Gavin Richardson

The striations—if that’s the right word – – in the drapery look too rigid and sharp. That may not be dispositive. But I would have questions.

Regarding coins and marital harmony: my wife and I keep a joint checking account. But about 15 years ago, we adopted a policy of having a fixed monthly amount direct deposited into an additional separate bank account each. The amount is quite modest – – about $100 a month. We don’t have a lot of disposable income, so that’s about right for us. The idea is that we can spend that personal account money however we see fit, no questions asked. So if I want a $500 coin, I can save up for five months and she can’t say a mumbling word about it. If she wants to buy a $500 purse, then the same rule applies. That approach has taken some stress and guilt out of the hobby for me.

This is a post I made on another board ca 2020. I suspect Caligula will not be your highest priced coin. That would be Julius Caesar, followed by Otho and Galba, depending upon denomination. Vitellius will be pricey as well. The others are much more accessible. I completed my set for $2387 over several years. —- Consummatum Est. So about fifteen years after getting my first Twelve Caesars coin, I have finally finished my Twelve Caesars set to my satisfaction. I say “to my satisfaction” because it was technically complete after I bought Orfew’s Otho in AMCC 2. But my Titus was a slug, so I bought a better Titus a few weeks ago. It just came in today from the Great White North. Here’s a “virtual tray.” A group photo is below. I subscribe to the school that says there are no rules for a Twelve Caesars set. But my arbitrary guidelines were 1) all imperial (no provincial); 2) all bronze. I soon found out that imperial bronze was impossible for Julius Caesar and Otho, so I had to go denarii there. I also recognized that sestertii would be out of my price range. I’m happy with the middle bronze (AE as) collection I assembled. My favorite might be humble Claudius, with its genuine and attractive desert patina. My least favorite? Let’s face it. That Vitellius is a pretty ugly coin. But Vitellius in bronze is precious regardless of condition. For anyone who is interested, here’s a chart with the acquisition year, the seller, and the price. Perhaps it’s a bit crass to list price, but I know that when I was thinking about making a serious run at a Twelve Caesars set, I was curious what it could be done for. Still, I had no real budget or timeline. I just bought the next coin that I could afford at the time. Predictably, the Julius Caesar denarius comes in at the most expensive, followed by the usual suspects Otho, Galba, and Vitellius. That Year of the Four Emperors is hard on the ol’ budget! The Augustus Altar of Lugdunum comes in at the cheapest. The Nero price is from 2005; that coin would probably cost me a lot more today. I got serious about making a run at a Twelve Caesars set in 2017 (note that almost half of the set was bought in 2018 alone). I really didn’t think I would land a Julius Caesar portrait denarius until maybe as a retirement gift to myself in the distant future. But a pleasing budget option happened to show up in VCoins just at a time when I had a little extra money, so I figured that was the universe telling me to go for it. I’m glad I did. It may be interesting that only two coins come from auction (one being an unsold lot). I’ve returned to serious collecting only in the past three years or so and am still an auction neophyte; my VCoins purchases show me hugging the shore. In the future, I would like to upgrade my Caligula. (I actually have two and would probably sell both and invest in a better grade.) I might also get provincial bronzes of Julius Caesar and Otho just to have an all-middle-bronze lineup.

Well I don’t think that is Nero. That pronounced nose I thought was a feature of Pompey. So that pretty much narrows down the dating to AD 30. That’s really helpful Victor. I will check out the article.

So recently I was pleased to acquire this posthumous coin of Pompey the Great from Soli-Pompeiopolis. The closest analog to it in Roman provincial coinage online is 4003a: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/browse?q=4003a RPC online (second photo) seems to suggest that the coin was struck during the reign of Tiberius, but then later in the entry, it lists the year as 64/65 AD. That’s the reign of Nero, not Tiberius. What am I missing? Can someone explain this RPC online dating anomaly?

Nice collection. I have one example for Constans from each mint. This is my only Rome issue.

Ostia Antica is underrated. I liked it better than Pompeii.

I am a Constantine collector. I love elegant reverse types whose elegance is often overlooked when common. The Trier depiction of Sol shows lovely compositional balance. And it’s exceedingly common.