Dafydd

Here are some Victory reverses of mine.

Pupienus, 22nd April # 29th July 238. Sestertius April-June 238, Æ 29mm., 18.91g. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Victory standing facing, head l., holding wreath and palm branch. C 38. RIC 23a.

Severus Alexander AE Sestertius. IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG, laureate bust right with slight drapery on left shoulder / VICTORIA AVGVSTI S-C, Victory standing right inscribing VOT X on sheild attached to palm tree. Cohen 642.

And a Cato Quinarius to finish in the spirit of the OP.

Here is my Owl and I am very happy with it, my only Greek coin.

This is a great feature @Restitutor, thank you!

Better than good for me as I sold a coin on Ebay recently and cannot get paid because they want me to update my banking details to match my Ebay account but my banking title only features the initials of my forenames on the account but my full forename was the name I registered on Ebay 24 years ago. So I have nearly $200 frozen in Ebay as I cannot get past the fact they cannot confirm who I am despite the fact that I have been with them for 24 years. The next coin I sell will be in "The Cabinet". What a good name too. 

I guess that you are a Bowie fan @Ryro ! It is unbelievable to think that Ziggy Stardust was released 50 years ago next week. Where did my life go?

I am glad that there is not to be a focus on US coins as they were a diversion to me at "the other place" as I would see new posts open them and then learn that they were about coins that did not interest me. The accessibility of this site is far better particularly because the Ancients are split into groups. 

Sometimes you feel like browsing RR's and other days Imperials.....

NERO FACING RIGHT
VESTA
Temple of Vesta .
Celebrating Nero's rebuilding of the temple of Vesta in 65 AD

I once travelled to an African country and was told to wear a cheap watch because my watch might be "taxed"on entry.

When you have a customs officer with a machine gun saying that your $20 watch has a tax of $200 you simply surrender it.......

As @kirispupis said, things are done differently in some countries. I have had my moments with the TSA on a couple of occasions and wondered which country I was visiting and I broke no laws or acted out of place. 

3 minutes ago, kirispupis said:

What I find interesting is that a German tourist was acquitted of the same charges. I suspect there's more to the story that we're not hearing.

I heard an interview with the man's son and he said that the tour was accompanied by an official from the ministry of antiquities and he was the individual who was asked if permission would be granted to take the shards. He said it was OK and the pieces were packed in open view and not hidden as the  arrested man thought, given the site, which was apparently a dumping ground , these items were of no significance and their removal was, in his opinion , authorised by the status of the person he sought permission from.

There is anti British and American resentment in Iraq following the Gulf War and that would have been a deciding factor to win central government "brownie points" by arresting a British citizen. Now I cannot condone in any way what he did and hindsight being the only precise science, he probably thinks it was wrong also and a dumb thing to do as effectively that sentence in the Middle East for someone his age is a death sentence.

I am not too precious about this and feel sorry for him and this is a "casting the first stone" scenario. We are all sitting comfortably in our homes and offices admiring our treasures but how many were looted and in fact we are not blameless ourselves. I put my ownership down to curating for the next thousand years because quite possibly if we didn't have these artefacts they would have been melted down and the history lost for ever. Make no mistake the average provincial museum has little interest in showing thousands of denarii and it has been collectors in many fields that have preserved the history of many artefacts. I cannot honestly say that I have clean hands myself because if I want to bid on the one Fleet Denarius I want, I am not going to question a  provenance stating  "property of an old collector" and demand a forensic timeline for the item. It is great to have good provenance but the majority of my coins have provenance starting with the auction house I bought from.

This is a complex subject with many opinions, none of them probably inherently at fault with logic. Probably the best scheme in the world is the British PAS scheme  that circumnavigates irresponsible looting.

See https://www.britishmuseum.org/our-work/national/treasure-and-portable-antiquities-scheme  In this situation it is not illegal to find something as long as you have permission to be where you find it but it makes it illegal if certain artefacts are not brought into the public domain where their location is recorded and the items properly identified. Market value is then given to the owner of the land and finder if the artefacts are not significant to be exhibited in a museum. If the items are significant the finder is still compensated. My hypothesis is that if the man arrested had paid $100 for a "license" this could have been used by the ministry of antiquities to preserve and police more important artefacts.  No crime, no time and a source of legitimate revenue.

I know there have been several threads in "the other place" on this subject and only mention this in case anyone has not seen them.

