Limes

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12 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

Aren't we on "Next: coin that is a record holder, or otherwise interesting and notable"?

The books by Sear. Roman coins and their values. I can recommend those. Not as complete as RIC, though, and the value estimates are pretty useless. It has nice pictures, and interesting back ground info. 

More basic is the one by Van Meter, the Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins. Its pretty complete, but you have to get used to working with it.

Books seem to still contain more info then the internet. or perhaps im horrible at searching. There are other interesting books, about the history behind coins, for example. Eg the book by clive foss. 

Job well done restitutor! New look looks great and love the logo. 

Thanks everyone for replying! 

9 hours ago, Egry said:

P.s. I really like your Avatar name, quite fitting considering you are from Holland. 

Thank you Egry! I mentioned in another topic that I live near the limes. When i was in college, i used to walk over the visualization of the limes shown in my profile picture almost on a daily basis. Back then, I didn't notice it actually, only when I started to read more on Roman history and the limes did 'the quarter fall'. There are some nice bars around the corner of that street, where that limes is in, by the way. Good times, good times... 🙂

50 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

The aureus is beautiful, but I'm sure your daughter outshines it!

Thank you Donna, you're too kind! And thank your for sharing that dupondius of AP. 🙂 And your aureus is still stunning. I remember when your first showed it. I can image you are still delighted with it! 

14 minutes ago, Kazuma78 said:

I posted this in another thread, but since it's relevant, I will repost it. I lost all of my primary lots but did win this as a side bid. 

Mysia, Cyzicos
Hemihecte circa 480-460, EL 1.35 g. Naked male figure kneeling l., holding tunny fish by tail. Rev. Quadripartite incuse punch with irregular surfaces. von Fritze 112. Boston, MFA 1489. von Aulock 1202.
In an exceptional state of preservation and perfectly struck and centred. Good extremely fine
Ex Triton sale VI, 2003, 306.
Graded Ch AU* Strike 5/5 Surface 4/5, NGC certification number 6159317-006.

That's a great addition, congratulations. I hope it softens the feeling of the losses you had. 

Here are some personal highlights, big prices realized. 

Weighing a massive 42.77 gr. this golden Decadrachm received a new owner for 700.000 CHF. 

An absolute beautiful rendering of this (perhaps?) now extinct plant yielded 150.000 CHF. The golden version (tetrobol) of this plan (not the same coin) was auction at 11.000 CHF. 

The absolute highlight of this auction, the famous British Museum EID MAR aureus, changed owner for an amount of 2.2 million CHF (2.137.896 euros)! 2.2 million however is not as much as the 2.7 million POUND (3.17 million euro's) of the EID MAR aureus auctioned 29-10-2020 by ROMA NUMISMATICS. The provenance of the NAC piece is in my opinion better and there's I think no debate on authenticity. But then again, wwhat do I know...??   

Anothing extreme rarity, this aureus of the famous and side-switching general, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus caught an amount of 700.000 CHF. The new owner is the owner of an aureus that "ranks high amongst the prizes of Roman numismatics".

Many more amazing coins for even more amazing prices were auctioned. This is just a small and personal selection. What was your favorite of the auction? Let me know! 

I practically live around the corner, so I just pick up the lots. If you need any help, pm me. 

Pardonez moi for bumping this thread. But round 2 is coming up! To get you in the right mood, here's a video of the EID MAR aureus that comes up for auction, today! If you'll participate in todays auction, good luck! I'll be watching most of the action, online. 

PS: I dont have any financial, commercial or otherwise interest in NAC or toldinstone (awesome video's by the way, I really enjoy them). My only interest is from a (over-enthousiastic) hobby point of view. and I find the coins offered by NAC very interesting from a numismatic point of view. The descriptions given make for a good history book. 

Those are beauties! Im not afraid to admit that i own zero coins of Gordian as of yet. But i can see they are collectable. Many are available, affordable and of good quality. So i will get one too,one day... 

Otho! (Usually I'm late for these things, hopefully not this time)

Next: more scales! 

8 minutes ago, Egry said:

Thanks for the welcome. 
 

I also have two, the one I posted is the recent replacement. The one it replaced has the same reverse as your second. Could you please expand on the historical significance of this reverse? 

Well, you're in luck mr Egry 🙂 I did a write up about a coin of Marcus Aurelius, with a similar reverse as the Lucius Verus onen. Below the coin and part of that write up. Enjoy the read! 

