ambr0zie

I bought this one. Can't wait to get it. I only had 1 very modest Germanicus coin so I'm really impatient to see some gold coins! It's been quite a lucky day - I received an email that a Nigerian prince wants me to inherit all his fortune (I didn't ask too many questions, why should I?!) and also I saw a banner saying that single ladies in my area are waiting to meet me. Can't get much better than this.

It was year 863 Ab urbe condita. Or Year of the Consulship of Priscinus and Scipio. Or, how we call it today, year 110 AD. Roman Empire was at its peak, lead by the glorious Trajan. The Dacian wars were over, the Column of Trajan was finished after tremendous work. Quintus Nigilius Melus was a poor 20 years plebeian from Rome. From his childhood he really wanted to do something with his life. He was skilled in music, liked to hear poetry, but never learned how to read as his family could not afford this. He liked to watch gladiators but he couldn't dream to become one. He dreamed of being a scribe but his life was plain, simple and hard - like his parents' and grandparents' lives and like his ancestors... just dreaming of something better in the family's small apartment in a modest insula, where he was freezing during winters and couldn't stand the heat in summer. With 4 younger brothers and his mother. His father was dead for a few years. Ambitious but unlucky. He wanted to be in the army as it was the quickest way to earn a name but this wasn't an option as when he was still a kid, in year 857 Ab urbe condita, he wanted to see the gladiators and chariot races in Circus Maximus, just restored by Trajan. When he ran to get a good seat, he was injured by the crowd, trampled, and got a broken leg that was never completely healed. So he couldn't be a soldier, couldn't be an intellectual, not many choices. He worked hard as a laborer for the Column. Even if the physical effort was too much for him, the other laborers mocked him or patronized him, he just clenched his fists. There was no other option. He needed money to get a nice little home and marry Rastinia Livilia, the neighbour's daughter. He was in love with her since they were kids. This is why he was working, almost like a slave, in the Column. Finally he got his pay from the hard work. With all the savings he had since he was just a kid looking for work, it was just enough. He had all the coins in a small wooden chest he hid in the house, always afraid the insula might catch fire or a thief might steal his fortune. He added the pile of coins he earned in the chest and took it to Rastinia Livilia's house. He wanted to show her father that he's serious and can afford a home. All his dreams were in vain as the father, Rastinius Livius, almost kicked him out. "Get out, lame boy! is this a joke? do you think my daughter can't to better? Quintus Nigilius Lameus is your real name" So he entered the first tavern and drank like a mad man. Only to see his former work mates. "Oh, the lame boy wants to celebrate? Drink's on you then". He woke up in the morning, with torn clothes, massive hangover, full of bruises and no chest. And no money. --- So he sold the little he had in his home, his personal possessions, and left to Dacia. He knew colonists are wanted and it was the last resort for a new life. --- After long days on the road, hungry, thirsty, Quintus Nigilius Melus finally reached Tibiscum and decided to settle here. He saw a small, poor tavern, nodded thinking about what happened in Rome, entered and asked the inn keeper, an old Dacian with long, white haired, named Davos - "meat, wine and a bed". Davos looked at him, unfriendly, served him after he saw the coins and reluctantly accepted the pile of bronze coins, with one being much larger. Davos had a son, a small curly boy named Geta. He saw his father with the pile of coins in his hands. "What have you earned today, father? Something from a mighty Roman soldier? Gold?" "No, son. Just junk. Here is this coin, you haven't seen one that large, have you? I think that's Trajan, our enemy. Play with it, do whatever you want". Soon after, Davos spent the sestertius and didn't think about it too much. It circulated in Dacia like a normal currency. Some colonists and soldiers were proud seeing Trajan on it, when they recognized him, some natives were furious. --- Year 920 Ab urbe condita. Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Quadratus. Or, how we call it today, 167 AD. A "Barbarian Federation" - the Costoboci, the Carpi, the Yaziges, the Roxolans and other tribes, free Dacians and their allies, attack Roman Dacia, Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia. Then the Black Sea coast, Macedonia and Thracia, and even Thessalonica and Athens where they destroy Roman towns and cities. Dacia was not the best place to live in. Jullars Atius Tudianus was a peaceful farmer living in a small village near Rusidava, Roman castrum. One day he sold his famous red apples in the market and received a large coin from an old woman for 3 apples. He had no idea what it was. "This doesn't look like good money, ma'am!" "It is, my son, but it's old. Take it. I am old and I want an apple". "Ma'am, it's dirty and worn! are you sure it's valid?" "Yes, my son, please". So he did but he still found it curious and kept it in a drawer. Knowing the armies will soon reach their village, he and his son, who had the same name, decided to run to the mountains, with other villagers. It was safer. After the war ends, they can return and only hope their house is still in one piece and continue their lives. They decided to flee first thing in the morning, but during night the inevitable happened - the barbarian armies arrived in the village and burned it down. There was nothing remaining. Jullars Atius Tudianus and his son died quickly. Their house quickly became ashes. Including the drawer, but the coin remained under a big pile of ash. ---- Year 1020 Ab urbe condita. Or year of the Consulship of Paternus and Arcesilaus. Or, how we call it today, 267 AD. A young villager from Roman Dacia, named Quintus Nigilius Melus, marries his childhood sweetheart, Rastinia Livilia. They are both in a small village near Rusidava. There are stories that this village was burned down completely in a raid of the barbarians, 100 years or so ago. But nobody knows if this is true or just legends. Quintus Nigilius Melus decides to build a home for him and his young wife, at the periphery of the village. Not the best area, muddy in autumns, but they want their home rather than living with parents. The village is still prosperous, but more and more people are leaving Dacia and there are rumors that Gallienus will leave the province. Quintus Nigilius Melus is not very concerned by this. He wants his wife to be happy and for the moment this is enough. A home, a nice warm fire and a garden. While digging for the foundation he finds a big round object covered in dirt. Initially he thinks a small rock but after cleaning it a little with his fingers he sees a portrait. "Hey Rastinia, take a look at this! apparently our house is directly above a treasure!" "Come on Quintus! stop fooling around" "No, look!" "An old coin .. who knows how old it is, why are you wasting your time?" "Look, it has a face on it!" "Leave it there and work, if you want us to have a place to sleep!". But Quintus put it into his pocket. ----- Quintus Nigilius Melus and Rastinia Livilia were happy, had two lovely kids, but rumors started again about barbarian raids and, even worse, many people left the village. In the end, even if Quintus was very annoyed that they have to leave the freshly built home, they had to. There were less than 50 people remaining, most of them very old. And they had two children to take care of. Rastinia Livilia had some relatives in Moesia (this province will be soon named "Dacia Aureliana" after Rome officially decided to leave the Dacia province) so they left to start a new life. When Quintus turned for the last time to look at his house, he remembered about the big coin in his pocket. "Perhaps it belongs to this land, who knows. It's better to leave it here". So he dug a small hole with his hands and put the coin there. ---- In 1992 some children were playing in Valea Caselor, near the town of Dragasani, Romania, and found a big coin. They gave it to their father, who thought he had found a fortune, but after speaking with many collectors/antiquarians, he finally understood that he is not a millionaire. He sold it to an antiquarian and with the money he earned, he drank a beer and his kids got a bottle of soda each. --- It was 2024 AD. A collector who uses the nickname @Nerosmyfavorite68 on NumisForums bought a Trajan sestertius.