So my long winded answer to @kirispupis is yes, there is more than meets the eye here, the arrested person is being used as a political pawn to satisfy  an appetite for revenge for the invasion of their country. It happened to a tourist in Iran accused of spying and that was down to the British Government owing the Iranian Government money. I won't be visiting Iraq or Iran anytime soon for my vacations!

Augustus AE sestertius C GALLIVS C F LVPERCVS III VIR AAA FF, Rome 16BC, RIC 377

material: AE
max.diameter: 34mm
weight: 22.9g
reference: RIC 377, RCV 1646

Bust of Feronia f right. Parthian kneeling presenting Roman Standard.

In commemoration of Augustus' diplomatic triumph in securing the restoration of the Legionary Standards captured from Crassus and Antony in their Parthian campaigns of 53 and 36 bc.

Augustus Ar. denarius, AVGVSTVS DIVI F, bare hd. r., rev., the Actian Apollo stg. l., holding plectrum and lyre, IMP X across fields, ACT in ex., Lugdunum mint (Sear, 1611; RIC 171a; Seaby 144).

ACTIUM VICTORY
RSC 1442

I don't have a double die match that I know about but I have a couple of duplicate coins as a result of job lots but the most irritating duplicate I have  is one that hasn't arrived yet.  I won the coin at the London Coin Ltd Auction that ended on the past weekend.  I had convinced myself that I did not have this Marc Antony denarius (Legate XIII) and put in a decent bid hoping to secure it. I have a number of fleet denarii as I have been building my fleet for some years inspired by @Bing  with his OP's and threads about these  in the "other place". 

After placing the bid the day before the auction I was checking my coins against some sites such as CoinArchives and guess what? I have one I took in a trade some years ago. I then found my original lousy photographs as well that I hadn't titled at the time.

This is my original coin.

And this is the one that is on the way.....

Denarius Marc Antony (c.32-31BC) Obverse: Praetorian Galley right ANT AVG III VIR R P C, Reverse: Legionary eagle between two standards LEG XIII , RSC 42, 3.35 gm.

I didn't think it proper to try and cancel the bid because of my dim wit and stupidity so I let it stand and prayed it would hammer at less than my maximum bid. It did thankfully and under estimate.  It is a better coin than my original but I didn't bid for the condition I was chasing the fleet number. I suppose it could have been worse and could have been more worn than the original coin but I struck lucky. It cost me significantly less than the fourree XIII sold in the Roma auction in February so I guess no one was really after this other than myself. Of interest, I noticed in my searches  that more  of these  Legion XIII  denarii appear to have bankers marks than several  of other Legions. I wonder if this Legion had a reputation for distrust or there were significant numbers of fourrees to this Legion and merchants distrusted them? 

Another explanation is that they were posted at a later date in areas that had not seen them before.

I'll take better care in future on how I bid. 

Nice coins. Here is one of mine that I like because of the golden hue.

Helmeted head of Roma facing rght. X (XVI monogram) below chin, modius behind. Victory in biga right, M.MAR  ( MAR in monogram)/ROMA divided by two corn ears below. 3.89 gm 19 mm Ex-Michael Trenerry. 

Interesting that a modius was the standard measure used for corn and wheat.

That's a great OP @filolif and thank you for presenting such a good idea. Of course to an extent, what you expect from photography is subjective and we all see different things. I have a friend who is colour vision deficient ( colour blind ) and he wouldn't pick up any lustre on anything. From my point of view I agree with the comment made by @Curtisimo that it is good to receive coins that are better in hand than the photography and until recent years this was usually the way as all images were always black and white. 40 years ago most lists did not have photographs and even then, the leading sellers in the UK such as Seaby and Spink did not show everything. 

I also agree with @dougsmit that you need to interpret the images and this is a skill that can be learnt. From my point of view,  I am experimenting with photography which is now an adjunct hobby, and I have been amazed at how the software can change appearance. My photography is pretty poor but improving and as I wrestle with editing I am finding that sometimes I can produce not what I have but what I want! I was messing around with a Republican denarius image the other day and found that I could add a fantastic blue lustre to it and did so. Had I seen this on a website I would have bid on it or bought it. I now have images of what I have and what I would like to have so there is some philosophical point here in respect of personal preference. I like to hold coins and books and the digital world and slabs do not give me the same satisfaction of ownership and tactility I enjoy by physical connection. If I am travelling I can view my coins  without physical connection, ( or at least some as I have a backlog of images to take!) and I can make that reality whatever I want it to be. I can't change a coins condition but I can certainly change a coins appearance. I suppose the underlaying concern with all of us would be not that the images are poor but have they been taken with a view to enhance value? The simple answer is probably yes at both ends of the quality spectrum.