Emperor Marcus Aurelius was part of the so called ‘five good emperors’ (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), or ‘adoptive emperors’ (idem) or ‘the antonines’ (Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus). The era ended when Marcus Aurelius appointed his son, Commodus, as his heir.

Marcus Aurelius was, together with Lucius Verus, the successor of Antoninus Pius. Under the reign of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire experienced its most peaceful and prosporus period in history. By the time Marcus Aurelius was to ascend the throne, he was 40 years old. Marcus Aurelius was to be known as a philosofical and gentle emperor. Despite his charactaristisc, it would become his destiny to be consumed with frontier warfare and other devestating occurences such as the outbreak of the plague which was brought back to Roman territory by the army that fought the Parthians.

The denarius shown below is one of the many, many coins struck under Marcus Aurelius commemorating the various frontier wars in the East against the Parthians and the North - the Marcomannic Wars. This specific type celebrates the victory over the Parthian empire. There are several interesting - and desirable ! - coins struck in these ‘warfare’ series, bronze, silver and gold issues of both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The coins with ‘vic par’ reverse, written on a shield held by Victory, is a well known type of course. Other types display bound captives, such as mine, or display the (re)-installation of Sohaemus as king of Armenia (struck under Antoninus Pius, and Lucius Verus (aureus, sestertius) for example).

About the war itself, it started just after the death of Antoninus Pius with the invasion of Armenia by Vologases IV of Parthia, in 161 AD. In response to the invasion of Armenia and following raids into Syria by the Parthian army, Lucius Verus headed east while Marcus Aurelius stayed in Rome. Either a dandy and charmer, or hardened wartime soldier-emperor (or somewhere in between), Lucius Verus (well, his generals of course), defeated the Partians in Armenia, reinstalled the Roman puppet Armenian king Sohaemus, and furthermore sacked the capital of the Parthian empire in 165 AD. For their efforts, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius were given the honorary title ‘ARMENIACVS’, conqueror of Armenia, and hailed imperator.

22 minutes ago, Alegandron said:

As a “supporter” at CT, I saw no advertising. 

Perhaps a similar arrangement.

+ 1 

Happy to contribute! 

1 hour ago, Ryro said:

Oh, and coins featuring well used Denarii!

Ow yessss! traffic accident denarii time! 😄 

I don't know if the reverse shows horses, unicorns, or sea cucumbers.

I believe this one was set on fire. I truly do. The surfaces are horrible and black, and that silver feel is just not there. Don't care though, I love this coin!

Those are two very nice siliqua Donna! Congratulations. Very interesting to have two coins of which you now exactly where they were found, and when. Thats a solid provenance!

As requested, my one and only siliqua. I absolutely love this coin. 

Hi there Egry, welcome to this board! There's defintely more activity here, then on CT these days... 

Congratulations on your Lucius Verus, the emperor that Rome hardly could enjoy, so to say. Although I think he loved partying more then ruling an empire. Your denarius is a very nice one, good portrait and sharp details.

Anyway, i have two Lucius Verus denarii, not as nice as yours. 

I love the portrait of this one, but his stare into the void makes me wonder what he's thinking about. Perhaps about the disapointing reverse? 

On this one he looks like he needs a snickers, and fast. But it's the historical reverse that attracted me to this one. 

With auction 131 finished and 132 partly finished, what are your opinions so far? I saw some high prices, but the quality of the coins was amazing, so not unexpected. What did suprise me, was that some lots went unsold, including an appealing Nerva sestertius (lot 25). The first part of the Greek section went strong as well, but I'll leave it to the more experienced collectors to comment on the result so far. 

Some (personal) highlights:

This stunning Claudius cistophorus was sold for 50.000 CHF. It was deemed a fdc. 

Who doesn't love a big chunky Nero? Sold for 65.000 CHF. What a beauty!

If you're into architectural issues, you'll love this one. Amazing reverse, and sold for 110.000 CHF!

The artist went all the way with this masterpiece. That portrait.... The new owner has to transfer 120.000 CHF to NAC for this beauty.

This mesmerizing dolphin rider sold for 60.000 CHF. Just look at the movement of the rider on the horse. Beautiful.

And the - I think - main target of today, this Agrigentum tetradrachm sold for 440.000 CHF!

More fun tomorrow!

