Steppenfool

You have a real talent for this stuff! Do you have a resource where I can see them all? It's a shame you can't buy many historical Lego sets, excluding the big and expensive Colloseum which is a model of the current ruin rather than it in its splendor.

REQUEST I'm looking for an Antoninianus from Decius' Divus Series under $200 that's NOT Antoninus Pius. If any specimens seem like a particularly good deal please let me know!

I did think about this, but I feel waiting to save up for a coin comes with risk naturally and that most sellers allow reservations which can alleviate this problem! That is fair. Not as if it could be enforced anyhow. It was mainly in the interest of tidiness and so that someone quickly scrolling through who for example is only interested in offering advice can quickly discern which posts to read.

Hello all. I have been thinking about creating this thread for a while, but some recent threads have made me realise that it would be useful. The purpose of this thread is threefold. It is to request users keep an eye out for coins that you desire, to recommend listings that you personally don't want to buy, but that you feel others might wish to take advantage of, and to ask for advice via private message. Here are some basic ground rules FOR REQUESTS Start your post with the word REQUEST. Explain which coin/type/ruler you are looking for in as much or as little detail as possible and state your budget also. If another user happens to come across the type while perusing auctions/shops, they can inform the requester via private message of their findings. The the privacy is essential, we do not want someone to "steal" the coin, nor do we want to impact the requester by drawing attention to their auction target. FOR RECOMMENDATIONS Start your post with the word RECOMMENDATION. Simply post a picture and link to the coin sale and explain why you think it would be a good buy. Auction listings are not allowed to be recommended. This is mainly because drawing widespread attention to auctions before they are completed may impact other forum users. Furthermore, it is counter-intuitive to recommend a coin whose price is not defined. Please do not use this feature to advertise your own sales. FOR ADVICE Start your post with the word ADVICE. Explain in as much detail as you like what your issue is, and users will be able to private message you offering their help. The idea here is that you may not wish to ask for advice on some matters publicly. We possibly saw why in a recent thread, where the coin the user asked for advice about a coin but it was snapped up before the advice was received. Whether the two events were related is unknown, but it is illustrative regardless. If anyone has any objections to the above rules, or the thread in general, then feel free to express them. There may be some reason why this is inappropriate that I have not considered.

I'm wondering if you can expand on this. I recently read Lucius Verus and the Roman Defence of the East by MC Bishop and he makes the argument that the denigration of Verus' character is a purposeful exaggeration by the unknown author of the Historia Augusta who uses Versus as the antithesis of the perfect Marcus Aurelius in order to elevate the latter's character. Versus certainly managed the Parthian campaign very admirably, and Marcus seemed to acknowledge Verus' military aptitude in the splitting of duties here. Perhaps Marcus Aurelius stagnation against the Marcomanni is further evidence of Verus' military superiority. Versus was also handpicked by Hadrian to be adopted by Antoninus Pius and had an exceptional father himself. Although not unheard of, I would find it odd for Verus to be weak and ineffectual with all this to be in favour of Verus' abilities. Furthermore Marcus declared him co-emperor immediately after his accession. I don't think he would have been beholden to co-promote a weak partner. There's many great emperors whose deification coinage isn't very prevalent or is non existent. Hadrian comes to mind immediately I don't think this is an indication of a person's character, but rather how they were received by the aristocracy. Perhaps Verus' love of partying (which MC Bishop argues did not result in any worse performance in his role as emperor) and lower imperium due to missing out the rank of Caesar (and thus being the "lesser" in the partnership) didn't enamour him with conservative senators. Here's my Versus, with Mars to signify his warlike role in the partnership, and with the title of ARMENIACVS, that he acquired for sorting out the meddling Parthians.

I think this is a blessing in disguise. You will certainly be able to redirect those funds to a more interesting type which provides a much better story.