I am no Luddite and progress is progress and there is no excuse for poor photography these days as they are the store window for these auction houses and dealers and what you see is what you should get. I have received coins that were smoothed and others where surface defects were not noticeable from the online images but thankfully  I have had no terrible experience to complain about. These particular purchases were not expensive and I could not be bothered to argue with an auction house but I learnt from the experiences and of course fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I no longer get caught up in last minute bidding and take a more measured approach and try to work out the difference between "want" and "need".

One of the dealers I buy from has a no quibble returns policy, I often buy unseen because he appears to have a policy of deliberately under grading which I reckon is to minimise returns. It's a bit like years ago when you assumed the dealer was more knowledgeable than you so there was more reciprocal trust.

We live in a much more demanding society with a bewildering array of choice and it's quite true that the more you have the more you want and the more you eat the hungrier you get. My pet irritation is poor performing websites that are difficult to navigate or seem to go all out to make access as difficult as possible. 

I have limited time because of other responsibilities so platforms such as Biddr , Numisbids and Sixbids are really convenient and I am grateful for them , their downside is that to find a "bargain" you would need to be really erudite or lucky as they have a global audience of millions. I still seek out coins from store dealers or rural auction houses when I can as no one can be expert in everything. Sadly the prominence of the Internet has decimated store dealers and you can't have a chat and cup of coffee with a webpage. The closest you would get to interesting banter these days is with Frank and I am sure that @DonnaML is right , he is from an age when most auction lists would not feature images.

A great follow on to your tier system @filolif would be a tier system of accessibility, navigation and content in addition to images. One glitch that happened to me during the past two years of Covid nightmare was placing bids for Heritage on Biddr , losing bids, even though a couple of my bids were higher than the selling price, and learning that my bids were mislaid because Heritage don't work Sundays. I have no issues with people not working weekends but I assumed that the bids were automatic so forgot all about them and what is worse is that I could have bid on one of the lots elsewhere had I known my bid wasn't registered. The point of this is that I assumed that in the digital world everything relies on interconnectivity but I was wrong. It would be interesting to know of regular issues with auction houses to try and avoid them.

The back button issue is one that has frustrated me too. I guess as I get older my patience is not what it used to be.

As a thread of huge significance to everyone who buys at distance, which I guess is all of us, this was a great idea and lateral thought by @filolif and I really appreciate it.

Here is another Domitian to share.

Domitian, 81-96 Denarius 92-93, AR 18.5mm., 3.40g. Laureate head r. Rev. Minerva standing r. on capital of rostral column, brandishing spear and holding round shield; at feet to right, owl standing facing. RIC 740. C 281.

This coin has confused me in the past as most references refer to Minerva standing on a rostral column and others standing on the prow of a ship. I've assumed the description in RIC II is correct describing it as  a rostral column so can someone tell me if the prow description is simply a matter of opinion?

9 hours ago, sand said:

Yep, I have a backlog as well. My backlog is photos of individual coins. It takes me so long, to take photos of a coin. I use a digital camera, which has auto-focus, and also seems to automatically adjust brightness and colors. So, getting the focus, brightness, and colors looking decent, as well as getting all of the debris off of the coins and tray, takes a lot of time. Especially the debris. Especially on my small, dark, bronze coins, which show every speck of debris, when I zoom in. And the debris is so small, that I usually don't notice the debris, until I look at the photos. And, in the process of removing debris, more debris gets on the coin. Aaaugh!

I've finally decided, that I'm going to take photos of up to 1 coin per week, or 1 group of coins per week. I have approximately 200 coins (ancient, medieval, Celtic, Spanish colonial, English, and US) plus my Lincoln cent collection. Approximately 150 of my coins are worthy of photos. I've taken decent individual photos of approximately 30 of them. So, I've got a long way to go. At a rate of 1 coin per week, even if I don't buy any more coins, it will take me 2 years, to take individual photos of all of my photo worthy coins. But, of course, I'll probably buy more coins. I bought 4 photo worthy coins in May. But, I have been trying to buy fewer coins, lately.

