Pellinore

Do you mind if I hang this denarius to the Pansa thread? I was immediately smitten when I saw it, first thinking it was a brockage (which I'm an avid collector of). But no, it's a denarius imitating a brockage! I couldn't find much information about it. Why, why was it designed like this? AR denarius, Roman Republic. C. Vibius C.f. Pansa 90 BC. Obv. Minerva in quadriga, to the right, holding spear and reins in left hand and trophy in right hand. You can just spot part of a wheel of the cart. Border of dots. Rev. Minerva in quadriga, left, holding spear and reins in right hand and trophy in left hand. No wheel. Border of dots. 18.5 mm, 3.84 gr. RRC Crawford 342/6.

As for young Caracalla, here's two, one's civilized and the other isn't. Both with reverses that are less exciting to me than temples, conversations between gods, halfgods and/ or emperors, snakes, bigae, trigae and quadrigae or just adorable baskets with fruit. AR denarius Caracalla 198-217 AD. Obv. Youthful bust of Caracalla right. Rev. Trophy with cuirass and shields towers over two prisoned Persians. PART MAX PONT TR P IIII. I bought it about 1975. AR denarius Caracalla. 198-217 AD. Obv. Bust of Caracalla right. M AV K ANT ONINOC. Rev. Lituus, cutellus, capis, simpulum, and aspergillum. “D.... AVG PII FIL”? Can this be? 17 mm, 2.7 gr.

Sorry I'm late to the party, but I have little time to spare for coins nowadays. Here's some coins of Geta we didn't see before in this thread: The sweet young caesar with a basket of fruit... Geta caesar 198-209, AE17, Nikopolis ad Istrum, now Nikyup, 20 km north of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. Obv. Bust r. Rev. Basket of fruit. 17 mm, 2.7 gr. Thracia, Pautalia. Geta as emperor (209-212). Obv, Bust t.r. Rev. Coiling snake with expressive head t.r. 28 mm, 15.84 gr. AE30, Geta as emperor (209-212). Pontos. Neocaesarea. Dated CY 146=AD 209/10. Draped and cuirassed bust r. [Λ CΕΠ ΓΕΤΑ]C ΚΑΙC. Rev. Tetrastyle temple with statue of a male on a pedestal in the middle and hangings at the sides. KOIN ΠON NEOKAIC MHTPO/ ET PMR. 30 mm, 13.70 gr.

Link: Curule chair 3105 S. Lydia, Sardis. AE27 Germanicus and Drusus (died AD 19 and 23, respectively). Struck about 24-26, restruck with a special ring die - preserving the central devices while creating a new surrounding legend - by Asinius Pollio, their half-brother and proconsul of Asia. Obv: ΔΡΟΥΣΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΣ ΝΕΟΙ ΘΕΟΙ ΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΙ. Germanicus and Drusus seated left on curule chairs, one of whom holds lituus. Rev: ΓΑΙΩ ΑΣΙΝΝΙΩ ΠΟΛΛΙΩΝΙ ΑΝΘΥΠΑΤΩ. KOINOY / AΣIAΣ in two lines within wreath. 26.5 mm, 13.75 gr. RPC I 2995; "BMC 106-109; Paris 1193-1196; Waddington 5238; SNG Cop 518; Weber 6905; Sear SGI 365." Num. Naumann Auktion 61, Nr. 439, Jan. 2018.

I was very happy to have found this semis, and does it indeed date from the beginning of the Second Punic War? I saw that on Wildwinds. My coin has an impertinent pointy nose on the obverse and at the other side a lively bull, ready to bounce you into the air like a badminton shuttlecock. 19.5 mm, 4.70 gr.

That fantasy coin is a great find. I enhanced the picture a bit. This could be a coin inspired by a colonial German coin of the Emperor Wilhelm II with an eagle on his helmet. DOA = Deutsch Ost Afrika. I'm not much into modern coins, but which coin inspired the reverse with the fancy presentation of two lions dancing around a palm tree?

The second side looks like a crowned head, I thought immediately of the German Kaiser with his plumed helmet.

Trident A curious type of coin with a distinct Roman flavor, but it was minted about 650-750 AD in what's now Afghanistan during the turbulent times when the Hunnic dynasties were wrestling with the islamic armies. 5787. AE pashiz. Hunnic tribes of Tokharistan? Obv. Roman style head t.r. with inscription. Rev Senmurv? with trident tamgha. Legend Besut? 19 mm, 1.81 gr. Z-287138 (this coin). See also Z215009. “Sims-Williams 2008b, fig. 2. Vondrovec p. 642.”