I have a coin quite similar to that, and it is one that I should have passed on in favour of another type. That legend with someone standing there on the reverse is very common. Trajan has few more interesting historical types that the money would be better spent on IMO. VIA TRAIANA, commemorating his road, DIVUS PATER TRAIAN, commemorating the deification of his biological father, DANVIVS with the Danube river god, the Trajan's column types, ARAB ADQ types commemorating the annexation of Arabia, ALIM ITAL type commemorating the foundation of the Alimenta Charity initiative for Roman orphans, There's the DAC CAP type commemorating conquering Dacia. There are probably more but I can't recall all of them! Here's mine here. My first denarii that I overpaid for at £60

Congratulations on getting through your exams, I hope they went well for you. A very desirable type and one I've been after for a while. I am finishing my degree in the next few weeks and I am also bringing out the war chest to celebrate.

Welcome to the forum and the hobby! I am fairly new to coin collecting too and I also reside in the UK. . Heres's some more tips from me. - People have already mentioned the vcoins marketplace which hosts a good selection of reliable deals. MA SHOPS is another coin marketplace worth checking out. - To help your attributions, use wildwinds.com. Wildwinds, although not totally complete and with the occasional mistake, is an accessible catalogue of Roman coinage. See if you can find your Getas. https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/geta/i.html. Another useful online catalogue is Online Coins of the Roman Empire, found at https://numismatics.org/ocre/. These resources are helpful as a guide/starting point to getting fuller and more detailed attributions too and for helping you to learn what exactly terms such as Head, Bust, exergue, fields and all that mean. https://www.tesorillo.com/aes/home.htm Is a great resource for identifying Late Roman Bronzes too, and allows you to search by reverse/portrait. https://www.coinarchives.com is a useful resource for assessing prices. It allows you to search for and find the prices realised for coins at all auctions in the last six months for free. Membership gives you access to all the data but I cannot afford that. - My favourite online shops based in the UK are London Ancient Coins, Lodge Antiquities, Den of Antiquity. In terms of auctions you have Roma Numismtics and Naville Numismatics. With that said, I would say not to be frightened of buying from Europe. I have yet to have an issue despite making many purchases. I haven't been brave enough to participate in an overseas auction yet though, per the increased economic uncertainty alluded to above. - You've done well to begin cataloguing your coins and keeping up to date with this. It becomes a lot less fun when you have to catalog a big pile at once. - I mostly agree with those who say stay away from eBay. The state of ancient coins on eBay UK is about as bad as it has ever been with fakes and price gouging. I believe I recognise your Hadrian from king_radio on eBay, who is one of the last decent sellers on there and provides authentic coins. I actually remember tracking down that very Hadrian to its auction house origin. Click the underlined text and hopefully the link will take you to the auction listing. Now you know that the experts at Roma Numismatics have judged that this coin is real 🙂. The rest of your coins look fine to me too and I would be happy to purchase them. For the record, the only other eBay sellers I totally trust are aulusplautius who does auctions and Carpe Diem - The one thing I do regret is rushing into collecting. The initial euphoria is quite overwhelming. I collect Roman Imperial coinage, and now I regret buying unremarkable coins just to get the emperor. These days I stick to historically important issues that tell a story or serve as a piece of historical evidence. Sometimes I think how much more joy I would have had, had I abstained from buying 5 unremarkable coins and bought one remarkable one instead. Although it can be hard to deviate from your subconscious budget limit which plays a role. Subsequently, I have only breached my £100 limit twice. I also recommend sticking to a given collecting period initially. I personally found having a mixed bag of coins from different eras and civilisations quite unsatisfying and ended up selling off any outliers. Now I focus exclusively on Roman Imperial coinage until 363 AD. With this strategy it becomes much easier to do the deep learning that others have encouraged. - One thing to keep in mind with this forum and the hobby in general is that people are very passionate and enthusiastic. Feel free to ask any question or discuss any aspect of coin collecting and people will engage heartily.

