have a Crispus from this particular series, making this a particularly lucky find. As an added bonus, this coin appears to be a variety unrecorded in RIC, with two stars on the reverse rather than one. I haven't found any other examples in the usual databases (acsearch, wildwinds, nummus bible, Helvetica's spreadsheet, the <a href="http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/" rel="nofollow">NOT IN RIC</a> webpage), so for now, I guess I can call it unique!</p><p><b>Cost: $13</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$21 - $30</b></p><p><b>GORDIAN III. Holed Fourrée Antoninianus. </b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1412071[/ATTACH] </b></p><p>A Gordie III "cockroach"... and holed... and a fourrée... how many strikes can one coin have against it? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie80" alt=":shame:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> I was the only bidder who wanted this in AMCC 3, and might have thus assumed myself to be the only one to find something like this collectible, except that this coin also has the distinction being ex [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] as well as ex A.K. Collection. Nice! Its AMCC listing included the note that it was "holed like the amulets used in the Black Sea region." I do wonder if its ancient owner knew it was a counterfeit before they pierced it for use. </p><p><b>Cost: $23 </b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$31 - $40</b></p><p><b>NUMIDIAN KINGDOM, Juba I. AE28. </b>Zeus Ammon and Elephant.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412072[/ATTACH]</p><p>This nice large bronze of Juba I of Numidia came from a group lot that had an average per coin price of $10, but I assigned it a fairly high proportionate cost of $37. It was one of the main reasons I wanted the lot to begin with, and despite its worn condition and pits, I really love it for its distinctive Zeus-Ammon portrait and that what I think is an excellent depiction of an African elephant on the reverse. It's a scarce type that doesn't often come in better grade at any rate, so it's one that I'm very happy to have.</p><p><b>Cost: $37 </b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$41 - $50</b></p><p><b>ATTICA, Athens. Pseudo-autonomous. AE23.</b> Themistokles, hero of the Battle of Salamis.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412073[/ATTACH]</p><p>This is a rather rare and unusual Roman provincial struck Athens. It's from the same $10-per-coin group lot as the Juba bronze above, but I ended up estimating an even higher value for it. It was maybe abit of an arbitrary call given its admittedly sad condition, but there are not many coins out there thought to depict the famous Athenian politician and general Themistokles. One theory is that this coin was part of a series struck in conjunction with the Aianteia, a festival at Athens and Salamis that was still held during Imperial times to commemorate the heroes of the historic naval Battle of Salamis (480 BC). Themistokles, as the architect of that great Greek victory against the Persians, was given prominence on this coinage.</p><p><b>Cost: $49</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$51 - $60</b></p><p><b>CONSTANTINE II. AE3.</b> Rome = The Love Mint.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412074[/ATTACH]</p><p>Mintmarks on Late Roman Bronzes are often pretty staid and utilitarian, but there are exceptions. For example, the mintmark on this Rome mint issue features a cheeky little cryptogram that spells out "<i>eros</i>", the Greek word for love. In Latin, this was "<i>amor</i>", which was the name of the city of Rome (<i>Roma</i>) spelt backwards. I really do hope whichever mint official was responsible for this - and we all know it wasn't Kevin! - received a nice reward for their bit of cleverness. For more information about this issue, do visit [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER]'s excellent <a href="http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/ROMAE/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/ROMAE/" rel="nofollow">page</a> on it.</p><p><b>Cost: $55</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$61 - $70</b></p><p><b>GETA. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum. AE16.</b> Apollo Sauroktonos.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412075[/ATTACH]</p><p>Last year, I had a Macrinus Provincial with a Apollo Sauroktonos (Apollo the Lizard Slayer) reverse on my <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/zumblys-1-100-favorites-by-price-bracket.372296/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/zumblys-1-100-favorites-by-price-bracket.372296/">$1 - $100 list</a>, and this year I'm glad to welcome another one to my small sub-collection of them. This is the third I now own, making it 3 out of 21 Apollo Sauroktonos varieties I currently have. I have [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] to thank for my interest in these, so I suppose it's fitting that this one shares the same reverse die as his, featured <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f09.