Julius Germanicus

Awsome coin and writeup! I feel being inspired by your research and the historic pictures to build a Lego model of the Curia for my series of miniatures of ancient monuments 🙂.

My last Nero is almost as well-fed as Octavius´: NERO CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P - Laureate head to left DECVRSIO S C - Nero on horse galloping to right, holding spear, accompanied by soldier riding to right behind with vexillum over shoulder Sestertius, Rome mint 64 A.D. 35mm / 25.64g / 6h RIC I 171; BMCRE 145 (same dies), Cohen 84, Cayon 106

Congratulations to a nice specimen of what I find is the most interesting of ALL 5th century Emperors! And thank you for the great writeup also!!!

Here is my Julia Titi, featuring the Vesta reverse (it is for sale on German eBay including Sear certificate if you are interested) IVLIA IMP T AVG F AVGVSTA - Draped bust right with hair bundled high in front and coiled in chignon high in back / VESTA S C - Vesta seated left, holding palladium in right hand and scepter in left arm Dupondius, Rome 80-81 AD 28,10 mm / 14,58 gr / 6 h RIC 398, BMCRE (Titus) 257, Cohen 18, Sear 2617

After receiving my revenue von Leu today I noticed that a couple of my Sestertii have been bought by resellers and are on offer on V-Coins and MA-Shops now 🤔. Is this a regular practice? My ex-Manlia Scantilla is now advertised for 1.100 Euros, about three times the 380 Swiss Francs that it was auctioned for 🥵. My Herennius Etruscus was actually bought by Tom Vossen, the seller from whom I had originally purchased it from back in 2016. I still think it is one of the finest of it´s kind style-wise and he may have remembered it 😏. Finding your former coins at new homes online is like meeting old friends. I wonder where my Macrinus is at now and am happy that Postumus, my second best entry, ended up with a forum colleague (and hopefully Commodus and Crispina, too).

Dear Donna, I received news from Leu yesterday that they still hope the Sestertii will eventually arrive with you. I keep my fingers crossed. Would be such a shame!

Here is my (now sold) Sestertius with the rare Fecunditas revere instead of the usual Pudicitia: HERENNIA ETRVSCILLA AVG - Diademed, draped bust right, hair ridged in waves, seen three quarters from the front, wearing stephaneFECVNDITAS AVG S C – Fecunditas, wearing long dress and cloak, standing left, holding cornucopia in left hand and placing right hand over child standing in front of her and raising both it´s hands.Sestertius, Rome (6th officina) early 251 a.D. (fifth emission of Trajan Decius)31 mm / 17,55 grRIC 134a (R), Cohen 9, Banti 3, Sear 9504

I am glad (and hope it is a good omen for the other two still on the way to Donna) that my Postumus made it to his new home already 😊. I hope you like it as much as I did!

Oh no!!! I pray Commodus and Crispina will arrive with you soon. One of the reasons I lost the fun in coin collecting and decided to sell most of my collection was that a tracked package including four of my Sestertii were stolen (presumably by a USPS employee) within a US Post Office on the way from the scanning machine to David Sear‘s PO Box a year ago. The last coin I ever bought (a Nero Triumphal Arch Sestertius) was marked as delivered to my mailbox by DPD but never arrived. That was the final straw. Two more coins that I bought and one that I sold were were also lost in/by the mail. Out of about 200 coins that I ever bought or sent around for certification, eight were lost in the mail. That is an alarming 4 %. I am glad that I handed in my coins to Leu in person and can only say the best about the treatment by Mr. Gunzenreiner and his team.

David Sear identified the Woodward die numbers of my Sestertii of the Family of Didius Julianus for me ☺️ Didius Julianus - obverse die 16 / reverse die F: Manlia Scantilla - obverse die 1 / reverse die G: Didia Clara - obverse die 1 / reverse die O:

My Sestertius version of the OP coin went to a new home at the latest Leu auction: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG - Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Philip II right, seen from behind LIBERALITAS AVGG III - Philip II and Philip I, wearing togas, seated left on curule chairs; each extending right hands; Philip I also holding scepter in his left hand; SC in exergue. Sestertius, Rome 249 (11. emission) 17,25 gr / 29 mm RIC 267a, Cohen 18, Sear 9279, Banti 1 (66 specimens)

No Sestertii yet? So here are mine :-D:

That would mean that we represent a mere 0,4 % of the mid price coin buying community 😅. I guess the 20 coins that I consigned were unlucky because they got lost among the 7.225 others AND were timed near the end (after all those Hadrians) so many potential bidders had run out of hobby money by then. After all I got back in Swiss Francs what I had invested in Euros, so minus commission and inflation I did not break even, but then it is a hobby and not an investment 🤗

Congratulations and thank you very much ! Your Sear certificate is on it's way via PM. Have you browsed the catalogue of Michel Thys´ incredible collection of the Gallic Empire that this coin was part of?

