Orange Julius

Thanks for all of the hard work. I’ve used it over the years and as someone who buys eBay coins occasionally, I’ve found it extremely helpful for finding seller images and notes I forgot to save. It also is helpful in finding sale prices, although as many are from eBay, those prices can be all over the board. Here’s a coin that I bought years ago (2016) as a cleaning project. I forgot to save the seller’s image and went back last year to find it. I’ve made some progress on cleaning the coin but it’s been stubborn!

I like the coin but also really like the look of that blue background. Black, gray and white are the usual backgrounds, and often I think colors are distracting… but that blue is really nice! It looks great with bronze hues and I’m sure it would look great with silver as well. I’m going to try it out!

Caught another tigress… to add to my other 5 or 6 Tigresses… The new one is the first photo. The second is proof I didn’t need this one because it’s got a better cat. 🐅

That’s a nice coin! I have one with the year written the same way. Diocletian Potin Tetadrachm of Alexandria. Year 9 = 292-293 AD. Obv: DIOKLETI-ANOC CEB, laureate & cuirassed bust right Rev: ENATOV, L to right, Elpis standing left, holding flower and raising hem of robe. A in ex. Milne 5063.

Yep, this one doesn’t have the usual preamble to the name. The obverse legend is ΔΙΟΚΛΗΤΙΑΝΟC CEB. Here’s mine like the second one you posted.

Haha, I love the coin… but I also love that the rock is featured in the center and came with the lot. Did you keep it?!

Wow! How’d you clean it. It looks great!

I’m looking for a bit of help. I recently bought my first Sasanian coin… or maybe a later imitation of one. I’ve always wanted to include a selection of these coins in my collection, and learn about them. This coin is my first and I know nearly nothing about reading or attributing these coins. The only information that came with the coin is this: TABARISTAN SILVER HEMIDRACHM SA'ID 776-779 AD The coin is 25mm, 1.84 grams. I’m hoping to: 1.) Understand… is this a Sasanian Coin? A later Islamic imitation? 2.) Confirm the attribution or attribute the coin (ruler, date, primary reference, etc.) 3.) Get any education on the legends (what they say, where’s the date?, is the ruler named?, where?) 4.) See your favorite eastern coins! Persian, Parthian, Sasanian, Islamic, or anything else cool that I’m not throwing my money at yet! thank you!

Wow… that top lot is a “who’s who” of figures missing from my collection (Macrianus, Quietus, Marius, and a Magnia Urbica). I see a lower grade Florian in there too! That lower lot would have been a bummer… it looks so nice with all of that silver. To find the other sides of each coin were bad, would be a let down. Early in my collecting, I saw a medallion of some late third century figure (Florian, Carus, Tacitus… can’t remember) on eBay with terrible photos. You could barely tell what it was through the blur and there was no info other than ‘ancient coin’ but I could see through the bad photography that it was pretty nice. I was (fairly) certain it was authentic and it drew little attention but I just couldn’t pull the trigger (initial bid was at $150 or so.) because the “too good to be true” factor was too high. I still regret not taking a chance on it. I’ve been meaning to post some of my disappointments… but haven’t yet found the time. Those are harder to post than the wins, but I hope to see more of those in this thread too!

As an update… the OP coin also seems to be the Wildwinds coin for the type/mintmark. So that’s fun! Wildwinds coin: My Coin: What’s interesting is that you can’t see many of the obverse mineral encrustations on the Wildwinds photo. Either you can’t see them because the lighting is much different and the definition is much lower, or they weren’t there at the time the image was taken. Perhaps the coin was stored improperly in a pvc flip? The encrustations look and feel stable, like round hard nodules of minerals on the surface, and not like BD at all. Anyway… an interesting find late last night as I was cataloging the coin. The listing gives a bit of the coin’s history, back to 2000, if you can call that history when taking about a ~1750 year old coin. “Barry and Darling, ebay, Jan 2000. Sold for $78.00” …which is 4.5X what I bought it for in 2024.

An informative snippet from Monumental Coins Buildings & Structures on Ancient Coinage by Marvin Tameanko:

Thanks for sharing the photo! That was a cool snag. If I remember right, this one was minted after the defeat of Maxentius and likely along side of the coins commemorating the move of the Ostia mint to Arles… this is from memory, so if I’m wrong let me know! This find reminds me of @Finn235, who I know hunts lots for interesting tidbits. I’m sure he has some good find stories.

@Victor_Clark That shield Chi-Rho is a much sought after coin, that’s a great find. There are some finds to be had out there if you’re persistent. I remember when you found that otherwise unknown Constantine reverse on eBay. I was watching that one and bid (what I thought was) high but was blown out of the water! A cool coin and very cool that you helped it find a place in the city where it was minted. @ela126 That’s an interesting note on your coin, matching it to a very specific moment in history. Congrats. As for my coin, I just used toothpicks and fingernails… so no scratches. However there’s still some black staining from the crud that someday I need to clean as it’s distracting and makes the coin look a bit crappier than it is. @Sulla80 That’s a great crab (I need one!) and much nicer than it looks in the seller’s photos. Coins are hard to photograph, so seeing past those bad photographs is a skill that can have its rewards.