Lately, I've been getting better at taking photos of coins, especially small dark coins. So it's a little more fun, now.  It's fun to take photos of coins, as long as I don't try to do too much in 1 week.

I sympathise with you @sand not only do I get to see the debris when I start to use the image, I am also seeing verdigris and bronze disease that I had no idea was there. I have just posted a Domitian Sestertius on another thread and it was only when I photographed it that I could see the problem.

Pupienus, 22nd April # 29th July 238. Sestertius April-June 238, Æ 29mm., 18.91g. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Victory standing facing, head l., holding wreath and palm branch. C 38. RIC 23a. Ex-Navilles Auction 55

And of more interest to @David Atherton

Domitian, 81-96 Sestertius Rome circa 90-91, Æ 34.00 mm., 24.39 g.
Laureate head r. 
C 513. RIC 703.   Rev. Domitian standing l., holding thunderbolt in r. hand and spear in l., crowned by Victory standing l. In exergue, S # C. 

Trajan Decius, 249-251 Sestertius circa 249-251, Æ 27mm., 18.79g. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Victory advancing l., holding wreath and palm branch. C 117. RIC 126a.

Not the greatest of images!

This is a random idea.

I bought this because I had never seen one before or even heard of a reduced sestertius and at the time I had picked up some coins of Gallienus and Postumus and reading about a really tumultuous period so the coin interested me.

REDUCED SESTERTIUS OF AURELIAN: 
CONCORDIA. ROME, AD 274-5. RIC: 80

Obverse: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, Laureate and cuirassed bust of 
Aurelian facing right.

Reverse: CONCORDIA AVG, Aurelian, in military attire, standing left, holding sceptre in left hand and clasping hands with Severina standing right, radiate bust of Sol facing
right between them. No officina mark.

RIC: 80. Sear: 11646. [Rome, AD 274-5].

Diameter: 25 mm. Weight: 9.6 g.

And some more of her namesake.

This one was a little outside of my interests as it is a 3d not Shilling but I liked the portrait and ended up with a set.

QUEEN ELIZABETH 1st silver hammered three pence dated 1578 ad,5TH issue,mm GREEK CROSS.

There are some great coins and posts on this thread. I would like to share this Gallienus.  I have an interest in standards, ensigns and particularly  trophies from the point of view of their use as propaganda. 

Gallienus, 253-268 Antoninianus circa 261, billon 20mm., 3.37g. Radiate head r. Rev. Fides standing, with two ensigns. C 238. RIC 480 (Mediolanum).

Ex- Navilles 2017.

I have a couple of Marcus Aurelius coins with perfectly coiffured hair but I like this coin  because ,on the obverse,  the beard has as much attention paid to it  as the hair.

Surely someone will show their Otho?

270-272 AD. Antioch mint. Obv: VABALATHVS V C R IM D R legend with laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG legend with radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right; ? below. RIC 381; Sear 11718.

4 hours ago, Alegandron said:

I lived in LLanbedr-y-Fro (Peter-super-Ely), kids went to school in Cowbridge, I worked in Bridgend, and hit the Pub all the time at The Bush in St. Hillary. 😄

Ha ha, I know all the places and have an office in Talbot Green and meeting someone in The Bush next week!

The world is a smaller place than we all  imagine @Alegandron  Hopefully I will make the acquaintance of @maridvnvm one day.

In the 1980's I visited a man in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania and he was the secretary of a local historical society. I was there on business and had never heard of Wilkes Barre before I visited.. I explained  to him that I knew that my great grandfather on my mothers side had visited Pennsylvania in the 1880's and I had a carte de visite photograph of him with a Pennsylvania address.  In the photograph my grandfather was dressed in his "chapel best" suit with an Albert chain I still have. I explained to my new friend  that my grandfather  was unusual as he travelled back and forth to the USA , made some money, then travelling back home with his fortune only to lose it and go back again, He was involved in the Klondike in the 1890's. The person I visited said if I gave him the town named  on the photograph he would check if he had paid any local taxes, booked in a hotel or struck a claim as most records in the USA are extant. A couple of weeks later I looked at the photograph to see that the town was Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania and the name  of the photographer  on the photograph was the same name as the man I had visited.  His great grandfather had photographed my great grandfather more or less 100 years before I had met him and he was  also named after his great grandfather.  I called him to share this and he explained how his ancestors  started business as a photography company before moving into something else.

