lordmarcovan

Yep. Valid point. And she definitely could have gone outside when they were asleep, and done the job herself. In retrospect, I probably should have refused upon the grounds of our professional standards (though that might sound stuffy). Next time I'm asked to be an accomplice in a prank, I'll say no. She just caught me in an indulgent mood.

Or, Option 4- the cops or another guest saw me doing the deed, which would not have been a good thing! I made sure I got very clear information on which car to roll, so I wouldn't do the wrong one! And I waited until 4:00 AM. Yes, Options 2 and 3 did come to mind. And I thought about refusing her request for those very reasons. Other guests have tried to recruit me as an accomplice in their pranks before, and I've only complied once or twice, on the most harmless ones. Generally I will refuse these kinds of requests, but I believed her this particular time. And if she was pranking ME, and that WAS someone else's car, the repercussions will be mild enough.

(Forgive me if this is stretching the parameters of this "General" forum a bit too far.) After 36 years in the resort hotel business, tonight I got what is probably my most bizarre guest request ever. A lady wanted me to roll her car in toilet paper in the middle of the night! Apparently she’d told her kids some story about elves, and recruited me to perform some elfin mischief. So I complied. (Why elves would roll cars in TP, I did not ask.) “Rolling” someone’s car was actually a new experience for me, as I had been a relatively well behaved youth in my teenaged years, when one is supposed to do that sort of stuff. I never got up to any hijinks like that. Side note: elves have gotten considerably worse since I was a kid, it seems. When MY mother told us elf stories, we’d find fun little presents hidden in the old hollow cedar tree, not TP on the car. 😕

Nero has a pretty bad reputation. The Norman king William I (no, not William the Conqueror of England, but the Sicilian William I) was even known as "William the Bad". But this might be due of the bias of his chronicler, Hugo Falcandus, in The History of the Tyrants of Sicily (Liber de Regno Sicilie). William may or may not have deserved the negative nickname. Let's have more bad guys. They're interesting.

Ouch! On a smaller scale, I once sold a US coin for $75, which sold on eBay in the neighborhood of $2K and was later said to be worth $10,000! Short summary: it was a newly discovered die variety. I congratulate the person who discovered it, as he had the knowledge, and I would never have discovered the variety myself. No heavy lamentation from me (nor am I particularly interested in die variety minutiae). I was just amazed- and I figure I got a good story out of it.

I like the patina on the Constantine lot. The Ptolemaic hockey puck is cool- I have yet to own one of those.

Nice looking Hadrians (the NILVS is interesting). I like the Julia Domna LVNA LVCIFERA. The Philip I with the temple is very handsome. I always wanted one of those Allectus pieces with the gallery reverse.

This Gallienus ant I used to own was pretty nicely silvered, I thought. It had nice orangish toning, too. (These less than ideal images were done on my ancient flatbed scanner around 2008.)

This well-worn example from my old 2007-08 novice collection is the only Aelius I have owned to date.

I went against my usual principles and bought a smoothed coin this year, not long ago. And spent a pretty penny on it, too. Does the smoothing look egregious to any of you? I confess I wouldn't have known anything about it but for the NGC "lt smoothing" notation on the label. Interestingly, they also gave it their "star" rating, which they award to coins with superior eye appeal. It is the only NGC "star" coin I have, in fact. (Like most if not all of you, I think would avoid a tooled coin if I knew about the tooling.)

Here is what I received from @GregH in Australia. The letter said: ”Happy Saturnalia! I hope you like this coin- a better grade Valerian ant.” And so it is! I daresay it looks Mint State! Wow. This is only the second Valerian I have owned. The last was in my old novice (2007-08) collection, when I had just started collecting ancients. I got it from Incitatus Coins. Had to sell it in 2008 when I sold the rest of the old collection during my Recession layoff. As you can see, the new one @GregH just sent is far superior. Here's the old one, which appears to have been the same PIETAS type. I find Valerian interesting because of that story about how he became the human footstool of Shapur I when he was captured by the Sasanians. Thank you, @GregH! Now, fingers crossed that my shipment to you also reaches you safely, and that you will like it. ~RWS/"LM" PS- I posted about it on CoinTalk, too: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-secret-saturnalia-gift-from-numisforums.409413/