Beautiful coin. I thought it was one of these Commodus portraits at first glance!

The head shape and weight makes me think it's a Maximinus II or something from an Eastern mint during the second tetrarchy. Maximinus II. 310-313 AD. AE Follis (5.99 gm, 23mm). Antiochia mint. Struck 310/1 AD. Obv.: IMP GAL VAL MAXIMINVS P F AVG, laureate head right. Rev.: GENIO CAESARIS, Genius standing to left, modius on head, holding patera and cornucopiae; above, crescent; I in right field, ANT* in exergue. RIC 103. VF. currently for sale by Tom Vossen on vcoins

Some weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to win the competition held by @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix. Thankfully the quiz portion of the quiz was my exclusive area of collecting, Imperial Rome. This allowed me to get full marks and get more tickets in the draw! The coins had to travel some way, from North America to Scotland. Surprisingly, delivery was achieved in 2 weeks. I was prepared for a much longer wait. I cannot supply coin pictures of my own at the time being. I don't have a set-up capable of taking decent pictures, and my camera phone recently decided to go the way of Nero and end its own life. Therefore I will have to post the same pictures that accompanied the competition thread. @Ocatarinetabellatchitchixleft the attribution to myself, so I will give my attempt below. Constantine I RIC VII Arelate 246 322 AD, AE Nummus Obverse: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG. Head of Constantine I, laureate, right Reverse: D N CONSTANTINI MAX AVG. VOT/XX within a laurel wreath MintMark: -/-//ARL OfficinaMark: S Researching this one wasn't particularly straightforward. Wildwinds didn't have it on record and I couldn't get the OCRE search function to return anything substantial. However, googling details about the coin and specifying that ARLS had to be searched (and not corrected to Arles) resulted in me coming across the coin for sale with a link to the OCRE entry. This coin is novel as it was minuted only 6 years before Arelatum was renamed Constantia in honour of Constantine II (who was born there in 316) in 328. I think my other Arelate coins all possess the CON mintmark. ____________________________________________________ Licinius RIC VII Antioch 17 315-316 AE Nummus Obverse: IMP LIC LICINIVS PF AVG. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right Reverse: IOVI CONSERVATORI AVGG NN. Jupiter standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, holding Victory on globe and sceptre, eagle with wreath at foot left. Epsilon in right field. Mintmark ANT Officina Mark: ∈ This coin was also quite fun to research. The mintmark being obscured made it a bit tougher. Thankfully the "NN" on the reverse only seems to be present at 3 mints. Siscia, Thessalonica and Antioch. Comparing portraits and what remained of the mintmark allowed me to be confident in the fact that it was an Antioch coin. _______________________________________ Of course, my attributions could be wrong! Such is the nature of not possessing the RIC volumes themselves. Feel free to correct me if so. Many thanks again to @Ocatarinetabellatchitchixfor his time and effort that was required to create the competition, and for his generosity in giving away coins as a prize. I will particularly treasure the Licinius, as it was a very blatant gap in my exclusively Roman Imperial collection that has been filled by the kindness of a fellow collector and a great story. I am still rather in awe at the whole process and was incredibly delighted to hold the coins in hand, completing the last chapter of a wonderful tale!

Why the long face Gallus? Bought this for the nice reverse detail. £21 on eBay.