3 hours ago, Phil Davis said:

I have one target coin tomorrow. (No, it's not the damn holed Eid Mar! Even if I collected gold, I absolutely wouldn't put that in my collection for free.)

I truly hope you'll win it Phil. And the holes make it actually cheaper, right? 😉

47 minutes ago, Kazuma78 said:

I lost all my lots unfortunately. I was close-ish on 1 of them.

That's too bad! Do you have any more targets, tomorrow? If so, I wish you good luck!

Hi everyone,

The latest NAC auctions are coming up. Will other members watch ( of perhaps even participate) them? I ll try to follow the bidding as much as I can. Jumping on the bidding wagon is out of the question, though. Im curious especially how the EID MAR aureus will go. 

I wont single out other specific lots to avoid generating unwanted interest for the sake of interested parties. The again, seeing the high grade material offered, and that NAC will attract high end bidders anyway, I dont believe this post will in any way affect that 😄 (And the auctions have been mentioned by lots of people already.) 

Have a good day and enjoy the show!

Hello and welcome! I believe you will like it here! 

And a stunning portrait of Julia Domna. 

On 5/25/2022 at 10:46 PM, Curtisimo said:

Here are a few of my favorites. Nice coins @Ryro!
 

Satraps of Caria
Maussolos 
AR Tetradrachm, Halikarnassus mint, struck ca. 377 - 352 BC
Dia.: 23 mm
Wt.: 15.06 g
Obv.: Laureate head of Apollo facing three-quarters right
Rev.: MAYΣΣΩΛΛO, Zeus Labraundos standing right
Ref.: BMC 1 var; SNG Von Aulock 2359 var.; Traité II, 91
Ex Roma Auction II, lot 302 (Oct. 2, 2011)

Sicily, Syracuse 
Agathokles, AR Tetradrachm
Dia.: 26 mm
Wt.: 17.19 g
Obv.: KOΡAΣ Head of Kore to right, wearing grain wreath and pendant earring.
Rev.: AΓAΘOKΛEIOΣ Nike, bare to the waist, standing right, attaching armor to trophy to her right, she holds a nail in her right hand and a hammer in her left; to left, triskeles of legs running to right. 
Ref.: Ierardi 143/141 (O38/R95). SNG ANS 674 (same obverse die). An unrecorded die combination; toned.
Ex W. F. Stoecklin (1888-1975) acquired in Taormina, Sicily, in 1931.

Kings of Paeonia
Patraos (c. 335-315 BC)
AR Tetradrachm, mint at Astibos or Damastion. 
Dia.: 24 mm, 1 h
Wt.: 12.93 g
Obv.: Laureate head of Apollo right
Rev.: Warrior on horse rearing r., spearing enemy warrior who defends with shield and spear. 
Ref.: Paeonian Hoard 493-9; HGC 3, 148

Attica. Athens
AR Tetradrachm, struck ca. 167-8 BC
Dia.: 30 mm
Wt.: 16.78
Obv.:Head of Athena right wearing triple crested attic helmet adorned with Pegasos
Rev.: Α-ΘΕ above MI / KI and ΘΕΟ / ΦΡΑ (Miki[on] and Theophra[stos]) Owl standing facing on amphora Θ, AP below.
Ref.: Thompson 320g

Wow, that Agathokles tet is a beauty! Thats on my wishlist. Too bad prices of Greek silver have risen significantly, it will take some time (or a millennium) to acquire one... 

On 5/25/2022 at 11:48 PM, Kazuma78 said:

Here are some of my tetradrachms I have photos of readily available. 

That's amazing eye candy! 

On 5/25/2022 at 9:26 PM, Ryro said:

So please, bring out your Tets, thoughts or anything Monty Python related

I'll share my two tets. I have quite a few on my wishlist. Maybe one day... First, the obvious owl. I got it for a more then fair price, due to the insignificant hole in the cheek. The Sicily one is quite beaten up, but shows a lovely portrait of Aretusa, the reason why I got it.

9 hours ago, Leo said:

Here's a link to my channel 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/c/ClassicalNumismatics

Thanks! Interesting video's, I believe I have seen one before, with Nero 🙂 It all comes together now 😄 

9 hours ago, Severus Alexander said:

Yay, @Limes is here!! 👏

I think you might be underestimating how large the exodus from the old site has been... 😉 Personally I'll be posting almost exclusively here from now on.