Some more of the eyes, the esoteric eyes that hypnotize you: 6810. Lu'luids of Mosul (now Iraq). Badr al Din Lu'lu'. 1234-1259 AD. Dirham Al-Mawsil, dated 631 AH = 1234. Obv. Large-eyed head (‘Picasso eye’) to the left in a square frame of pearls, text in top, right, foot and left. Rev. 4 lines of text in a circle. 23 mm, 6.70 gr. Spengler/Sayles 68. This fascinating huge-eyed small barbarous coin from Central Asia (now Uzbekistan) is booked as a Seleucid imitation with the head of Antiochos left and a horse-head to the right on the reverse. 5626. AR obol-size silver scyphate coin. Samarqand Soghd, "horse-head" type Antiochus AR drachm imitation, c.200-300 AD. Obv. Head left. Rev. Horse head to the right. 13 mm, 2.18 gr. Head/ horse type Smirnova #33. See Zeno 141977 and 162353. A shaggy dog, no, a movie scarecrow, could be... a silly old dog forgotten by its owner, a clown without a pension, no! This is a dear old Indian fellow for certain. It is the smallest coin of the three Eyes, a little silver damma of the Habbarids of Sindh, now part of Pakistan at the border with India. Amir Ahmad, second half 10th century. 9 mm, 0.52 gr. Naturally, the next question is, whom do you identify most with, of all the coin portraits here on NumisForums!

Link: young Geta 3201 N. Geta caesar 198-209, AE17, Nikopolis ad Istrum, now Nikyup, 20 km north of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. Obv. Bust r. Rev. Basket of fruit. 17 mm, 2.70 gr. "Hristova & Jekov 8.18.52.1; AMNG I/2 1652; Varbanov 3248."

Less than a fortnight, and here it is already! Now I have it in my fingers, I must say I fall for the beauty of this coin, so I will keep it. Although I'm glad my father looked very different from Xusro II. Imagine a bulge-eyed bulb-coiffed giant like that with a huge flutter crown saying good nighty-nighty to you in your toddler's cot... Just made a picture, and here are also some clear pictures of the texts. It is not quite the same coin as yours, @Parthicus- I believe the APDWLA name is spelled differently, the lower crescent is not flanked by triplets, and the mint and date are different. I hope you can make something of this.

I think I have a coin much like this, but I don't have a picture ready at hand. My description says "4.02 gr. Gaube 4.2.35 p. 104, 140" and it mentions the year 24 h = 655 AD. Now I have to retrieve the coin... I'm afraid I lost interest in these types because they are so much alike, and alike late Xusro II drachm types. But are these years reliable? That would matter to me.

I keep track of the costs of all my coins - with prices including all taxes and shipping. In my very detailed System, that I kept since 2012, and this also contains my father-in-law's notes of the 1970s (prices were not so different in those days). But I have no illusions about selling them, that will be very difficult for my heirs, with all those troublesome coins like hardly discernable overstrikes, unique variants, brockages and strange barbarous caricatures, esoteric early Islamic fulus and obscure dynasties, Treadwell dies and hundreds of minimally variant coins readable only for experts in forgotten ancient scripts. They will probably go to an auction house in my country and sell for a tenth of what I paid. (If you want to sign up for a part, let me know!). Probably the knowledge will be lost too... Gallienus antoninianus trial Constantinus II brockage overstrike One of my ugliest coins, a fourrée Marcus Aurelius aureus from Vinnytsia Oblast, just north of Moldova (Aurum Barbarorum) Sogdian Tired Horse coin: AE Chach, Kabarna. Obv. Horse trudges to the right under a crescent blue moon with star. Rev. Tamgha nr. 2 (hook flower). 18 mm, 1.86 gr. Shagalov & Kuznetsov 74-76, group 2 nr. 8 (version 1, the heavier variety). ^ This coin is so small, that you'll never retrieve it if it falls on the floor. Iran, Achaemenid Empire. Time of Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II (c.420-375 BC), 1/32 siglos. Obv. Persian king or hero, with quiver over shoulder, in kneeling-running stance right (but his legs are omitted), drawing bow. Rev. Incuse hollow. 4.5 mm, 0.17 gr. Carradice Type IV. But I'm collecting exclusively for my pleasure, so unless something terrible happens, the coins that I like so much will be staying with me as long as I'm aware of the things around me.

