ambr0zie

18 hours ago, Ed Snible said:

You titled this post "Tiny Treasures" but put the cutoff at 13mm.  I consider 13mm to be medium size.

 

Exactly my thoughts. I am a fan of tiny coins but I raise the stakes - or lower in this case?!

5 mm and 0.08 g  (not a typo)

7 mm 0.46 g

7 mm 0.52 g

7 mm 0.14 g

7 mm 0.18 g 

7 mm 0.19 g

7 mm 0,27

8 mm (because of the flan shape) 0.18 g 

8 mm 0.52 g

7 mm 0.30 g

6 mm 0.23 g

11 mm and 1.7 g - I do no not consider this small 

Bonus - this is also a medium sized coin for me but it can safely be considered small and it was a big target I wanted to acquire for years. 

12 mm, 0,70 g.

Wallachia. Radu I 1377-1383. Æ Ban.

[+IW] PDI VAD (combination of Latin and Cyrillic letters for +IW RADOLI VAIVODE); eight ray, inner holed star; outer pearl circle / Large cross with anchor ended arms, a six ray star in each quarter; outer pearl circle.

MBR 78a.

Radu I (~1377 - 1383), brother of the famous Vlaicu I (1364 - ~1377) and father of the glorious Mircea the Old. This voivod (reigning prince) achieved for the first time for him and his descendants the title of Great Voivod (appearing on coins also).

Link Alexandria, 3rd century tetradrachm

20 mm, 7,20 g.
Egypt, Alexandria. Maximianus 286-305. Billon tetradrachm. 287-288.
A K MA OVA MAΞIMIANOC CEB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / Homonoia (Concordia) standing left, raising right hand and holding double cornucopiae, L – Γ in fields (date). Milne 4855v; Curtis 2091; Emmett 4141.

One of the most popular empresses, with lovely portraits and interesting reverse themes. 

This denarius was the first ancient coin with a woman's portrait I have seen. I identified it myself (and it was the first post I ever made regarding an ancient coin)

Two types already shown in this thread, but among my favorites:

Nice coin + interesting too. 

I have the more common version - RPC 359

Phoenicia 

14 mm, 2,08 g.
Phoenicia, Tyre. Ӕ. Pseudo-autonomous issue. 121-122 AD.
Turreted, veiled and draped bust of Tyche to right; to left, palm frond / Astarte, holding wreath in her right hand and stylis in her left, standing left on galley; to left, ZMC; to right, monograms of MH and TYP; below, Phoenician letters.
BMC 311; RPC III 3901; SNG Copenhagen 358; Rouvier 2260.

20 mm, 4,6 g,
Thrace, Pautalia. Caracalla 211-217. Ӕ.
AV K MA ANTΩNEI, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / OVΛΠIAC ΠAVTAΛIAC, Omphalos entwined by serpent erect right, set on garlanded altar.
Varbanov 4975 var. (legends).

Next - Caracalla provincial

No, but knowing we are fans of the same auction house, I checked to see if it's recent. 

From that auction I picked my glorious Marius and 2 very nice Faustina II imperials (very nice on a serious note). 

I also like Laodicea provincials and I have 2 of them. A Macrinus and a Pius, Macrinus being also a very good deal. 

And an unexpected price! Congratulations!

Great coins and great thread. 

I do not have many coins with personal stories (my personal connection with them is more abstract, such as coins celebrating an event or from a region that is important to me etc.).

After losing my parents, in a very shot timespan, I don't like Divus and Diva coins that much because a connection is automatically made in my head. 

Another coin - I hope it will NOT be remembered with sadness. 

This was given to me by a friend from a different country, a numismatic expert (but on modern coins). 

Unfortunately in the last months he has severe health issues (very severe). And I did not manage to reach him in the last 7 days, which is very worrying, as in the last 10 years we were discussing daily. 

25 mm, 10,57 g.
Diva Faustina II. Died 175-176 AD. Ӕ as. Rome. 176-180.
DIVA FAVSTINA PIA, bust of Faustina II, draped, hair elaborately waved in nearly vertical lines and fastened in a low chignon at back of head, down cheek, curls, right / S C, crescent and seven stars: one within, six around.
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1714; C. 213; BMC 1594 (Marcus Aurelius).

Next - Faustina II imperial bronze coin 

Great subcollection. I only have the popular Aspendos stater, from a different era. 