I don't disagree with anything you've said, it is all true. However, I just don't think it's very interesting compared to other emperors. Lusting after young boys and enjoying a drink isn't all that compelling to me when discussing an Emperor of Rome. I do agree with the Persian expedition being grossly overrated and alluded to the fact that poor Hadrian had to sort it out and Hadrian's reputation suffered because of it. The succession crisis created by Trajan probably produced one of my favourite coins, the Hadrian "ADOPTIO" issue that sheds light on the fact that the succession wasn't very clear initially. I also agree that Trajan was fiscally irresponsible with the treasure he acquired from the conquered Dacians. However this cannot be said to be to the detriment of Trajan, because conquest had always powered the Roman economy, and big spending often followed. So much so that whenever an emperor leaves behind a healthy treasury, such as Tiberius or Antoninus Pius, it is made special note of in the sources. Thankfully, whatever the state of the finances upon Trajan's death, Hadrian had enough spare to fortify the empire and forgive taxes. All in all, Trajan's story lacks a bit of spark and uniqueness for me compared to other emperors, and as someone who loves coins with a historio-political implication, I find it difficult to be interested in him. This is not to say that his coins aren't beautiful or stylistic. As for the biography, I unfortunately cannot read German. My "nerd" comment was not that Trajan was a nerd. But that he's quite famous so it's not as cool to be knowledgeable about him. 🙂

The problem with Trajan for me is that his reign was so smooth. He had an excellent starting situation, inheriting the Flavian Empire that was economically strong and administratively sound. He was selected with the backing of all the major power blocs in society. He didn't face any significant incursions from enemies during his reign and had freedom to execute the Dacian plan that Domitian had laid the groundwork for. He wasn't a victim of any controversies, he had no particular policies that betrayed any strong personality traits (beyond perhaps his Liberality and Justice), he had no relationships that were fascinating such as Hadrian and Antinious or Constantine and Crispus. He died of natural causes, just as things in Parthia were getting out of control, and a great emperor in Hadrian succeeded him. Unfortunately for Hadrian, he inherited the controversy of managing the Parthian situation. Trajan's reign being stable means it also lacks political events that find their way into coinage, nor does there seem many mysteries to unpack or a reform of the coinage itself. Furthermore I can't think of a situation in Trajanic coinage where a coin serves as significant historical evidence for something or another. Perhaps I am wrong and someone can provide some examples beyond "I built this" or "I won a war". It's hard to find a person and their reign like that fascinating, and I suspect that's the reason that, despite the excellent historical and aesthetic quality of his coinage, he doesn't have many specialists. Trajan is also very popular, so you don't get many nerd points for obsessing over him haha

I was surprised when you stated the price as my purchases of Late Antoniniani are much cheaper. However, when I saw the condition I was astonished and realised you got great prices. I think you might be ahead of the curve here and these pristine coins from less popular eras are perhaps undervalued. For comparison, here's my 14$ eBay Numerian, in much worse condition whose authenticity I only briefly researched.

So do I. Even though I am not a fan of the "Byzantine" distinction, I always intuitively view Heraclius' reign as when the Roman Empire had changed enough to somewhat justify being called something else. In terms of coins, Phokas Solidii are almost always the cheapest. Is this simply due to his unpopularity as a ruler? Did he mint a lot of solidii? Are his solidii particularly uninteresting? Were a lot of them buried in hoards due to the chaos around that time?

Thank you very much @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix I was quite fortunate that this quiz fell right into my narrow area of expertise - Imperial Rome until 395 AD. I am further fortunate that I haven't managed to own a coin of Licinius I yet, and was debating exactly what my target was going to be, that question is now resolved and I'll have a lovely story associated with my example.

I've thrown my hat in again, I'm a bit more confident for this one!

As someone currently on a tight budget, I am terrified to bid on anything that isn't from an auction house in my home country of the UK. There seems to be no end to the problems and costs that can arise nowadays. I appreciate the warnings about certain auction houses too. The last thing I want is unpleasant surprises.

