thejewk

Excuse the horrendous mess of wires, but here's my battle station where the music and coining happens, which I'm locating to a different room in the new year so I have a bit more room to move.

I make electronic music and I play medieval and baroque music on the recorder family of instruments. Electronic music is my focus of recent years, although that doesn't fit with the low cost criteria, as I have spent a considerable amount of money to get a setup with which I can be quick and comfortable. I read a lot too, usually some history and fiction at the same time. Over the last few years I have read quite a lot of what tends to be classified as 'Weird fiction', authors like Thomas Ligotti, Jeff Vandermeer, HP Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell, etc.

My goodness, someone got an absolute steal there. Do you still have coins from the hoard, or are they all dispersed now, other than the ones you have decided to keep?

Thanks! Some nice looking pieces there, but unfortunately I'm overspent at the moment, thanks to that small group lot I purchased last week. It does contain an interesting rarity though, and for £6.50 a coin I couldn't say no. Will share more when they arrive. I did receive the Wolkow reference for 'du Bestiaire' yesterday: https://bnumis.com/boutique/775-catalogue-des-monnaies-romaines-gallien-lemission-dite-du-bestiaire-edition-2019.html It's an excellent little book, and I will be grabbing the others in the same series shortly.

Yes, sorry, I wasn't clear at all was I! I'd actually like to collect more than just the 'Zoo' series for Gallienus, but first and foremost I'll be going for those. I actually want to expand out to animal and mythical creatures in ancient coinage more generally as well, but this series is so interesting and attractive in its own weird way that I haven't been able to help myself once I pressed the buy button on the first one. When I collect any period of coinage, it has to be very affordable due to my limited budget, and Gallienus combines a fascinating historical period with an abundant and relatively low cost set of options.

RIC 181 (awaiting Wolkow's book for a proper attribution) GALLIENVS AVG DIANAE CONS AVG - XII 3.63g, 21mm No sestertius, but this coin just arrived today as the first in a new sub-collection, and I ordered 3 more this morning in a bargain group lot along with Cedric Wolkow's little reference book.

Rarity 88 Seems like a bargain.

Lovely examples too, these often show up with rather rough surfaces. I really the the combination of artistry and the variety of types in the * PLN issues. After the first reduction in weight of the coinage it's my favourite period from the London mint.

On Windows 11 you can press Shift + Windows key + s to open up the screen grab tool. Then you can just draw a box around what you want to capture and it will automatically save the image into a folder called 'Screenshots' inside your 'Pictures' directory. I use it often.

Almost.

It almost reminds me of a 1970s cabinet which would open up at the top to reveal a turntable, with speakers behind the cupboard doors! Either way, it's a lovely design and a handsome coin.

I started out collecting coins of the Nerva-Antonines, at first because I wanted a denarius of Marcus Aurelius due to my interest in Stoicism and ancient philosophy generally, and that naturally expanded out to the 'five good' set. I still have that small collection, and love it, but I haven't added anything to it in a long time. I would very much like to return to a small area for further collection, possibly denarii of Antoninus Pius with a Cos IIII reverse legend. Then after about a year of collecting I became aware of the existence of the Roman mints in Britannia, and that led me to start reading more closely about the history of the Tetrarchy and the period leading to the sole reign of Constantine. I started grabbing any coins from the London mint that I could get my hands on, and made some good and not so good choices. LMCC 3.01.031 / RIC 34 - Galerius as Caesar at London 10.73g, 27mm, 303-305 AD Ex Dr. J. S. Vogelaar collection It soon became clear to me that I particularly loved the large unreduced post reform nummi that Diocletian introduced. However, by focusing in on London, I was missing the interest of many variations minted across the entire empire. As a result I have spent the last few years assembling a set of one unreduced nummi from each mint at which they were produced for a member of the First Tetrarchy, with a sideline pursuit of any other unreduced nummi for the later 'Tetrarchies'. I am now missing Siscia, Ticinum and Serdica for a full set which will inevitably happen within the next year or so. Here are a couple of recent additions: RIC 214A - Constantius as Caesar, H under bust, Trier 9.32g, 26mm, 303-305 AD Ex Rauceby Hoard, plate coin for BM catalogue RIC 27A - Diocletian, Nicomedia 9.95g, 27mm, 294-295 AD Ex Naville Numismatics I now find myself a little bit in the waiting room for the right coins to turn up, and for my budget to fill enough to purchase the right coins. That said I have just yesterday made a purchase in what I intend to be two new collecting focuses; the coins of Gallienus, and coins from any era that qualifies as 'ancient' depicting animals, both real and mythological. For Gallienus, it seems like a rather enjoyable set of types that I can work on slowly over time, if I specify a 'type' as being, for example, one coin showing a personification of Fortuna, without pursuing legend varieties, with many of them being very affordable. For the animals category, I see it as a way to explore a lot of different historical periods about which I know nothing, and cultures about which I know even less. Plus, who doesn't want a pig, stork, boar, gazelle and crab in their trays?

His face is a real picture.

This is possibly the grottiest coin in my trays, and I have it there with no regrets. NOT IN RIC / G Askew 433 / Ashmolean HCR4082 IMP C MAXIMIANVS PF AVG COMES AVGGG S/P/MLXXI 3.03G 21MM 289-293 AD Understandably it was dirt cheap, but a close look made me realise that this is a coin of Maximian from the London mint of Carausius, and as far as I can tell it's the second known of its type. GK Askew's book lists it and refers to the Ashmolean, the coin found here: https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-394875 The coin in the link was donated by the archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who I believe also was the curator at the Ashmolean for a significant period of time. I have looked on and off since purchasing it in 2021, and I've not found another example.

I think you're absolutely right.