Limes

Very nice group of coins. Here's a few that might be interesting for the abovementioned reasons: - Legionary denarii of Mark Antony are in demand and have certaintly value - Issues of Galba and Vitellius are scarcer. The quinarius is an interesting issue, maybe even a bit more scarce. Same goes for Vitllius, with the Victor seated reverse. - Your Flavian denarii have eye appeal and interesting reverses. Especially the Venus reverse is appealing, and can fetch high prices in auction. Overall, I believe Titus is a bit more scarce then, say, Vespasian, although I'm not a Flavian expert. And I see you have 5 denraii of Titus, which is a good score. - Issues with architecture on the reverse, or capture-reverses are generally more in the demand, such as your issues of Antonius Pius, and Lucius Verus - I like your coin of Commodus. Its appealing with an interesting reverse showing Apollo. Good quality issues of Commodus are somewhat harder to find - Coins of Clodius Albinus are scarces, especially issues of him as Augustus - Your consecratio issue of Septimius looks really nice I'm not all that knowledgable when it comes to rarity in terms of an extra 'I' added to COS, or legend variants. It takes a bit more research to take that into account when you want to get a good profile of your collection.

It sure is a beauty. In 2022 it was sold for 22k CHF. So, I would say 10k estimate is low.

I have one 'double sestertius' of Postumus. Its a worn specimen, especially the reverse. I'm assuming it's from later during his reign, considering the weight. According to RIC (via ocre) its struck in Lugdunum. But I've seen other references pointing to Trier. I have no clue. I should give my coin more attention and do more research.... Postumus 260 - 269 AD (Gallic Empire) Double sestertius, 30 mm, 18,80 gr. Lugdunum (?), 260 - 269 AD / Gallic empire Obv: [IMP C M CAS]S LAT POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate and draped bust right Rev: VIRT-VS AVG (no S C), Mars, standing right, holding spear in right hand and leaning on shield with left hand Ref: RIC 179 (via OCRE), J. Mairat 115, plate 2 (THE COINAGE OF THE GALLIC EMPIRE, Trinity, 2014) Ex. Gorny & Mosch e-auction 295 Ex. Munzkabinett Funk, Neukeferloh (with old German collectors ticket.)

Ah, you got that coin, well done! It truly is more than scarce. The portrait is fantastic, very stylistic, and the reverse of this issue especially is something else. Definitely a keeper.

Where's the cake? 🙂 Coins with architecture on the reverse, or architectural references:

Great coin @JayAg47! And nice 'captive' sub-collection you have going on. Makes a nice idea for a thread, actually; can we assemble a complete, chronological set of all 'captive coins' 🙂 Anyway, below is my denarius. I don't think its the'outstreched legs' variant @David Atherton mentions (never heard of that before, thanks for expanding my knowledge!).

Thanks CPK! I think the coin is intouched, in the sense that I cant find traces of tooling or smoothing. I like the honest wear. Unfortunately there are some hard encrustations / hard stuff sticking / on the surface (light brown), that appears as corrossion in the photos. But in hand it's a minor nuisance. I'm very, very happy with the coin 🙂 I decided to update the photos and digital display. Perhaps its a bit too bright / light, its more dark in hand.