@Marsyas Mike Haha, hunters in the same forest. That Gordian is much nicer that it appears in the seller’s photos. That same seller has a really nice Galerius follis that I’ve considered buying… but although still a good deal, it’s priced a bit high to be a great deal. @Herodotus That shield coin is a beauty with just the right level of toning. Those other coins were a great buy too. I’m a sucker for anything from Alexandria. @seth77 I’m not as familiar with medieval coins. What is it and what makes it special (I’m sure it is, but interested in why)? @Amarmur What a great buy! $25 for those 3 is a steal. I’ve dreamed at finding coins at a flea market or garage sale set in costume jewelry but have yet to have it happen. $20 for that historic type for LV is great too! @Nerosmyfavorite68 I have yet to snag an Aemilian and have been hunting for a deal on one but… they’re scarce and even on eBay draw attention. I remember that Nero too, sad thing that it broke. I once bought an Egyptian Eye of Horus that arrived smashed. I got a refund but was super bummed out. I still have the pieces. @ela126 Oooh is that a late Byzantine Alexandrian coin? Who is it? Love that. I find coins of regions that were slipping away or briefly recaptured during that time period very interesting. Coins of Carthage, Rome, Alexandria in the Byzantine era are very cool. @Roman Collector Love that coin too, I remember reading your original write up on it. Consecratio coins are so cool. I’ve considered a side collection of just those. I think the last funeral pyre type was minted by Claudius II. @Harry G Oh that Decentius is a gem! I actually thought about you when creating this post as you seem to have a love for rare 3rd and 4th century stuff. That Laelianus you have is a dream coin and you always seem to have interesting Claudius II and Aurelian coins as well. You’re likely my bidding competition that I loose out to for some of these coins haha! For wins… I also have this Domitian bought on eBay for $9. I could see a bit of silver poking out and suspected it was a nice encrusted denarius… and it was. It’s still not full cleaned. I like it but these days, I kind of wish I’d left it encrusted as you done see many 1st century silver coins “as found.” Oh and for anyone that didn’t catch the joke above with the eBay Sold screenshot… that’s a coin (1 of I think about 3 known) of Domitian II. Ugly but rare and something I could see poping up on eBay, although I’m sure it would not go unnoticed.

Fun idea! Do you have the images so we can see the results?

@JAZ Numismatics Thank you! @ela126 thanks, I agree. It’s fun to sniff out something others missed… although sometimes you find you’re not the only one to notice! @Romismatist Great score! That Volusian is a beauty! How’d you clean it? That obverse is great and I love how it retains the toning/patina after removing the crud. Nice job. I’ve been stung by a few fakes… although with most, I know it’s a likelihood beforehand and take the chance anyway sometimes, then get the refund. Other times, it works out and what looks dodgy is a great coin in bad lighting or scanned by a scanner. Later I’ll post some disappointments. For now… I’m ever looking for this situation:

As a guy on a budget, I look for deals and sometimes take chances in the swamp that is eBay on coins with bad seller photos. Sometimes those gambles pay off, and sometimes they don’t and I may have well just burnt my money in the front yard. I’ve won and lost, bought gems and fakes. Anyway, this was a low-stakes gamble at just $16.95 all in. The seller’s photos were distant, the coin was dark and looked like it may have bronze disease but… I could see there was some good detail and I was pleasantly surprised with the coin when it arrived. Luckily it’s a really nice coin and the speckled green is just mineralization as I suspected. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to start a thread of your “take a chance” coins, misattributions, gambles, group lot finds, fails and successes! Let’s see them. Post the seller photo if you have it, why you took the gamble and if it paid off. Seller’s Photos: My own not great pics of the coin: Probus. AD 276-282. Antoninianus Cyzicus mint, 3rd officina. 3rd emission, AD 280. Radiate and mantled bust left, holding eagle-tipped scepter / Sol, head left, raising hand and holding whip, in spread quadriga facing; CM//XXIΓ. RIC V 911; Pink VI/1, p. 44.

A lot of sour grapes here from people missing out on a deal of a lifetime. I mean… the images show the columns of actual archeological sites. Take my money! 💰 ….but seriously… I don’t like the way the images show (AI generated) dug up sites, or that people would purchase anything from these people.

I love old images like this, they feel like they get you a bit “closer” to the Romans, even if the ~170 years is just a 1/5 or so of the way back. i have a smattering of Theodosius coins. I don’t like him as an emperor as I feel his reign was the last chance to ‘right the ship’ and save the empire of old. After Theo, the slope was too slippery and his children were useless.

I photographed this ugly coin today too. It’s ugly but I like it. It’s unlisted in RIC but in the MER-RIC V-1/2 as 1001. Claudius II IMP CLAVDIVS PF AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the back. Three dots beneath the bust FELICIT TEMP, Felicitas standing half-left, holding caduceus and cornucopiae. RIC V-1 Unlisted MER-RIC V-/2 temp 1001 mid 270 – September 270

Some really cool coins in this thread. I’d love to collect Hadrian’s travel series but those can get expensive. I’ve always like this personification of Alexandria from Alexandria. The Claudius II portrait isn’t of great style but the reverse portrait of Alexandria is beautiful. Claudius II, AE Potin tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt. Year 2. AYT K KΛAYΔIOC CEB, laureate, cuirassed bust right / L-B to left and right of Alexandria, draped and turreted bust right, wearing close fitting cap, curls of hair down the neck. Maerkl Coll. 29; Mionnet VI 3427, Pl. III 56. Kampmann 104.19; Milne 4246; BMC 2330; Emmett 3869.

Here’s a fairly new coin I just shot some (meh) photos of today. Eastern just by a bit. It’s a fun coin. It had some crud on the reverse and I got most of it off. What remains is very thin but stubborn and I decided to leave it rather than scratch up the coin removing it. Claudius II Antoninianus. Cyzicus. IMP CLAVDIVS PF AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right, two or three dots beneath bust / VIRTVS AVG, Virtus, Mars or soldier standing left, holding spear and resting hand on shield. Mintmark SPQR. RIC V-1, 254. c. end 269 – early 270

Sold! I’ll take that deal all day!

Interesting! Can you link the article? I’d like to give it a look. I’ll see if I have any of these coins. Mark Fox has been a contributor on the FORVM discussion board and has always been very helpful there as a resource.