21 mm, 10,90 g Pamphylia, Aspendos. AR stater. Circa 415/10-400 BC.
Two wrestlers grappling within a dotted border / Slinger discharging sling right, triskeles in right field, ethnic EΣTEE to left, all within incuse square. Countermarked.

Don't scare him. That's malachite/azurite  like discussed here 

At least they're honest.

Something is very wrong indeed. I saw another house I used to buy from raising FedEx charge to 40 euros. EU to EU. 

Question - why do you doubt all these coins? What are the clues that make you unsure? 

It's well known that nowadays there is a problem with forgeries, but doubting all the coins you see just brings you stress in this hobby. 

Thanks @CPK. And yes, I fully agree with this part 

13 minutes ago, CPK said:

Still, the irritation wears off eventually. I'm glad I have the coin in my collection.

 

In fact, the irritation was forgotten after a few minutes, when I understood that I overestimated the coin's rarity and my initial assumption was wrong - that most Marius coins are in terrible shape. In the end, I added another ancient coin from a scarce ruler in my collection, with a good reverse, and even if the price I paid is NOT justified (~80 euros including fees) it's difficult to get a very cheap Marius, unless is unattributed or wrongly attributed. 

I know the Pompeiopolis coin type. When I was collaborating with an auction house, writing attributions, I discovered that type then and I was very curious to see a price for it after I found the attribution. In fact, this is not uncommon (but I really like your coin's portrait and toning) so the price remained very low. 

In the end all that matters is a new coin in my collection. As long as this kind of purchase is not a habit, it's cool.

(trying to convince myself it's very cool)

... but it seems that I need to do my homework a little better before bidding. 

Not a dramatic fail (I have surely seen worse) but until a week ago I thought that Marius coins are exceptionally rare. There was no confusion in my head with Laelianus, I just thought that both of them are about equal in rarity. 

So when seeing a coin available in the auction I was in and also noticing it stays below 100 euros, I jumped on it (bonus - I like the reverse theme). I gave myself a pat on the back thinking it's a great deal, even if the condition is extremely modest (to put this diplomatically). I was fairly sure that Marius coins are 1. rare and expensive and 2. all have poor strikes and metal quality so what I got is a "normal" Marius coin. 

20 mm, 3,57 g.
Marius, usurper in Gaul 269 AD. Billon antononianus. Treveri (Cunetio attribution) / Cologne (RIC attribution).
IMP C MARIVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Marius to right / CONCORDIA MILITVM, clasped right hands.
AGK (corr.) 1b; Cunetio 2503; Elmer 633; RIC 6.

Actually the pat on the back became a head banged on desk when I noticed that my assumptions were wrong. Although clearly scarcer than Postumus or Victorinus, there is a fair number of decent antoninianii on the market without breaking the bank. I was less than pleased when seeing that for 100 euros there is a good chance to acquire a presentable example. So - not the smartest purchase for me. 

But in the end, I am not very upsed - as I added a new emperor in my collection. 

2 words about Marius - many of them speculations as the history is a little unclear. 

He was a blacksmith and raised through ranks in the army to become an officer. He took part in the revolt at Moguntiacum (todayMainz, Germany) when the emperor Postumus did not allow the emperor to sack the city. The emperor was killed and Marius was named emperor by the army. 

For me it is still unclear what is the correct succession - I lean to Postumus-Laelianus-Marius. 

Anyway the reign of Marius was very short, but the number of coins with his name indicate that it wasn't that short (Eutropius, a historian living 100 years after Marius, indicated 3 days of reign; Aurelius Victor, another historian contemporary to Eutropius, wrote that his reign lasdted 1 day). I suspect the actual reign was 2-3 months. 

Marius was killed by Victorinus and the tradition says he was killed with a sword manufactured by him (Marius). 

Let's see coins of Marius OR coins you inadequately considered much rarer than they actually are. 

Head of Medusa

15,1 mm, 3,58 g.
L. Plautius Plancus. AR denarius. Rome. 47 BC.
[L · PLAVTIVS] below, head of Medusa facing, with coiled snake on either side / PLAN[CV] (or PLANCVS), Victory (or Aurora) flying right, head slightly left, holding reins and conducting four rearing horses of the sun.
Crawford 453/1a or 1b (PLANCVS/PLANCV; BMC 4004/4008; Sydenham 959/959a; Plautia 15/15a; RBW 1583-4.

