Steppenfool

Or C*nt the Great as I jovially and affectionally know him as. 😂

I did pay a premium (£140) for a beat up (Fine) IVDAEA denarius. However I think that the Fall of Jerusalem was such a significant historical/theological/cultural event that it was worth it. I've heard that coin described as over-rated before and I politely disagree now as much as I did then!

Another random thing others have probably noticed. N&N London doesn't sort their coins by date, making perusing their auctions quite painful.

Rather than start a thread on this spicy issue, I'm wondering if any of you have opinions on over-rated coins. There's the classics like the Tiberius Tribute Penny (due to their being know way of knowing if the story in the Bible is a historical fact, or if it was, if this was the coin used), but I'm wondering if you have any other examples that may prove less popular? For me it's the Antoninus and Aurelius double head coins. I am a huge fan of the formulaic Portait + Reverse Design motif that Imperial Roman coinage utilised from Augustus onward. I think the two heads is unfortunate when a cool reverse design could have been employed to represent the adoption of Marcus and his promotion to Caesar. None of the heads are particularly unique either, as ordinary coins of Marcus as Caesar were also produced.

Very dignified and humble response. 280 CHF does still seem a bit high given the change of rarity, it's not that nice in my opinion. We shall see, however.

Enjoyable read and beautiful coins of Aeneas carrying his father. As an aside (although the Fall of Troy doesn't occur in this work), the Iliad is amazingly readable and has aged incredibly. I read the Lattimore which attempts to resemble the poetic feel of the Ancient Greek as opposed to a prose translation. I read a Penguin edition of the Aeneid and I thought it was much weaker. I enjoyed the first half with the evacuation and meeting Dido but I think it falls off when Aeneas gets to Italy. Perhaps the prose translation I read wasn't so good though.

I'm of the opinion that the appearance of higher reliefs and the hiding of flaws that that this process was initially beneficial to the seller when dealing with those who weren't aware of the process. However, so much awareness has spread of it that people now view it properly and see it for the tacky look that it is. I think it's surely got to be doing more harm than good for business at this point. I can only speculate but there was chaos and upheavel for a good few years pre-Heraclius. Perhaps everyone who was worried about their fortune had already buried it by the time Heraclius came to power. 😂

£41 from CDMA, July 2021 ____________________________ £41 from Kornblum - May 2021 £35 from Monetarium, April 2022.

£35 from London Ancient Coins March 2021 ______________________________________________________________ £35 Pashiz Coins January 2021

Here is my only Gordian III. @Severus Alexander I think getting an Antioch one would be a good idea too. Particularly to show the transition to more manly facial features. It's interesting how Gordian outgrows his button nose by the time he's heading East!

I believe you've solved my predicament that opened this thread. Thank you! Great coin. I had no idea it existed.

That's a very intersting facet of Gordian coinage I wasn't aware of. I am very interested in the death of Gordian III and plan to make a video about it eventually. How do I know an Antoninianus is from Antioch?

I also only have one coin of Gordian III, but that's true for most rulers for me. However, unlike the other rulers, I have absolutely no intention of adding any more. His reverses are so boring (someone standing/sitting) and lack historical import. Constantine is my most numerous Emperor, I think I'm at 15 or so coins of Constantine. However, my fascination with Roman history began with Constantine's reign, and it's still one of my favourite periods of history to study. Furthermore, Constantine's religious journey reflected by his coinage is one of the most fascinating collections available to me.

Does anyone know why this coin is so expensive? It's the same price on Diller's own site too. Everything else is reasonably priced. 680 EUR https://www.ma-shops.co.uk/diller/item.php?id=221104001

No problem changing the subject, that's the idea of the thread! There will no doubt be a number of casual conversations occuring at one time that people can dive in and out of. Interesting article. Hopefully the dating provides some clues. Perhaps a fleeing member of the Pompeian faction? I couldn't make out of any the issues in the pictures to provide a terminus post quem.

Constantine and his family is actually where I started haha so I've already ripped through that more budget friendly area. @Hughie Dwyer BD usually is much more striking in colour than that (lighter and more brilliant), and more powdery, and should flake off with a light scrape. As well as these more formal diagnostic tools, I often speculate there's an element of instinct that humans have in recognising problematic decay/corrosion. Bronze disease seems to set off those "something's wrong" alarm bells as it looks rather odd on the surface of a coin, whereas your coin doesn't produce such a reaction. I have a fair few coins with random green encrusted blobs like that that have remained stable for a couple of years now.