The issue for me is that I can't really do it in good faith. There's absolutely no guarantees. A reliable eBay seller can have a few fakes sprinkled in accidentally, or suddenly switch to selling fakes after building a good reputation, or may suddenly take to price gouging. The problem is there is absolutely no guaranteed protection for the buyer and it would be partly my fault as I declared the seller safe. I would happily recommend certain eBay sellers to an acquaintance who I can trust possesses adequate discernment, and I would happily give my opinion on certain coins in particular. However, I would not feel comfortable recommending a new collector any seller from eBay excluding those who are the eBay stores of those who also are present on vcoins/ma-shops or are a member of numismatic organisation. One that fits the above criteria in the UK is: denant (Den of Antiquity on vcoins)

I was very impressed with the way that this forum handled a disagreement I had with another user. It did end up quite vitriolic at points. However, the posts on both sides were allowed to stand, and the issue was smoothed over privately. Free communication and exchange of ideas is something very important to me. I think we must tread carefully when calling for our speech to be moderated. There's scarcely a community online that has been improved by heavy handed moderation, yet I have seen the inverse result many times. Of course, there are things that every "good and rational" person would deplore as unacceptable. Consequently there are certainly times where moderation is appropriate. The previous incident at the previous forum was one such example. With that said, I don't believe the posts being referred to fall into that domain. The fact that the user base appears to disagree and each view point has "good and rational" supporters, is a testament to that fact. I think moderation being unnecessary is made most clear by the posts' opponents not being able to clearly define and communicate an argument as to why the post is actually bad, and why censorship of some kind is needed. I don't believe vague appeals to decency merit an official response by the moderator(s). I believe members should be free to not participate in threads they don't like, ignore users whose posts the don't like and even attempt to persuade people people of their point of view regarding the issue, in order to tackle the issue in a social manner. Going further and mandating official moderation on crude humour would be a massive overstep and to the detriment of this forum. There are no limits to what can make people feel offended, uneasy, uncomfortable, icky etc. and it's important to demarcate these feelings from genuine hate, evil or degredation. If low-level concerns are given merit, I fear a descent into eventual over-policing that will strip the life and personality out of the forum. I hope the liberal style of moderating I've seen so far continues. Perhaps some folks haven't been in as many hobby-based internet forums as I have (particularly 5+ years ago when the internet was more libertarian), but I can assure everyone that Numisforums currently has a standard of conduct that I would consider near perfect and does not require intervention.

I don't really fear a coin market crash for the types of coins most of us here buy. Our coins are special to us and generally aren't bought as a store of value. If the market dips, I doubt that hobbyists will flood the market with coins hoping to avoid further unrealised losses. We are happy to keep them forever regardless of their value because they bring us joy. As a result of this joy, we would be devastated letting them go for a pittance in a crashing market. Furthermore, when we buy them we are aware that they are probably not the best asset for investment. Coins are not like stocks or precious metals where they only exists as an economic tool whose depreciation brings us stress. We are aware that as soon as we buy a coin we will be lucky to break even upon selling. I always use this analogy but it is fitting. I have gym equipment in my house because I love exercising. Yes it could be sold for some money, but I bought it for the continuous joy that it brings and didn't have finances in mind. It wouldn't be worth selling it for a small amount in a crashing market when compared with the joy it brings me. My coins would only be sold if I was in dire straits and it would be done with much sadness. I am in a different situation than most in that I am a full time student so have less wiggle room. However, a lot of coin hobbyists appear to be middle aged or above and financially comfortable. This means that (thankfully) it is not a demographic where the majority will be forced to sell off large parts of their assets in order to simply make ends meet. Alternatively, the investors who bought up large amounts of expensive slabbed coins may be in trouble. Those coins have been bought as a store of value, and when times get tough they made need to engage in huge sell offs to minimize unrealised losses in order to acquire as much liquid cash as possible. As a result, I could see this bubble bursting.

I find it fascinating that Magnentius Gloria Romanorum coinage reverses the fallen horseman motif and a horseman riding down a foot soldier. I don't have one of those coins but would love to see what you guys have! It seems a deliberate jab at Constantius and may be a response to the Anti-Magnentian fallen horseman that @Curtis JJ elaborated on?

I was wrong on question 9! 14/15. Fun quiz @Ocatarinetabellatchitchixid love to see more events like this even without the allure of prizes! Congratulations @wittwolff