Link: Golden Horde 6941. AE Golden Horde tassuj, Jani Beg, 750 AH (= 1349 AD), Khwarezm. Obv. Lion walking left, on his back a rising sun. Outside the square: Khorezm. Under the lion, upside down, the year 750. Rev. Lobed circle with ‘Righteous Sultan Jani Beg Khan’. 26 mm, 6.05 gr. Album 2030.3, Zeno 65645. Zeno 248916 (this coin). Yanina 73. Mongoliancoins.com Jan0050.

Link: Commodus (and what a dramatic coin you showed!) 2253 B. Commodus or Marcus Aurelius (as caesar?), fourré AR barbarous imitation of a denarius. Obv. Laureate head t.r., AVREL (…) MODVSAVG. Rev. A ponytailed girl, long flowing dress, with a walking stick and an hourglass (= Fortune with rudder and cornucopia?), IS E II O IIVS. 17 mm, 1.78 gr. Found in northern Ukraine. Sergeev p. 214-216. Both sides die matched with Anokhin 1542, obverse only with 903 (these coins were found near the source of the river Udai in Ukraine, oblast Chernihiv).

Repoussé and chasing, two techniques for the silversmith. You need a special hammer and a plate of silver. Repoussé work means hammering at the back to make a little hill at the front, and chasing is the other way: hammering a groove. For instance, the gold Mask of Agamemnon in the museum in Athens (1600 BC) is mainly repoussé work, but for instance the hairs of his eyebrows and many other details were chased. The Mask of Agamemnon was discovered by Heinrich Schliemann. It so impressed him (and rightly so) that he called his son Agamemnon. Later it was surmised the mask was much to old for the era of the Trojan war.

Link: Nero 3144. Nero (54-68) with Agrippina Junior, AE20. Orthosia, Caria. Obv. Jugate draped busts of Nero and Agrippina Junior right. [ΝƐΡWΝ] ϹƐΒΑϹΤΟϹ [ΑΓΡΙΠΠ]. Rev. Laureate head of Zeus right. Brown patina with patches of red and green. ΟΡΘWϹΙƐWΝ. 17 mm, 6.73 gr. RPC I 2825 A or 2826 (2 + 3 pcs.). In my eyes, a particularly nice style and artistic quality. A bit eccentric, but that's what I am, too. And the green is nonvirulent.

In the course of time, I bought a number of these, just because I couldn't resist them. This one came in today. They are pretty large coins (this one: 38 mm diameter, 6.20 gr. weight), and a type of fiduciary silver dirhams made of copper with a thin silver wash (that is rarely present). This is a broad AE dirham of the Qarakhanid dynasty that reigned in Central Asia from about 990-1210 AD. The coin was minted in Kasan, now in Uzbekistan, then one of the Western Qarakhanid vassal appanages, reigned by one Mu'izz ad-Din Togril Khan, and the date is 605 AH = 1208 AD, just before the dynasty succumbed to the short-lived Khwarezmshah dynasty. A beauty in my opinion. And so much unlike contemporary European coinage. This is to put it in perspective for you: So - large.

This silver Dutch coin gives me great pleasure, because it was minted only 12 miles from my place of birth, 900 years ago. Give or take a few miles or years. Though I already have a coin minted in Groningen, the city where I was born, issued some decades earlier by the bishop of Utrecht, I was impressed that a tiny village nine centuries ago was apparently important enough to mint silver coins for the count of Frisia, probably a serious rival of the bishop. My roots are more Groningen than Frisia, but - what does that mean 900 years across time. It was the heyday of the cloisters and churches that brought prosperity to the north of the Netherlands. Witness many 12th and 13th century churches that you still may admire, on artificial mounds that defied the sea. That was the clay that produced me. 4721. Friesland, count Egbert II (1068-1090). AR denarius, Garrelsweer. Obv. Crowned frontal bust. + ECBERTVS. Rev. Frontal busts of the apostles Simon and Judas under a cross. + GEREVVROI. 19 mm, 0.67 gr. Toned. Trace of folding. Ilisch I, 22.9 var., Dan. 530 var.