The population in the USA was around 240 million  at that time so the odds of this happening must be 240 million to one!

The odds of winning the UK lottery are about 50 million to one and I have never won!

L. Hostilius Saserna. AR Denarius, Rome Mint, ca. 48 B.C.
Bare head of female Gallic captive facing right, carnyx behind; Reverse: Diana of Ephesus standing facing, holding long spear, stag in left field. 3.4 gm 19 mm.

Great coins and a great informative post by @DonnaML as always.

Iulius Caesar. Denarius Spain 46-45, AR 18mm., 3.68g. Diademed head of Venus r.; behind, Cupid. Rev. Two captives seated at sides of trophy with oval shield and carnyx in each hand; in exergue, CAESAR. Babelon Julia 11. C. 13. Sydenham 1014. Sear Imperators 58. RBW 1639. Crawford 468/1.

I would assume the captives would be Barbarians as I doubt that the Romans would define captives as anything as otherwise unless they were fighting themselves.

Well that was a surprise! One member having lived here and another 30 minutes from where I live.

Both will know we have more sheep in Wales than people which is something we are often reminded of.

This is a problematical question because I have so many interests and I have favourite Republican denarii, Imperial Sestertii , English hammered coins and shillings.

There are none I would put under my pillow at night and some would be found in pieces the next day if I did.

However, overall one of the most impressive coins I have ever opened an envelope to find is my Attica Owl. It is a coin I had been interested from the point of view of its iconic status and because I had once read a reference to it in a novel and had to look it up. It is a hefty piece and whilst not as great and symmetrical as many, it really "rings my bell".

I really like Greek coins and admire the artistry compared to Roman coins and would like to collect them but the prices are greater than what I want to spend as I am building a backlog of coins to research when I have the time and there seems to be a gulf between the price of good Greek coins and Roman coins so I would buy fewer Greek than Roman and that doesn't suit my ongoing interests. I like to acquire coins regularly and don't have the budget or patience to collect super condition coins as I do this for fun and relaxation not investment.

My Avatar is very simple to explain.

It is the reverse of a Welsh Pound Coin. I live in Wales ( Birthplace of St Patrick) and I am proud of my  Dutch/Welsh heritage. Most people have heard of Holland or the Netherlands but not everyone has heard of Wales so I advertise my birthplace.  The Red Dragon has been used as a symbol of Wales since the reign of Cadwaladr ( Cadwallader), King of Gwynedd from around 655 AD. The Red Dragon was only really incorporated into our national flag in 1959. 

In the past, when I have explained where I am from, the odd person has said "Wales" I thought that was a fish? I then have to explain some zoological facts before explaining that Wales is not part of England and has its own identity and heritage. 

I had considered using an ancient coin or possibly a Tudor coin as the Tudor Dynasty began 5 minutes from my home but I thought the Dragon better. In reality I'm more of a non-nationalist than nationalist and there is no real division between the separate nations of the United Kingdom except for sports events. 

Here is a history of Wales in 99 seconds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i02GWuIJqnI

Some fabulous coins here!

Here are a few of mine that I am fond of, the first being Richard the Lionheart.

GREAT BRITAIN, Henri VI, 1st reign (1422-1461), AR groat, 1427-1430, Calais. Rosette-mascle issue. D / B. yard. of f. in a polylobe. Small rhombus in two angles. R / VIL-?LA?- CALI-SIE * Long pattée cross cutting the legends, confined to four groups of three globules. S. 1860; N. 1446; Whitton 16b. 3.77g Rare Large flan. 

Henry VIII. Groat 1509 - 1547. Spink 2337A. 

England. Aethelred II. 978-1016. AR Penny (20mm, 1.42g, 12h). Crux type (BMC iiia, Hild. C). London mint; moneyer Æthelred. Struck circa 991-997. + ÆDELRED REX ?NGLOX, bareheaded draped bust left with scepter in front / +ÆDERED M#O LVN, short cross voided, C R V X in angles. BEH 2205; North 770; SCBI 7 (Copenhagen), 708; SCBI 65 (Norway), 255.

4 minutes ago, UkrainiiVityaz said:

I've made three purchases from sellers in Ukraine in the past few months, even with the war everything has come through securely but slowly.

I think it's all down to a "can do" attitude @UkrainiiVityaz, and great to hear your good experiences.