Orange Julius

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

2 hours ago, JAZ Numismatics said:

 

Well now I know what to do with my 3rd century ants. I can't sell the things even if they come with free beer and dancing girls.

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.

I don’t know much about the coin, although it is very cool. But the history and provenance would make these very special to me if they were from my father (as I’m sure they are to you!). He obviously loved these coins and they give you a window into who he was at the time. I hope that in the future, my kids find interest in my coins after I’m gone, rather than just selling them in bulk lots on eBay for a few dollars (which is my nightmare). Good for you for delving into them. I look forward to seeing more!

Nice coins! I like threads that dive into the details. I have two Probus TEMPOR FELICI or TEMPOR FELICIT coins, one early and one late. I think I have the attributions right but not sure.

TEMPOR FELICI RIC V-2 104


TEMPOR FELICIT RIC V-2 129

That’s a pretty coin. I don’t know much about these coins or the history around tum but do have one contribution from a little earlier in time.

SELJUQS of RUM. Rukn ed-Din Suleiman, 1196-1204 AD. AE Fals, AH 595. Horseman riding with mace / Arabic legends. Album.1205.2. Mit.963

I posted about this coin on FORVM years back and had a good back and forth with a member who was very generous with his time, walking me through the legend. I think he may be a member here too but under a different name. 
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=114089.msg693928#msg693928

Haha, that’s what’s great for us history lovers. Ugly but interesting coins fly under the radar due to many being focused on condition. $2 of my $4 total was shipping. Money well spent. You could probably build a specialized collection of these for less than the price of a single EF denarius.

The mint city is in Syria but not as far East as I had imagined. The map below has me wondering, what’s the furthest East minted coin by the Romans?

Oooh great post. I have one of these and although ugly, find them interesting. On my coin, you can just read “ANT…” on the reverse legend. Mine’s a beefy little coin at 4.6 grams. This is a great example of when not to clean a coin. This coin is black. Without the dirt, you wouldn’t be able to see much without it in hand and a ton of light. Some coins are better with a little grime.

The below information is from the FORVM listing for my coin and a few other listings. I bought this one from eBay for about $4 total. 

Caracalla, 28 January 198 - 8 April 217 A.D., Rhesaena, Mesopotamia

This type with an eagle at the base of the vexillum on the reverse is unpublished in the many references examined by Forum. There are similar types and a few examples in the references that could have the eagle on the reverse (but not the same dies) but are off-center or worn. 

Rhesaena became a colony during the reign of Septimius Severus, when the Legio III Parthica was settled there. 

RP59266. Bronze AE 17, apparently unpublished; Castelin -, BMC Arabia -, SNG Cop -, SNG UK -, SNG Leipzig -, SNG Righetti -, Lindgren -, aF, Rhesaena (Ra's al-'Ayn, Syria) mint, weight 4.571g, maximum diameter 16.7mm, die axis 0o, obverse [...] ANT[...], laureate head right, eagle right below; reverse vexillum, eagle below, III - C (reversed) / P (reversed) - S across field; extremely rare. 

Rhesaena, in the Roman province Mesopotamia Secunda, became a colony during the reign of Septimius Severus, when the Legio III Parthica was settled there. Rhesaena was an important town in the far north of Mesopotamia, on the way from Carrhae to Nicephorium, about eighty miles from Nisibis and forty from Dara, near the sources of the Chaboras (Khabur) River. Today, it is Ra's al-'Ayn, Syria. Gordian III fought the Persians nearby in 243, at the battle of Resaena. The Notitia dignitatum (ed. Boecking, I, 400) lists it under the jurisdiction of the Dux of Osrhoene. Hierocles (Synecdemus, 714, 3) also locates it in Osrhoene but it was renamed Theodosiopolis. It was fortified by Justinian. In 1393, it was nearly destroyed by Tamerlane's troops

Note: Legio III Pia was comprised of approximately 3,500 troops when created in Rheseana by Septimius Severus for the Parthian Campaign of 197-199. The bull was the legion mascot and the city was granted colonial status.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=59266q00.jpg&vpar=2748&zpg=64320&fld=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/Coins2/

Yeah at the time, there was a significant difference in portrait styles between Rome and the eastern mints as seen below:

Rome mint portrait:

Antioch / Eastern Mint

Welcome aboard! As for tooling… some may not agree with me but tooling is not common with most coins. it’s something you will see more often within certain categories of coins like first and second century (and some early third century) sestertii. But unless tooling is expertly done on coins looking for big money, it’s usually not hard to spot. You’ll see it occasionally elsewhere. What’s more common is cleaning scratches (very common), and smoothing of fields. I guess in the categories I play, tooling is uncommon and easily spotted. Just do your due diligence, look at many examples of the coins you like to buy, and if you’re spending big money, reach out for more expert opinions and you’ll be fine!

Looks like Antoninus Pius, like this one? 
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5999772

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/9030

I’m not sure about the others… but the one in the middle is a Roman Provincial Elagabalus (or Caracalla) from Antioch. Both used ANTONINVS (or ANTONINOC in Greek as seen here) in their coin legends, which you can read starting at about 1 o’clock on the portrait side.

These coins are fun. Lots of fun bust variations that could be a collection in themselves. 

Here are a couple of my Trier Crispi. The second one bought from @Victor_Clark in 2018!

Crispus A.D. 323
IVL CRISPVS NOB C; laureate, wearing trabea, eagle tipped sceptre in right hand.
BEATA TRAN-QVILLITAS; globe set on altar inscribed VO/TIS/XX; above, three stars.
In ex. • STR crescent
RIC VII Trier 405

I absolutely LOVE Alexandrian coins. However, since kids and 1st/2nd century Alexandrian coins can be expensive, I focus on later empire. Don’t sleep on the mid-third century in A-town, there were some talented engravers (see my Gallienus), interesting reverses and beautiful coins!

Trebonianus Gallus

Gallienus

Salonina

Claudius II

Aurelian

I have many Probus coins. My Probus coins are either very common and in good condition or super rare and extremely ugly. This one is common but in nice condition. I like it.

@Tejas Wow, all of those are great. If you let me pick one, I’d take that third one with the shield. That’s my favorite!

@Octavius I like that one as well. It’s got the SPQR mint mark that I wish mine had. (No mark on mine) A great portrait too! 

10 hours ago, Furryfrog02 said:

There is only 1 Trajan Decius in the FF collection but I like his portrait. It doesn't get shared enough so here he is:

Trajan Decius 
249-250 AD
Antoninianus
Obverse: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, radiate bust right, draped & cuirassed
Reverse: ADVENTVS AVG, Decius on horse riding left, with left hand raised in salute & scepter in other arm

That’s a great coin, special that it’s relatively uncleaned… so many even worn coins are polished up. I love seeing coins where you can see both all of the design elements and the results of nearly 2000 years of history! Leave that one as-is!

That is such a great buy for 2 euros! It’s amazing to me… even thousands of coins later… that we can buy these little pieces of history for so little. 

Here is my VICTORIAE GOTHIC coin, one of my favorite Claudius II coins. I also agree about Claudius II as a focus or side collection. There are so many fun coins that people often ignore.

…and here’s my budget VICTOR GERMAN that came to me for $4.50 including shipping!

I don’t fit into any of these buckets… if I had to make a type for myself it would be the Middle Class Magpie.

“I like everything but I’m on a budget. Now look at my 15 Claudius II coins from the Milan mint 😬”

36 minutes ago, LONGINUS said:

 

Occasionally when I’m perusing ancient coin sites...🤓

...shopping for ancient additions to my collection, I’ll come across a portrait that reminds me of someone. It could be a person who I know in real life or an entertainment personality from movies or television. Anyway, my most recent Gallienus is such a discovery. Consequently — finding this coin sparked my interest and motivated me to round up coins from my collection featuring portraits who I thought resemble entertainment celebrities.

Here is my most recent addition followed by some that have been in my collection for a while.

If you own any coin portraits resembling an entertainer in film or television please post it.

 

 

 

Gallienus looks a bit like David Duchovny with a beard too. 

I have another coin that looks like him too and suspect X-Files was real and Fox Mulder is a time traveler.

1 hour ago, Tejas said:

I found another heavy Quintillus on Ebay. The coin was only 38 euros

Weight: 5.1 g.

 

On these coins is the XII the officina? If so, what were the other 11 workshops making? DIVO CLAUDIO coins? Or is it a mark of value?

I have absolutely no basis for this and it likely doesn’t line up with the facts…

But I’ve thought how I’d distinguish one shift from another at a single officina and it would be by little marks/dots/stars like this. Perhaps the starless coins are the first shift guys and the starred coins are the evening shift! The difference in frequency could just be due to 1st shift striking one coin type, while the second shift focuses on your coin type.

Great coins! That’s first one is Siscia I believe and has a great portrait, very similar to mine below.

Quintillus, AE antoninianus. Siscia mint. IMP CM AVR QVINTILLVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right / VBERITAS AVG, Uberitas standing left, holding purse and cornucopiae. Q in right field. Normanby hoard 1235, Minster hoard 300, Appleshaw hoard 313, Alföldi VII.23; RIC 78 var (Obv legend); Sear -.

Great coin and a fun to read write up. Thank you! I don’t have many of my Byzantine coins photographed but I do have a picture of my Leo VI… the disliked son. 

Leo VI, AE Follis, Constantinople. LEON bASILEVS ROM, crowned bust facing with short beard, wearing chlamys, holding akakia / LEON EN QEO BA SILEVS R OMEON legend in four lines. SB 1729, DOC 8.