Congratulations and thank you very much for giving my lovely couple a new home together, Donna! The Commodus is indeed rare. I would go so far to say that this is the finest of the five published specimens (none at Wildwinds, OCRE or CNG Archive; Banti and BMCRE list the same specimen in the BM and illustrate the reverse only). The other four coins are all from the same other reverse die. David Sear confirmed in our private correspondence that "Your reverse die is certainly superior to the other. It has a more substantial figure of Concordia Militum and the standards are depicted in greater detail." Concerning the cut he wrote: "“damnatio memoriae” is certainly a tempting interpretation of the cut across the neck."

Then maybe my Macrinus Sestertius would be something for you - it is on sale in the current Leu Numismatics Auction (ending on Tuesday!) and has a great pedigree, too 😎:

Last chance to show my beloved Maximinus Thrax VICTORIA GERMANICA Sestertius and those of his wive Diva Paulina and his son Maximus Caesar before parting with them at Leu Numismatics Auction 26 on Tuesday 😞:

They are clearly two different people, as can be seen on my Sestertii: But many auction houses (including CNG) have attributed their Sestertii to the wrong guy seemingly only considering the (worn away) hairline as a criterium, whereas in my oppinion the mouth is the best indicator. An hundred years ago people seem to have identified the bald man as the older one, evident in the fact that my Gordian II was sold as Gordian I in 1913.

The only way to discern them on worn coins (with not much of a hairline left even on portraits of the elder Gordian) is that Gordian I displays a slightly protruding upper lip while Gordian II shows a protruding lower lip.

Hi Donna, yes, that is me 🙋‍♂️. Shipping to the US via DHL would be 10,99 without tracking and insurance or 47,99 Euros including tracking and insurance up to 500 Euros.

No, that is a brilliant idea and totally fine with me 😎. So you can see the mid-price stuff as well - Agrippa and Antonia can be had for a bargain 12.50 Euros each at the moment 🫣

After consigning the first part of my core collection to Leu Numismatics, I am now offering a second batch of very nice and/or rare Sestertii via German eBay, ending next Sunday, June 25, around 8 pm Central European time. What doesn't sell there, will eventually also go to an auction house. So here is a chance for you to come first and save some fees 🙂. This is not the stuff you usually find on eBay (and not on Vcoins and MA-Shops, for that matter - at least usually not for less than twice the price asked for here), but bid with confidence: all Sestertii come with detailed certificates of authenticity by David R. Sear, are from my own collection assembled over the past decade, and my rating as an eBay seller has been no less than 100,00 % positive ever since I joined in 1999! If you are interested in anything but live outside of the European Union please let me know so we could arrange overseas shipping. Pertinax Sestertius: Didius Julianus Sestertius: Diadumenianus Sestertius: Nerva Sestertius with 1926 pedigree (according to an estimate by Numismatics Ars Classica, this coin is more valuable than even the Pertinax, so the current bid of 999 Euros might be a bargain!): Nero Sestertius: Galba Sestertius: Otacilia Severa Hippo Sestertius: Agrippina Senior Sestertius (current high bid is 680 Euros): Unlisted RRR Vitellius Sestertius: RRR Plotina Sestertius:

Thank you for the undeserved accolades ☺️. Every end is a new beginning and I am in the process of creating a hard cover catalogue book of my Sestertius collection für myself (including the writeups I did for most coins back in the Cointalk days and those by David Sear in his certificates plus maybe biographies and some die studies where appropriate) to remember and cherish my brassy friends for the decades to come...

Dear friends of the Roman Bronze Coinage, as some of you might know, I have decided to part with (most of) my collection of Sestertii after reaching my goal of completing the Imperial Portrait Gallery. Sigh... The first batch (20 coins) will be sold at Leu´s forthcoming Web Auction on July 11. I travelled from Hamburg to Munich to deliver the goods to the nice Mr. Gunzenreiner and his team in person, but should have chosen any other means of transportation than an overnight bus which is something you do not want to experience if you are over 30 years old to 2 meters tall. A sleepless night in any case... So here is the offer: If anyone of you should win one of the following coins, please send me a private message and I will gladly mail you a copy of the respective detailed illustrated certificate of authenticity by the great David R. Sear, who has inspected these coins and has been a trusted and helpful advisor to me for the past decade. Each includes an exact description of the individual coin and comprehensive information on the historical background to the issue and the precise significance of the particular variety. Macrinus, lot 4586: Maximinus Thrax, lot 4636: Paulina, lot 4639: Maximus, lot 4646: Pupienus, lot 4656: Postumus, lot 4770: Manlia Scantilla, lot 4537: Herennius Etruscus, lot 4737: Elagabalus, lot 4598: Crispina, lot 4530: Septimius Severus, lot 4548: Commodus, lot 4520: Julia Mammaea, lot 4623: Philipp II, lot 4723: Otho, lot 2417: Didia Clara, lot 4538: If you have any questions (or are missing a Sestertius of any specific rare Emperor for your collection), feel free to ask, as I am preparing the next batch for sale now. But I will choose an easier option than to spend a night in a bus this time 🙂 Greetings from sunny Germany, J.G.

If anybody needs quality Sestertii of the rarer Emperors of 238: My Gordian I, Gordian II, Maximinus´ Victoria Germanica, Maximus, Paulina, and Pupienus will (among other highlights from the Julius Germanicus Collection) go on sale in the next Leu auction in July.