hotwheelsearl

I was just reading this page from Augustus Coins: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/BarbarousRadiates.html Here, the far right coin features a victory of the non-'spaghetti' type. The text says that the reverse type is not known for official coins of Postumus. Not calling your coin into doubt, but just thought I'd share.

I love imitations. This is an original, with the field mark A on both obv and rev. Emperor holding victory in this example. And a direct imitation - same field marks and reverse motif. One could almost think this is official - especially since it's LARGER than the original: 25mm vice 23mm. However, the odd alien head and strange proportions on the reverse figures make this an imitation. Plus, the odd font is another giveaway. These soldier and standard reverse is common and easy to find in high grade. Not so common are the imitations of this. The originals are small, these get even smaller. Impressive detail for such a small coin! Again, this almost looks official but the bug-eyed portrait and the overall crudeness make this have to be an imitation. I think the field of Constantine I billon imitations is super interesting. There is a very clear path towards stylization, where the local celtic(?) celators put their local flavor into the renderings. In fact, this makes some of them quite beautiful. Original with high silver content and surface silvering. Even the official issues tend to get rather crude at points. This is one of my favorite coins in my collection. Somehow struck on a MASSIVE 21mm flan, there is so much extra space around the design. The obverse is a rather excellent rendering of the portrait. The reverse, however, is another story - these victories have devolved to such a point they can be compared to the Sasanian fire altar attendant reverses. What I like most about this one is that the celator did not even attempt to make a passable imitation of the text legend - the obverse has some clearly design-based letter-like motifs. The reverse is neat - instead of a jumble of letters, it is symmetrical, with III on both sides, and no other letters. Obviously, the engraver had an eye for symmetry and a true artistic sense.

I don’t see a serpent on the pics, but it certainly matches a Cista not an altar. Altar would tend to be flat on the top, have an object on top, or have flames. I don’t see any here, so I’ll go with a cista mystica

I feel like that large B might be a denomination mark vice part of the legend. I wonder if that would make it any easier to ID.

Here are two of my more unusual Mt. Argaeus bronzes. Here's a Domitian with the reverse of a statue surmounting the mountain. This is a very unusual one of Septimius Severus, where the agalma of the mountain has an eagle underneath it and a decorated base. There is also the statue on top of the mountain. And a common SA, with a common helios(?) head countermark. There seem to be three main versions of the Mt. Argaeus reverse. 1. Physical mountain with a large statue on top. 2. Agalma on a table/altar. 3. Agalma within a distyle temple. This makes me wonder - what was the cult image of Mt. Argaeus actually like? I can't imagine they actually had a giant statue on top of the mountain. So, it must have been a small-scale cult icon. Most likely, there was a small-scale, but still rather large icon of Mt. Argaeus topped by a statue, which sat upon an altar, which lay within a temple. Based on the Severus coin above, where the agalma is on a columned altar on a base, the icon can't have been MASSIVE. Perhaps it was in the neighborhood of 5-10 feet tall with a 1-2 foot statuette on top? Otherwise, if it was too big it would be too heavy for the rather flimy-looking table. However, other coins, like the SA, show the agalma on the floor, filling up the entirety of the portal. I do wonder if there has been any research done on the specifics of the Mt. Argaeus cult icon.

I think the most expensive coin I ever clicked "buy it now" on was $15

Appears to have a seated Zeus left, with Greek text behind and below the throne. Evidently a bearded, laureate bust right. Based on that, there are a wealth of possibilities. I wonder if its worth the effort, as this would be a hard sell in this condition.

Nice! Haven't seen one of these before. Mt Argaeus bronzes of Severus Alexander are also typically worn, though very common - I keep getting them in mixed lots, forcing my hand into a side-collection. Ha.

The Deathly Hallows countermark is pretty cool though

Gallienus's mint workers apparently loved to beat the death out of the reverse dies. On the other hand, sometimes they didn't.

Just from the lot picture, several don’t look right to me.

Best advice is not to buy off the first table you see... Blow your wad too soon and you'll regret the other, potentially better purchases you could have made.

That's an absolute ogre. Props to you for even being able to attribute it.

CM on the obverse makes it look like the dude has a curled ram-horn helmet! SA with a cool helios CM. Not sure what that indicates, though.

If that E does indeed indicate 5, then why put it on? Wasn't it pretty much understood that bronzes of this size were pentassaria?

Pretty sure that’s a bingo

$300 actually seems pretty good for that lot.

When I sell coins, If I can’t 100% attribute it, I just don’t. I mention the mint/mintmark, and am honest about it.

There’s an eBay seller that has sold for years but evidently knows nothing about Roman coins. He listed a coin where he titled it “Tag says Constantine I” I messaged him saying that the coin clearly said CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C. he replied that he was busy and doesn’t have time to properly attribute coins and goes off the “collector tags.” It’s an integrity violation is you knowingly misattribute coins. If it’s an honest mistake, correct it. If you don’t, you’re the entire problem.

I personally don’t think it’s a modern counterfeit. The strike issues alone would be hard to replicate today without the dual-hammer strike method. I am leaning towards contemporary counterfeit, or a “barbarous” imitation

Late Roman silvers are so expensive for me, at least. I can't afford them, unless they're $40, like this one was. The first picture is before, the second is after a few months, when it developed a nice edge toning.

I suppose now is as good a point as any to show off my limes antoninianus, or something along those lines. 100% bronze/copper, no chance of silvering. I thought it was a fourree core, but the strong greenish patina indicates this has to be a bronze piece. However, the patina breaks that expose a low-quality copper core have me wondering what, exactly this is.

Byzantine is a tough nut. I’ve been trying, but the strike quality and odd Greek legends really kick my butt!

Now THAT is an interesting bit of numismatic history!

Oof, I guess we’ll have to chalk it up to generic Philip II then 😕