The Nero example is quite nice. I like the artistic depiction of Victory, the portrait (the hair style is bold) and - important for these issues - that the SPQR lettering on the shield is visible. That wears off easily. When I bought the first lot of ancient coins, I had the chance to find a similar type there. Not an XF coin, but for the price per coin of 3 euros, it's satisfactory. Too bad somebody cleaned it as the coin seemed to have an excellent patina. 26,58 mm, 8,43 g. Nero 54-68 AD. Ӕ as. Lugdunum. 63-68. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P, bare head right, with globe at point of bust / S-C, Victory flying left, holding shield inscribed S P Q R. RIC I (second edition) Nero 473. Soon after, I bought this one individually. The delaminaton is an issue, but this was also very cheap and I simply liked it. The color is lighter than in my picture. 27 mm, 8,45 g. Nero 54-68 AD. Ӕ as. Rome. 62-68. IMP NERO CAESAR AVG GERM, head of Nero, laureate, right / S C, Victory, winged, draped, moving left, holding in both hands shield inscribed S P Q R. RIC I (second edition) Nero 351. There were already nice Trajan coins posted here with the usual titulature SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, so I will post just one - but this one is, I think, inspired by the Nero coins design. 28 mm, 12,76 g. Trajan 98-117. Ӕ as. Rome. 98-99. IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM P M, head of Trajan, laureate, right / TR POT COS II P P S C, Victory, draped, advancing left, holding shield inscribed SPQR in right hand and palm in left. RIC II Trajan 402. Here is something after many hundreds of years. 14,8 mm, 0,4 g. Papal State. Senate of Rome, Italy. Billon denaro provisino. 1300-1400. SENATVS P Q R, comb, S flanked by crescent and star above / ROMA CAPVD M, cross pattée, pellets in 1st and 3rd quarters. Biaggi 2119.