I really wonder if there are any ancient coins that dont tell a story. Coins always told a story; either of the place they were struck, or the circumstances under which they were struck. Roman took it to the next level, using it primarely as tools for propaganda. Even the 'god standing left, goddess standing right' coins tell stories of the fortunes the new emperor brings, the stability to the empire, good health after something happened, etcetc. Still, within these categories there are coins that perhaps tell a bit more specific of some troublesome time, of a special deed of the ruler. Specifically, I'm thinking of coins that show architecture, buildings. I'm interested to see the coins posted here, and information such as posted by @JayAg47 is simply fantastic to read! I'll just leave my miracle coin here, with my older text that accompanied it, leaving out the other photos. This sestertius of Marcus Aurelius is special for several reasons. First, the reverse shows the temple of Mercury, which makes it the only remaining image of the temple, as no remains of the temple itself have been dug up. The temple of Mercury once stood on the slope of the Avantine hill, overlooking the Circus Maximus. Founded in 495 BC, it was one of the oldest temples in Rome and it is known that it still existed in the 3rd century. The reverse of the sestertius shows the temple, but what’s particularly interesting is that its nothing like the ‘usual’ Roman temple. One can see pillars (on better specimens than my coin, this is even more clear) in what looks like the shape of a body with heads on top. And the roof is not triangular in shape, but a half circle. The pediment shows several objects, which are the attributes of Mercury (from left to right): a tortoise, a cock with the head turned right, a ram, the petasus, the caduceus, and a purse. Overall, the structure has a sort of Egyptian feel to it, which may have been done deliberately to pay tribute to the Egyptian origin of Mercury. The unusual pillars reminded me of the telamons we saw in Sicily, Agrigento, when we were there for our honeymoon in 2012. RIC identifies the columns as ‘telamones’(I don’t have this RIC volume however, so I used OCRE), which is the Roman term for Atlases. In his book Monumental Coins, Marvin Tameanko puts forwards several theories to identify the columns. Besides telamones, he makes a stronger case that the columns are actually ‘herms’: stone idols related to Hermes, which had several functions, such as a good luck charm, but also protectors of travellers and traders. Not learned in this matter in any way, I do think the identification used by Marvin Tameanko makes more sense due to a directer link with Mercury. Also, as you can see from the photo from Sicily, one would think that the imagery of the telamones would include them raising their arms to hold the roof. (Or then again, maybe a more generalistic imagery was used, or maybe there was no room to make the arms...?) What do you think? Although I’ve always thought it’s tricky to make assertions on what a building may have looked like or whats its seize could have been, based on merely a coin, Marvin Tameanko does make an interesting one in his abovementioned book, following his identification of the columns as herms. He states that the peculiar shape and size of the temple may indicate that the ‘temple’ shown on the coin is actually not a temple, but a shrine placed inside a temple. The temple itself may have had a more familiar shape and size, and the shrine would constitute the sacellum. This also corresponds with the herms shown on the coin, which were used on small scale monuments. As long as no remains are found, it’s impossible to know, but it is an interesting idea. The second thing that makes this coin interesting, is that it refers to the miraculous event that happened to the Roman legions of Marcus Aurelius, during their war with the Quadi. This coin therefore not only refers to a ‘miracle’, but the miracle itself is also chiseled in the famous column of Marcus Aurelius that still stands today, and its written down by ancient historians. So, a coin, a column and a writing all point to the same event. Cassius Dio writes: “The Quadi had surrounded them at a spot favorable for their purpose and the Romans were fighting valiantly with their shields locked together; then the barbarians ceased fighting, expecting to capture them easily as the result of the heat and their thirst. So they posted guards all about and hemmed them in to prevent their getting water anywhere; for the barbarians were far superior in numbers. The Romans, accordingly, were in a terrible plight from fatigue, wounds, the heat of the sun, and thirst, and so could neither fight nor retreat, but were standing and the line and at their several posts, scorched by the heat, when suddenly many clouds gathered and a mighty rain, not without divine interposition, burst upon them.” There’s some debate going on between ancient authors, whether the “Egyptian magician who was a companion of Marcus, had invoked by means of enchantments various deities and in particular Mercury, the god of the air” or that “a division of soldiers (...) from Melitene when they had prayed, their God immediately gave ear and smote the enemy with a thunderbolt and comforted the Romans with a shower of rain” were responsible. Anyway, here’s the photo from the column, which shows this big bearded guy flying over the legionairs (that does not seem like Mercury to me...!)

Despite the wear, i love the fact that IVDAEA is clearly legible, and the figures are distinguishable. A fantastic coin @David Atherton! My personal experience is great. The prices are on the high end, but most of the times I'm able to agree a price with them. If it's ok I'd like to add my own IVDAEA CAPTA issue. Not as rare as David's, and I'm no Flavian specialist. But I believe it's a must have in my collection, and I really enjoy it.