Link: reclining 3274 A. Tetradrachm Severus Alexander (222-235), Alexandria. Dated RY 4 (224/5). Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev. Tyche reclining left on lectisternium (couch), holding rudder, resting elbow on pile of pillows and leaning head on hand. 21 mm, 14.48 gr. "Köln 2423; Dattari (Savio) 4383; K&G 62.48;" Emmett 3140.4.

Jupiter with thunderbolt 2564 ER. Probus 276-282, Antoninianus serious misstrike. Obv. Helmeted head to the right with text SPFAVG. Rev. Jupiter holding his lightning strike. IOVI CONS PR(OB AVG). 25 x 21 mm, 3.12 gr. What happened??!!

The eyes - appeal to me, too. I'm sure it's a subconscious reason to buy coins. Be it the Emperor Phocas, as was mentioned before: 3517. Byzantium, Phocas (602-610). AE half follis (20 nummi), Cyzicus (off.A.), year II. Obv. Crowned frontal head. Rev. XX/ ANNO/ II/ KYZA DOC 79. 24 mm, 6.25 gr. Sear 670. With his hippie glasses. 3535. Byzantium, Phokas (602-610). AE follis (40 nummi), Cyzicus, y. 3 = 604/5. Obv.: Facing bust of Phokas, wearing consular robes, holding mappa & cross. Rev.: large XXXX, ANNO above, III to right, exergue KYZ A. 28.5 mm, 10.16 gr. Sear 665. And the Gallic eye: 4147. Remi? AE14. Obv.: Celticized head right, hair upwards. Rev.: Celticized horse left, dot in pellet above, three dots in pellet below. 14 mm, 1.73 gr. ‘('unlisted', cf. Scheers Tf. 19.528). RRR, found in northern France. 4144. Celtic coinage. Bellovaci (Beauvais), after 57 BC. AV starkly scyphate quarter stater. Obv. Schematized portrait of an old man with a sleepy, yet piercing eye! Reminding one of ... . Rev. Horse galloping to the left, pellet-like body, with a large pointed ear. Above and below, a star. Class I. 11 mm, 1.49 gr. Scheers, Traité 160. Scheers, Dan., 308; B.N. 7236; Delestrée & Delplace 32 var.; DT 267 var. Elsen auction 145, nr. 221. A very mysterious coin. These people from Zoroastrian Persia, a venerable priest, an old goddess - are appealing to you with their eyes, sadly, saying: our faith is waning, we, our values are waning, youngsters are coming without any sense for what was sacred to us. I'm sure many of you are feeling like this. This little copper piece of c.700 AD is expressing a universal sense of passing by. It is very dear to me. 5403. Arab-Sasanian AE pashiz, dating from 65-96 AH / 685-715 AD, Istakhr (Naqš-i Rustam). Obv. Old man facing with Pahlavi inscription 'mwhlwp'. Rev. Goddess Anahita with inscription 'st' in Pahlavi, [‘pwnp’ invisible on this coin]. 14mm, 0.9 gr, 6h. Album A46. Gyselen Type 23.

Link: Sardis 3170. Sardis, Lydia, AE20. (Nero) Octavia AD 60. Mindios, magistrate. Obv: (OKTAOYIAN) ΘEAN. Draped bust of Octavia right. Rev: EΠI (MINΔIOY) CTΡA TO B CAΡΔIANΩN (CTΡA and TO in monogram form). Demeter standing right on her bike, or pram? in a biga of winged serpents, holding a torch in each hand, crescent in upper field. 18 mm, 5.6 gr. RPC I 2999 (11 pcs); ‘BMC 125; Paris 1216-1217; Waddington 5245; GRPC Lydia 385’.

Link: Bull 3297. AE22 Severus Alexander (222-235). Mastaura, Lydia. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. CEYH ALEXANDROC CEB. Rev. Humped bull r. MACTAYREITWN. Obv. Laureate and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Long-horned bull r. 22.5 mm, 5.32 gr. 6h. RPC 4811 (6 pcs, mine is better). 'BMC 12; Mionnet IV, 465 corr (obv. legend); Sear 3327. SNG Munich 322; Waddington 5092; Paris 738.' Early 20th cent. collection of Dr. Wiegersma, Deurne, The Netherlands.

Link: Dolphin 1019. AR stater, c. 340-320 BC. Byzantion, Thrace. Obv. Bull marches to the left over a dolphin. Above, lettering ΠΥ. Rev. Incuse cross, granulated pattern (‘mill-sail’). 16.5 mm, 5.01 gr.