No longer! My incoming package has arrived... from Australia- the same destination I sent my outgoing one to! The suspense over my outgoing shipment remains, however, as of this post. @GregH- We were in the same boat more than I realized! I see you openly admitted to being my (not-so) Secret Saturn, so I'll go ahead and spill the beans. I am yours as well! (I didn't realize it would work that way.) I shipped your coins anonymously and did not sign the letter with my username, thinking it was supposed to be Secret Saturnalia, after all. But now that I know we're really in the same boat and we are in fact each other's Saturn, you'll realize why I've been cyberstalking you and watching your every post. And I will continue to, until I hear my outgoing envelope has reached you. Your gift was shipped on November 30 from Brunswick, Georgia, USA, so keep an eye open for a regular business sized envelope with American stamps (and no customs declaration) on it. It should be there any day now, I would think. When I shipped it, I was optimistic that it would reach you in the 17 days that were remaining at the time, but it seems its travel time is to be a bit longer than that. I shipped it as a regular letter rather than as a package, to save on the exorbitant US shipping cost and also so it wouldn't require a customs declaration. Foreshadowing: I had earmarked your gift coin for Saturnalia before I even knew who I'd be assigned to. Then, upon cyberstalking you, I noticed you have posted an even nicer example of the same type in a prominent place on the forums! So your gift is likely going to become a duplicate for you. I hope you like it anyway. (If not a keeper, it should be nice swap fodder, anyway.) Upon realizing I'd likely be sending you something you already owned, I did add four or five lesser coins to the envelope to make it more interesting. I hope you like it all and will see it very soon! Now, to post what I got... there will be wretched cellphone pics forthcoming. Stand by! 🙂

Oh, I’m really not sweating it over the incoming one. It’ll arrive. Or it won’t. I’m just hoping that my outgoing one made it safely to the opposite side of the globe. I shipped it with stamps so have no tracking info.

If the item is a single coin in a flip (not in a slab), then I ship it as a “letter” rather than a package. Which saves me money and hassle on this end, since the US Postal Service does not require a customs declaration on “letter” shaped mail, to the best of my knowledge. No customs declaration on my end might prevent it from going into customs limbo on your end, one would hope?

@airhead1983 - you now have two chances in the drawing: one on your behalf by @seth77, and one in your own name. Good luck!

Kind of you- I will post an entry for her. For future reference, the giveaways come with free worldwide shipping, so don’t ever let your non-US location be a barrier to entering. 🙂

My mailbox is still empty and my recipient is still silent... I'm feeling so itchy! LOL

Nice. This rather porous example from my novice (2007-08) collection is the only Salonina I have owned. "The first collectors did not lay much stress on the state of preservation of their specimens, to which in the present day very great, and I might say excessive importance, is attached." Hm. Guilty as charged. I certainly was less selective in those early days of my Roman coin collecting. I raced to fill as many holes in my portrait collection as possible, and condition was a secondary concern. Most were the basic "someone standing there" reverses, as well. But it was fun and educational.

Update: this contest is now CLOSED. Just another one of my cheap-but-cheerful giveaways. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/lordm-giveaway-107-pick-your-prize.409009/ The random drawing will be on or shortly after January 1, 2024. If you lack CoinTalk credentials (or prefer not to post over there for whatever reason), you may post an entry here and I will repost it on your behalf over on CoinTalk. Don't forget to mention your prize choice. Or you may enter on someone else's behalf. Just say who. Every nomination gives them an additional chance in the drawing, and they can pick their own prize if your entry for them is drawn as the winner.

Brilliant! The #3 Hadrian/Premarres spoke to me. Nothing says “Dark Ages” like an Anglo-Saxon sceatta. Those “porcupine” types are so mysterious to me.

Helios. Next: more roses, or other flower(s).

That Kushan in #6 really caught my eye, though I was still blinded by the rest. Wow.

I've always found those Axumite coins with the gold inlay very interesting.

PS- when do we get to see what it is? 😉

Know what you mean.