Great coins in this thread! Who doesn't like a coin with an animal on it, right? Here's a thought. Perhaps it also has to do with the circumstances, or event, the coin refers to. E.g. the sestertius below shows two mules. Because the mule was used as an animal for transportation. (And by the way, I love your Hadrian Nilus! If you ever think of selling it, be sure to give me a shout out 😁) Imperator Nerva Caesar Augustus 96 - 98 AD Sestertius, 34mm, 21,76 gr. Rome, 97 AD IMP NERVA CAES AVG PM TR P COS III PP, laureate head right VEHICVLATIONE ITALIAE REMISSA ('With the levy for supplying the imperial transport system being abolished for Italy), two mules grazing, one left, the other right, in front of the pole and harnesses of a cart resting upright; SC in ex. Ref: RIC 93, Sear 3055, Van Meter 27, Clive Foss 7. See also Sydenham, Historical References to Coins of the Roman Empire, 1986, pp. 82 - 83. Ex. Heritage Europe (MPO Auctions) November 2020 A few more animals: Two of my favorites. A fantastic elephant (also show by @DonnaML) and an impressive eagle: A scorpion: A stork: Three animals in a pediment: Marcus Aurelius 161 - 180 AD Sestertius, 29 mm, 23,60 gr Rome, 173 AD Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XX[VII]; laureate head right Rev: IMP VI [COS III]; RELIG AVG below; S C in field; Statue of Mercury, wearing petasus and short robe, standing front, head left, on base, holding purse in right hand and caduceus in left hand, within a tetrastyle temple; columns are telamones, or herms; the pediment is semicircular and contains, from left to right, tortoise, cock, ram, petasus, winged caduceus, and purse. Ref: RIC 1075, Sear 4996, van Meter 102, Clive Foss 47b, Philip Hill 53, Elkins 173. For a more detailed description of the shrine, see Marvin Tameanko, Monumental Coins, Ch. 26, pp. 169-173. Ex: cgb.fr, 2022 And to conclude, a bunch of animals together running around in the circus (depending on the seller/description, the 7 animals could be an ostrich, a bear, a lion, a lioness a wild ass or donkey, a panther, a tiger, a bison, a bull, a zebra, a stag, or a bird)

Score of the year, maybe even decade. Fantastic find! You should check out the reverse of Severus alexander. They look strange. The geen spots are either deposits maybe corrosion on a copper core.

Hi there, Could be a simple error. I found other coins with the P in retrograde too. Example: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9065529 The reverse die design seems overall to be consistent. But I also found this one: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4766480 No idea what happened here, most of the shield is left out of the design. Perhaps the engraver found it he ran out of space...

Thanks for playing Queen David! 🙂 And a really nice coin too. Congratulations! A unicorn peed over my coin too:

That's a great high quality addition @CPK! I absolutely enjoy Severan issues. Lot's of interesting reverses, and often in good quality and affordable. Below you may find my coins of Caracalla. Envious of your Domna Vesta issue @ominus1. I'm on the look out for that type! My issues, starting with a young Caracalla: A teenager, with a fantastic reverse. The reverse also shown by @Curtisimo, but with Septimius on the obverse: A very nice looking denarius, with Cerberus on the reverse: High quality ant: And lastly, two sestertii. The last one in lower quality, but the reverse is fantastic historically:

One of my latest additions deserves its own thread. But I've noticed there are quite a few threads already about this issue and the same reverse by other emperors. So I'll briefly point out this thread by @ValiantKnight and just show my issue below. I'm really happy having added this lovely albeit worn specimen to my collection. It fits neatly with my other three 'ancient wonder coins'. Four more to go. Hadrian Rule: 117 - 138 AD Drachm, 34 mm, 26,09 gr Mint: Alexandria, Egypt Obv: AVT KAIC TPAIAN AΔ[PIANOC CЄB], laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right Rev: Isis Pharia standing to right, holding billowing sail with both hands; to right, the Pharos of Alexandria surmounted by two Tritons, each blowing a trumpet; between them is a lantern surmounted by a statue, holding situla and sceptre; entryway below on left; L IH (date) above Ref: RPC Online 5895, Dattari 1768 (via webarchive.org) Ex: Romancoinshop, 2024