Oh yes, a great provincial. I also built a Zoo of my own and the ostrich is one of the main attractions. Here is my example 16 mm, 2,32 g. Thrace, Hadrianopolis. Gordian III 238-244. Ӕ. AYT K M ANT ΓOΡΔIANOC, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, seen from rear / AΔΡIANOΠOΛEITΩN, ostrich walking right. Varbanov 3833; RPC VII.2, 806; Jurukova, Hadrianopolis 676; Moushmov 2630A.

20 mm, 5,19 g. Macedon, Thessalonica. Ӕ. Circa 187-131 BC. Head of Janus / ΘEΣΣAΛONIKHΣ, the Dioscuri riding in opposite directions. SNG Cop 369. Next - Janus

Your coin is beautiful and I would strongly suggest NOT to clean it (in regards to the "bit of dirt" part) Trajan coinage is excellent for a multitude of reasons - excellent portraits, quality control appears to have been strict - variety of reverses, especially imperial coins but provincial coinage is interesting as well - last but not least, they are affordable. Before I started collecting ancient coins owning a Trajan was just a dream. I was under the impression that his coins are very rare and expensive. Now I own 24 Trajan coins (18 imperial and 6 provincials) from my total of 463 coins. Here are some I find very interesting a quadrans with a she wolf reverse denarius with the Column Dacian captives Caesarea, similar to @Ryro's but the reverse character is less .... ehm ... developed. Also mine is a didrachm (2 drachms) denarius with personified Arabia and camel the river Danube Trajan's father a tridrachm from Antioch a dupondius showing personified Dacia and my latest acquisition, Alexandrian tetradrachm with canopus of Osiris

Cleopatra Thea and Antiochus VIII. 20 mm, 6,66 g. Seleukid Kings of Syria. Cleopatra Thea & Antiochos VIII. 126/5-121/0 BC. Ӕ. Antioch. Dated SE 190 = 123/2. Radiate and diademed head of Antiochos VIII right / BAΣΙΛIΣΣHΣ KΛEOΠATPAΣ KAI BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY, owl standing right on fallen amphora, head facing; IE to inner right; below, PP (date, first P retrograde) and palm. SC 2263.2f.

Here is my only coin depicting Demos: 18 mm, 4,57 g. Phrygia, Apameia. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Time of the Severans, 193-235. Ӕ assarion. ΔHMOC, bearded and draped bust of the Demos to right / AΠAMЄΩN, Marsyas advancing right, playing double flute (aulos). Leypold, Vol. II, p. 30, 1441; Martin, Demos Vol. 2, p. 158, Apameia 22; SNG Copenhagen 200.

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 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)