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f09.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> as one of his favorite coins.</p><p><b>Cost: $64</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$71 - $80</b></p><p><b>THRACE, Thasos. AR Trihemiobol.</b> Exercising satyr.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412076[/ATTACH]</p><p>I'm glad I no longer have to feel guilt over this coin since my buddy [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] has officially forgiven me for (completely 100% unknowingly) outbidding him on it. The archaic style satyrs on these have always been described in references and catalogues as "running", so when [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER] pointed out that they really seem to be engaged in some... uhm, <i>other </i>kind of exertion, I admit I didn't initially take it quite seriously. A little bit of research into ancient depictions of ithyphallic satyrs, however, suggests that she may be on to something, and just to be on the safe side, I've now recorded the term "wanking satyr" in my notes for this coin. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><b>Cost: $79</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$81 - $90</b></p><p><b>MARCUS AURELIUS. AE As. Rome mint.</b> The River Tiber.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412077[/ATTACH]</p><p>I bought this pretty decent (but weirdly challenging for me to photograph) Marcus Aurelius As because of its reverse type, which I've always liked. Though to be honest I'd prefer to one day get an Antoninus Pius which includes the TIBERIS legend, this one has a high relief portrait of the emperor, a buff-looking River Tiber reclining, and a nice green patina. Good enough for now!</p><p><b>Cost: $85</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>$91 - $100</b></p><p><b>NERO. EGYPT, Alexandria. Billon Tetradrachm.</b> A rare contemporary forgery of Alexandria. Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection; probably from the Luxor Hoard of 1908.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1412078[/ATTACH]</p><p>I'd been wanting one of these contemporary forgeries of Alexandria for awhile now, and this year managed to acquire a few of them. These are interesting because, firstly, Alexandrian counterfeits are noted to be extremely rare, with Milne writing in 1933 that "<i>there are scarcely any counterfeits or forgeries of Alexandrian coins in existence, other than those made in modern times.</i>" In the past decades they had been hardly ever offered for sale and were known primarily from the discovery at Luxor, Egypt in 1908 of a remarkable hoard, made up entirely of contemporary counterfeits that were apparently the work of a single forger. Which then brings us to this coin's ex Dattari collection pedigree. The Luxor Hoard was acquired in 1908 by E.T. Newell, who later became president of the American Numismatic Society. Newell left a portion of the hoard to the ANS, and the rest of it was presumably dispersed. With the recent sales of much of Giovanni Dattari's massive collection, a good number of these rare contemporary counterfeits have finally surfaced, and the fact that many share dies with those found in the Luxor Hoard (as documented in a 1976 paper by William Metcalf) suggests that Dattari, that era's most voracious private collector of Alexandrian coins, unsurprisingly managed to get his hands on at least some of what Newell didn't keep. My coin is struck from obverse die IX and reverse die 17 in the Metcalf paper, and features the bust of Zeus Olympios on the reverse. It's interesting to note that while Nero's coinage at Alexandria featured two varieties of bust-of-Zeus reverses - Zeus Olympios and Zeus Nemeios - the Luxor Hoard forger seems to have only copied the Olympios.</p><p><b>Cost: $100</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Do feel free to share which ones you like on this list, and any related coins. I'm still working on my overall Top 10 for 2021, and am waiting on the arrival of one more coin that deserves inclusion on the list. Hopefully, it'll arrive in the next few days and I'll be able to photograph it and get the list out before the year is over.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="zumbly, post: 8114256, member: 57495"]I bought relatively few coins this year and was therefore not expecting to be able to put together this particular year end list variety that requires at least one coin in each ten dollar price bracket from $1 to $100. As it turns out, I did, and so can continue this tradition for at least another year! The most competitive price bracket this time around was the $51 - $60 range, where I bought three coins that I liked very much, with the favorite being one that very almost made my overall Top 10. Coins in a few brackets came from group lots, but instead of using the simple average cost that I paid (ie., total cost of the lot divided by number of coins), I show a weighted cost that proportionately reflects that coin's estimated value (as I judged it) against the value of all other coins from that lot. If a coin is from a group lot, it's mentioned below as being so. [B]$1 - $10 ELAGABALUS. SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria, Laodicea ad Mare. AE18[/B]. Thrice Holed. [ATTACH=full]1412069[/ATTACH] I love holed coins and was therefore especially attracted to this Elagabalus provincial that has three of them! I find it fun to wonder why holed coins were pierced by their ancient owners. Those with one hole may have been worn as jewellery or used as lucky talismans in homes, businesses, and places of worship. Those with multiple holes like this one may have had been used in other ways. Moonmoth's [URL='https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/holed_coins.html']page[/URL] on holed coins has a quote from Marvin Tameanko suggesting that some were sewn together to make scale mail armour, or even used as a strainer to separate grain from beer! If I remember correctly, [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] has a three- or four-holed coin that he believes might have once been nailed to a coffin?? :wideyed: [B]Cost: $4.50[/B] [B]$11 - $20 CRISPUS. AE4. Trier mint. [/B]Unrecorded Anepigraphic. [ATTACH=full]1412070[/ATTACH] This interesting Crispus came from one of the very few group lots I purchased this year. The average cost per coin was $5, but I record a proportionate cost of $13 for this one. I like anepigraphic coins and didn't have a Crispus from this particular series, making this a particularly lucky find. As an added bonus, this coin appears to be a variety unrecorded in RIC, with two stars on the reverse rather than one. I haven't found any other examples in the usual databases (acsearch, wildwinds, nummus bible, Helvetica's spreadsheet, the [URL='http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/']NOT IN RIC[/URL] webpage), so for now, I guess I can call it unique! [B]Cost: $13[/B] [B]$21 - $30 GORDIAN III. Holed Fourrée Antoninianus. [ATTACH=full]1412071[/ATTACH] [/B] A Gordie III "cockroach"... and holed... and a fourrée... how many strikes can one coin have against it? :shame: I was the only bidder who wanted this in AMCC 3, and might have thus assumed myself to be the only one to find something like this collectible, except that this coin also has the distinction being ex [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] as well as ex A.K. Collection. Nice! Its AMCC listing included the note that it was "holed like the amulets used in the Black Sea region." I do wonder if its ancient owner knew it was a counterfeit before they pierced it for use. [B]Cost: $23 [/B] [B]$31 - $40 NUMIDIAN KINGDOM, Juba I. AE28. [/B]Zeus Ammon and Elephant. [ATTACH=full]1412072[/ATTACH] This nice large bronze of Juba I of Numidia came from a group lot that had an average per coin price of $10, but I assigned it a fairly high proportionate cost of $37. It was one of the main reasons I wanted the lot to begin with, and despite its worn condition and pits, I really love it for its distinctive Zeus-Ammon portrait and that what I think is an excellent depiction of an African elephant on the reverse. It's a scarce type that doesn't often come in better grade at any rate, so it's one that I'm very happy to have. [B]Cost: $37 [/B] [B]$41 - $50 ATTICA, Athens. Pseudo-autonomous. AE23.[/B] Themistokles, hero of the Battle of Salamis. [ATTACH=full]1412073[/ATTACH] This is a rather rare and unusual Roman provincial struck Athens. It's from the same $10-per-coin group lot as the Juba bronze above, but I ended up estimating an even higher value for it. It was maybe abit of an arbitrary call given its admittedly sad condition, but there are not many coins out there thought to depict the famous Athenian politician and general Themistokles. One theory is that this coin was part of a series struck in conjunction with the Aianteia, a festival at Athens and Salamis that was still held during Imperial times to commemorate the heroes of the historic naval Battle of Salamis (480 BC). Themistokles, as the architect of that great Greek victory against the Persians, was given prominence on this coinage. [B]Cost: $49[/B] [B]$51 - $60 CONSTANTINE II. AE3.[/B] Rome = The Love Mint. [ATTACH=full]1412074[/ATTACH] Mintmarks on Late Roman Bronzes are often pretty staid and utilitarian, but there are exceptions. For example, the mintmark on this Rome mint issue features a cheeky little cryptogram that spells out "[I]eros[/I]", the Greek word for love. In Latin, this was "[I]amor[/I]", which was the name of the city of Rome ([I]Roma[/I]) spelt backwards. I really do hope whichever mint official was responsible for this - and we all know it wasn't Kevin! - received a nice reward for their bit of cleverness. For more information about this issue, do visit [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER]'s excellent [URL='http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/ROMAE/']page[/URL] on it. [B]Cost: $55[/B] [B]$61 - $70 GETA. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum. AE16.[/B] Apollo Sauroktonos. [ATTACH=full]1412075[/ATTACH] Last year, I had a Macrinus Provincial with a Apollo Sauroktonos (Apollo the Lizard Slayer) reverse on my [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/zumblys-1-100-favorites-by-price-bracket.372296/']$1 - $100 list[/URL], and this year I'm glad to welcome another one to my small sub-collection of them. This is the third I now own, making it 3 out of 21 Apollo Sauroktonos varieties I currently have. I have [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] to thank for my interest in these, so I suppose it's fitting that this one shares the same reverse die as his, featured [URL='https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f09.html']here[/URL] as one of his favorite coins. [B]Cost: $64[/B] [B]$71 - $80 THRACE, Thasos. AR Trihemiobol.[/B] Exercising satyr. [ATTACH=full]1412076[/ATTACH] I'm glad I no longer have to feel guilt over this coin since my buddy [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] has officially forgiven me for (completely 100% unknowingly) outbidding him on it. The archaic style satyrs on these have always been described in references and catalogues as "running", so when [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER] pointed out that they really seem to be engaged in some... uhm, [I]other [/I]kind of exertion, I admit I didn't initially take it quite seriously. A little bit of research into ancient depictions of ithyphallic satyrs, however, suggests that she may be on to something, and just to be on the safe side, I've now recorded the term "wanking satyr" in my notes for this coin. :D [B]Cost: $79[/B] [B]$81 - $90 MARCUS AURELIUS. AE As. Rome mint.[/B] The River Tiber. [ATTACH=full]1412077[/ATTACH] I bought this pretty decent (but weirdly challenging for me to photograph) Marcus Aurelius As because of its reverse type, which I've always liked. Though to be honest I'd prefer to one day get an Antoninus Pius which includes the TIBERIS legend, this one has a high relief portrait of the emperor, a buff-looking River Tiber reclining, and a nice green patina. Good enough for now! [B]Cost: $85[/B] [B]$91 - $100 NERO. EGYPT, Alexandria. Billon Tetradrachm.[/B] A rare contemporary forgery of Alexandria. Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection; probably from the Luxor Hoard of 1908. [ATTACH=full]1412078[/ATTACH] I'd been wanting one of these contemporary forgeries of Alexandria for awhile now, and this year managed to acquire a few of them. These are interesting because, firstly, Alexandrian counterfeits are noted to be extremely rare, with Milne writing in 1933 that "[I]there are scarcely any counterfeits or forgeries of Alexandrian coins in existence, other than those made in modern times.[/I]" In the past decades they had been hardly ever offered for sale and were known primarily from the discovery at Luxor, Egypt in 1908 of a remarkable hoard, made up entirely of contemporary counterfeits that were apparently the work of a single forger. Which then brings us to this coin's ex Dattari collection pedigree. The Luxor Hoard was acquired in 1908 by E.T. Newell, who later became president of the American Numismatic Society. Newell left a portion of the hoard to the ANS, and the rest of it was presumably dispersed. With the recent sales of much of Giovanni Dattari's massive collection, a good number of these rare contemporary counterfeits have finally surfaced, and the fact that many share dies with those found in the Luxor Hoard (as documented in a 1976 paper by William Metcalf) suggests that Dattari, that era's most voracious private collector of Alexandrian coins, unsurprisingly managed to get his hands on at least some of what Newell didn't keep. My coin is struck from obverse die IX and reverse die 17 in the Metcalf paper, and features the bust of Zeus Olympios on the reverse. It's interesting to note that while Nero's coinage at Alexandria featured two varieties of bust-of-Zeus reverses - Zeus Olympios and Zeus Nemeios - the Luxor Hoard forger seems to have only copied the Olympios. [B]Cost: $100[/B] Do feel free to share which ones you like on this list, and any related coins. I'm still working on my overall Top 10 for 2021, and am waiting on the arrival of one more coin that deserves inclusion on the list. Hopefully, it'll arrive in the next few days and I'll be able to photograph it and get the list out before the year is over.[/QUOTE]
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