Here are some other examples of animals:

Crocodile (unfortunately not completely on the flan)

Anoher one (fully centered, but the engraver preferred not to depict it with many details)

Ravens:

Flying, 12 o clock obverse, the coin has a cow as main star 

Stork

Hippopotamus:

Tortoise 

Rhinoceros

Swan

Ostrich:

Stag

Ram 

Quail

Personification of a geographical area 

20 mm, 3,74 g.
Mn. Aquillius. AR serrate denarius. Rome. 71 BC.
VIRTVS / III VIR, helmeted, draped bust of Virtus / MN AQVIL / MN F MN N / SICIL, warrior, holding shield and raising up fallen figure (or the consul Man. Aquillius raising Sicilia).
Cr. 401/1; RSC Aquillia 2; BMC 3364.

Great coins, @Ryro, but Claudia Octavia is a stunner. 

... and best whishes to the ladies here and to all the ladies in our lives. 

And Happy International Women's day to ... Faustina II!

Last weekend I was trying to watch 2 auctions in parallel. Which is usually a bad idea especially when I wasn't 100% concentrated or having a great target. In the end, there were examples in both auctions I would have liked ... and missed them, but I got 3 coins from one of them. 

The last one is quite a fail, as I overpaid for something having the incorrect impression the coin is worth much more than I paid. Actually, it's the opposite. 

Oh well. 

But on 2 of them I am very happy as both were important targets and they celebrate the same event - finally Marcus Aurelius and Faustina II had not one, but 2 male heirs - Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus (the second being much more well known, because the first died very young). They were born on 31st of August, 161. 

17 mm, 3,13 g.

Faustina II 147-175. AR denarius. Rome. After 31^st of August 161 AD.

FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right / TEMPOR FELIC, female figure, standing left, holding an infant in each arm; at either side, two children standing.

RIC 719; BMC 156-157; RSC 221; RCV 5263; CRE 179; MIR 31-4/10a.

27 mm, 13,81 g.

Faustina II 147-175. Ӕ dupondius. Rome. After 31^st of August 161 AD.

FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bust of Faustina II, draped, hair elaborately waved in nearly vertical lines and fastened in a low chignon at back of head, down cheek, curls, right / SAECVLI FELICIT S C, throne (pulvinar), draped and ornamented, on which are two baby boys, Commodus and Antoninus, seated face to face, with stars above their heads.

BMC 991; Cohen 194; RIC 1666 (as); RCV 5302.

Our colleague and specialist in Faustina II (and not only) wrote an excellent write-up here and one I enjoyed a lot here. I highly recommend these articles and I really can't add anything more on top of them. 

These two coins add up to my older types with Faustina and her children - a theme I like to collect. 

17 mm, 3,16 g.
Faustina II 147-175. AR denarius. Rome. Struck December 160.
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, hair in chignon behind / FECVND AVGVSTAE, Faustina as Fecunditas, standing front, head left, holding infant in each arm, two other young children standing beside her to left and right, holding onto her gown.
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 676; RSC II 95; Sear RCV II 5251; BMCRE 89.

See Foss, Roman Historical Coins, page 143, identifying the two standing children depicted on this coin as Annia Faustina [ Faustina III] (oldest child) and Lucilla (third oldest child), and identifying the two infants in Faustina’s arms as Fadilla (seventh child) and Cornificia (eighth child). The coin was probably issued to celebrate the birth of Cornificia, the then-youngest child, in August 160 AD.

32,9 mm, 23,53 g.
Faustina II. Augusta 147-175. Ӕ sestertius. Rome. 161-176.
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right / FECVND AVGVSTAE, Fecunditas holding child on each arm, two more children standing right and left; S-C across fields.
RIC 1635 (Aurelius); Banti 56; BMCRE 902 (Aurelius).

17,7 mm, 3,6 g.
Faustina II. Augusta 147-175. AR denarius. Rome. 161-176.
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, hair waved with two braided bands / FECVNDITAS, Fecunditas standing right, holding scepter and nude male child.
BMC 91; C. 99; RIC 677; RSC 99.

So overall even if the auction did not have the results I was hoping for, I am very pleased with the two new coins. 

Please post Faustina coins with her children or any new ladies added in your collections. 

Athena

15,3 mm, 2,29 g.
Moesia, Kallatis. 100-300 AD. Ӕ.
Helmeted head of Athena right, K to right / KAΛΛA-TIA in two lines beneath small shield, three corn-ears above, club to left, bow in bow-case to right.
Moushmov 219; cf AMNG 271.

Yes. and it's bridled. You probably thought it's Pegasus, but it's not. Mysteries of ancient numismatics. 

A much better example than mine: