Romismatist

I was going to say the one with the two rings is part of a horse bridle, but I think the center piece is too short for that...

Great quiz, congratulations to @wittwolff!

LOL - it looked like the issue resolved itself. Glad it had a happy ending.

Cool car, but given the price of fuel these days, I still prefer the coins over the car (unless it's electric LOL). Call me crazy, I guess (or just a stubborn numismatist). I look forward to the draw and seeing who wins the coins.

Cool coin, thanks for sharing!

Wow. Fascinating stuff, and a real roller-coaster of a detective story.

Hmm.. you got me on this one. It seems to be identical to this one (from the Wildwinds site)? or am I missing something?

Apologies, my mistake 😉

@Al Kowsky, I think that was one of the owls they showed in the video LOL

Cool video! I was looking for the second episode, but couldn't find it yet... I guess he hasn't posted that one?

Not sure what the dot signifies, but it has been used on other coins of this era. I recently acquired an example with the same reverse motif, minted in Luneberg, Germany by Bernhard I of Saxony from 973 - 1011 AD (some say it may have been Bernhard II - 1011 - 1059 AD). These coins are typically roughly struck, as mine is. I know that imitations also circulated in Frisia (Dannenberg 1299b) - see the third picture (not my coin). Could it be that the pellet motif was inspired by your coin or the other way around? Obv: "+ BERNARDVS" pellet Rev: "NOMNE DOMO" cross Dannenberg 589 / 589a

I love quizzes! You may have made it easy by making them multiple choice (or multiple guess)... How about splitting up the two coins so the first two with all the correct answers each get one of the coins? Maybe then I will have a better shot LOL Great idea by the way, and cool quiz!

Looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast to me... Funny that they don't show the Strike / Surfaces part. I think the surfaces would get a 1/5 from me, at least for the obverse. I guess they paid to encapsulate it, and are hoping to monetize that value quickly by copying some generic writeup from elsewhere and hoping someone with more money than sense will buy it???

@kirispupis, like the others on this forum, I've enjoyed reading your posts and like you (and probably pretty much everyone else on this forum), I often go through the exact same trials and tribulations when buying coins. Reading through your particular post, there are more than enough reasons to pass on this one. My thoughts: You didn't mention how often this coin comes up at auction, only the number of times you've had a shot at acquiring one. If it shows up at least once every few years, and you're not an octogenarian, then I would say you've got time to wait it out (apologies to all octogenarians out there) It sounds like both times the coin you've chased hasn't been in great condition, but you've mentioned that this is being offered by a seller you don't exactly trust, and also seems to have been egregiously tooled. For me, that would be enough red flags to pass this time around. Imagine if, after all this, you actually buy the coin, then a better one comes along that you can afford, and you nab it. You could always sell the first one, but if it's a specialist coin and in poor condition, the risk is high that you'd pretty much lose whatever you paid for it. Best to save your pennies for a future example. Instead, I would take the attitude of "bullet dodged" and pass rather than face the inevitable buyer's remorse even if another coin doesn't immediately present itself. I've increasingly realized that shooting for the best specimen I can afford will make it more attractive to future buyers should I decide to sell but also gives me more pleasure from an aesthetic perspective (which always adds to the ever-present historical perspective). The acquisitions I've most regretted over the years have always been coins I've either overpaid for when the "had to have it" emotions prevailed, or ones I've bought as very poor quality specimens when I convinced myself that I simply needed the type. Remember, you don't need the type, and you have an incredible, awesome collection as it stands. You can wait for the next one to come around.

yes, I believe those are the right references. I got them through Academia.

Here are all the tables of countermarks that I was able to find in the published literature. Iraq Hoard Syria Hoard

I have posted these before, but haven't been able to identify the exact countermarks from any of the tables I have come across from Peter van Alfen or others. The best I can determine is that these coins circulated in Egypt or the Levant as they all have test cuts, which was apparently not practiced as often in the Mediterranean.

On second thought, it's likely not a reverse die match... the letters don't really match up...

Nice coin, Donna! I have the Restitutor Galliae and Restitutor Hispaniae coins (which I haven't gotten around to photographing). Your Restitutor Africae coin seems to be much scarcer; I haven't seen many of them over the years. That may be the next coin I try to chase down for this series. I snagged the Hadrian Alexandria travel denarius from the same auction, which may be a reverse die match to yours: I've been looking to land one of these in decent condition for a while. Most of the ones I've seen have not been in great condition; there was another one in this auction paired with an Aegyptos denarius - both wound up going for GBP85 (prior to buyer's fee etc). Both coins were also much more circulated than this one. Being ever more paranoid about fakes, I did an ACSearch and was able to find an obverse die match and a few reverse die matches to convince myself that this coin is indeed genuine. Fakes these days are getting a lot harder to spot, and have shown up on occasion in auctions. The portrait on this one seemed odd to me; normally Hadrian wouldn't be looking this annoyed. Provenance is stated as being from Seaby as well though (1989). The coin is still on its way (these are Dix Noonan's photos).

Maybe it's me, but that patina totally looks painted over top of a chemically stripped (burned?) coin. You can see the brush marks where the patina was applied. It may even be green paint? Or am I missing something?

Yes definitely due to another coin on top of this one and a piece remains fused to yours. Not bronze disease at all. I had the same thing happen to me on an antoninianus of Trajan Decius but I used citric acid and a toothpick to carefully remove the deposits. It is possible if you have the fortitude to attempt it.

Wonderful, thanks for this, @Severus Alexander! One of the other owls has the #3 countermark in the table. At least I'm getting closer to learning more about their circulation...

Great, many thanks, @robinjojo!

There was a previous post in another forum from 2011 that referred to Peter van Alfen's chart of countermarks from AJN, but the link no longer works. If anyone has this chart or can post a picture, that would help, thanks!

Just in case anyone is asking, I uploaded the same picture upside down to better present the "fleur de lis" type countermark better on the tet to the left.