Thanks SA! Nice to see you here as well! It sure is very quiet on CT... It makes choosing the appropriate venue for showing coins easier I guess 🙂

10 hours ago, Pantoffel said:

Great write up and congrats on the coin! 

Was it the exhibition at Museum van Oudheden you went to? Believe i saw some advertising on it. 

Yes it was, in Leiden. Great museum. It has a lot of very interesting Dutch finds of the Roman era on display. It never bores me, I have visites the museum three times already. 

1 hour ago, Spaniard said:

@Limes.......Lovely displays..

I really like the trays that have removable discs to encompass the coin diameter....Can you give a link as to what/where you purchased them please?

Paul

Thanks!

This is the link: https://www.lindner-original.de/numismatik/muenzboxen/muenzboxen-hoehe-20-mm/muenzbox-inletts

Take a good look for the right size! 

On 5/27/2022 at 4:08 PM, Alegandron said:

My Dog, Blue.  She passed 1-1/2 yrs ago.  She was my constant companion, coming with me everywhere:  Work, home, even room-to-room where ever I was.  She saved my life twice.  I have had many dogs, cats, and other critters in my life.  Blue and I connected like no other.

She loved everyone, and everyone really liked her too.  Always a tail a-waggin', always smiling.  Even in her final days when her dysplasia was becoming intolerable:  She smiled and was happy.  I deeply miss her Soul.

RR C Mamilius 82 BCE AR Den Serrate Mercury winged petasos caduceus Ulysses Dog Argos Sear 282 Craw 362-1

 

RR Aes Grave AE Quadrans 269-242 BCE Dog 3 pellets Six spoked wheel 59.8g Craw 24-6a Th-Vecchi 34 ex Sellwood

 

Blue's Last Day... smiling, loving, and her paw was always on my arm all day.

Sorry to hear that. Its sad to have to depart from such a good friend...

On 5/27/2022 at 8:08 PM, DonnaML said:

No mystery to the avatar I just added: it's the same photo of me I used at Coin Talk until I deleted it the other day*. It comes from my German passport photo taken a few years ago after I obtained dual German & U.S. citizenship. I like it better than my U.S. passport photo or any other recent photo, mostly because I think it makes me look younger than my true advanced age!

*How many of you (of those who still can!) are planning to continue to post at both places? That's my plan as of now. I've invested way too much time and effort in Coin Talk over the last 26 months, gaining what I think is a generally positive reputation (except with the one or two people who obviously can't stand me!) to give it up entirely, at least not yet. Any more bad behavior from the administrator over there and I might change my mind.

Good question. I have no Idea. Seems strange to post the same things on different forums, to mostly the same people....?

On 5/27/2022 at 9:00 PM, Leo said:

Mine comes from one of the drawings I've made for one of my videos.
I really like Antoninus Pius too 🙂

Thats a very nice drawing. What are your videos (excuse my ignorance)

About my picture. Its a photo of the roman limes in the city where I used to live,  trajectum. Its marked in the street and shows the location of the border. When its dark the line is lighted, which looks really Nice. And now i live in a small town 15 minuten away which gave its name to Brooklyn apparently. 

Edit: well, seems my avatar photo doesnt show. Ill fix that later. 

On 5/28/2022 at 7:44 PM, AncientNumis said:

So, I know there were a lot of threads like this back on CT.

Yes, but this never gets old! I really like to see everyone's display. Especially the one by Spaniard, which is fit for a museum. 

I have fewer coins then most members here. So my coins fit in our cabinet. I use two larger trays, which are standing up. A smaller display for my smaller bronzes of the Julio Claudio emperors. I added a close up. It opens easily. 

In my workroom I have a bookcase with my Roman/coinbooks and with another tray standing up. It only holds two Greek tet's and one AE of Constantine, with the eyes upwards. My idea was to add the 'famous' rulers of the ancient world and a few other coins that I just find awesome (hence the tets) in that one case. So far, I have one 'famous' ruler added. I have plenty of time left to fill it 🙂 The tourist collosseum is a must have, for everyone that has visited Rome of course 😉

Hi everybody! Good to see many known (nick)names. This forum is alive and kicking! I realy like being part of it. And welcome to the new people I have not met before on CT 🙂

Wow! So much eye candy! I'll add the following: 

Dark-grey toning, with brighter devices. 

Man of steel(grey): 

Rainbow! (no unicorns unfortunately)