Perhaps I am being too narrow as some users suggested! I do stick to Imperial Rome between Vespasian and Julian II and have only ventured out of this area one time for an Imperational of Pansa. Coins for me are all about the history, and the period outlined above is the period I am most interested in, and hence most knowledgeable about. I think I would get much less enjoyment from a coin whose historical basis I would be less familiar. Perhaps I need to devote more study to a different period and the coins will begin to jump out at me too. I do attend auctions, but am often the underbidder on every single one of my targets. Perhaps I am just unlucky. 😂

The main reason I created this thread was that I really needed to vent about the current pricing situation. Like any good addiction, I've reached the point in coin collecting where I need a regular fix. I am feeling this urge kick in right about now, esepcially due to only having one coin to my name in 2023 so far. Usually when this happens I'd set aside a small sum and treat myself to something nice. When I first started collecting a couple of years ago it was about £50 I'd need to get myself something halfway interesting in passable condition. Nowadays vcoins/MAShops prices have climbed so much that a £100 war chest doesn't seem to throw up anything worth buying. Anyone find themselves in a similar situation?

Most online forums I've experienced have one of these. Ever had something to say about coins, but don't feel it's worth taking up a slot on the front page, and there's no relevant existing thread to piggyback. Here's the place to say it. Delete if people think this is inappropriate, but I hope people will find it useful.

I recently calculated the total cost of my collection. That piece of equipment would be equal to about 1/3 of it. 😂 That'll be a no from me, then.

Unfortunately, us Scots have parsimony ingrained into our DNA. Consquently I think I have more coin regrets than actual coins. After being the under-bidder on four Commodus as Hercules coins recently, I went through Den of Antiquity's "sold" coins to find the one I passed on. I'm a giant idiot and didn't register that I would save on Customs Fees since they are a UK dealer. This would have been £160 well spent, it even has the more interesting reverse. I posted about it here at the time after it sold within an hour of posting. i was comfortable in my decision at the time. It hurts now though.

The best Nerva reverse out there in my opinion. here's mine: I actually give Nerva almost zero credit for the adoption of Trajan. I think the idea that an emperor who gets kidnapped and extorted by the Praetorian guard and forced to make concessions had much of an independent say is quite strange. The choice of Trajan completely betrays this. Trajan was actually the one who put down a previous revolt against Domitian by the Rhine legions under Saturninus, and was extremely influential in the pro-Domitianic military. Nerva's lack of control is epitomosed by the famous quote found in Dio: When, now, no little commotion was occasioned by the fact that everybody was accusing everybody else, Fronto, the consul, is said to have remarked that it was bad to have an emperor under whom nobody was permitted to do anything, but worse to have one under whom everybody was permitted to do everything Nerva (in my opinion) was almost certainly aware of the plot to assasinate Domitian. I think the speed of his accension following the killing points to a stage managed sequence of events by the senatorial order. I think Nerva's legacy largely depends on how you view Domitian. If you think Domitian was a bad emperor whose extermination benefitted the Empire, then you probably rate Nerva as an essential instrument to a brighter future, as his role in this sequence of events is about the only thing he can take credit for. If (like myself) you are skeptical of this claim, and view Domitian's assasination as the machinations of a self-interested Senate, then Nerva's reign appears much more neutral, and the large positivity with which his reign is viewed is largely a result of Trajan being successful, rather than anything Nerva himself did. Nerva can hardly be said to have "scouted" Trajan's talent either, as he was already invested with a lot of power under Domitian and had the role of consul in 91 CE.

Love the Minerva issues. Domitian's Minerva coinage issues must have been the closest Roman's came to a consistent reverse motif over a long period of time like we moderns sometimes have.

Being from Scotland myself, it's quite odd that he's not really in the public consciouness at all. Everyone knows Antoninus of course (although I think people believe his name was literally Antonine), but Severus actually showed up for his mission unlike Antoninus, and launched a much more brutal and punative campaign. A lesson in history I suppose: a very long heap of dirt will do more for your legacy than mass killing and destruction. I would have liked it if we had become more Romanized, purely so we could have more Roman sites to visit and explore. Nice coin! The bridge outline is still clearly visible.

The fabric of the obverse looks really damn weird as well.