EtTu

Thanks! I'm now only 3 reverse types away from having one of each zoo series types!

I won this today at Savoca and it may seem like just an average Dianae zoo coin, but this is actually one of the most rare and hard to find zoo coins and has yet to be represented in this thread. This is the right facing antelope with the gamma mintmark. I was banking on no one knowing what it was and was able to snag it for just 14€!!!

My new imitation zoo coins This one looks to be an amalgamation of two different zoo creatures. The forepart and the mintmark are Hippocamp, but the tail has two coils which is a feature of the Criocamp, whereas the hippocamp only has one coil. A panther A centaur A goat The rest were purchased from Cédric Wolkow A panther, this one is unusual for an imitation in that the coin appears to be all silver. Another panther Judging from the curved horns, I think criocamp A Pegasus And a diplodocus, that was Wolkow's description and I added it onto my order based solely on that description.

Here are some of my more recent additions. Right facing griffin, I was ecstatic to get this coin as my previous example with a sigma mintmark was confirmed to be an imitation. 5aa4 Left facing griffin 4aa4 A second seated griffin 6aa4 A couple of antelopes, this first one I just received from @Molag Bal and haven't had the chance to photograph it yet. It has an uncommon obverse, 15 listed in Wolkow. 13l12 13a12 A couple hippocampi, and my first desert patina 23a9 23m9 An extraordinary example of the Herculean lion 15a1 Bull on a broad fpan with a crack. For some reason I really like the look of coins on broad flans. 28a11 Two more Criocamps, I also have one more on the way which will bring my total to 5 examples and three different reverse dies. Both 21a8 A capricorn 24a6 A doe 9aa5 A goat 17a6 And finally, while the Pegasus (or Sol's winged horse) may be one of the more common in the zoo series, this is perhaps one of my most unique coins. It is a pegasus with a bridle and chamfron. 26a1 I say unique, but I did find this coin which I believe to be a die match, but much worse for wear. If it weren't for my other example, I probably would have thought the reins on this coin were some kind of flaw. I also have quite a few imitations that I've also added to my collection, I'll put them in another post.

I received my package a couple weeks ago and not-so-patiently waited until today to open it. I received a Probus coin and several uncleaned coins. My Saturn read my previous posts and saw that I had an interest in starting to collect Probus coins. Also, unbeknownst to my Saturn, I have always wanted to try cleaning coins for the experience so I am excited about that as well. My Saturn did write me a note, but did not sign it. Hopefully they see this so they know I received them and enjoyed them! I had to rush off to work, but I'll try and get pictures at a later time.

I've noticed the change because it makes scrolling somewhat difficult on mobile, I'm 90% on mobile. When I try to scroll the page doesn't move, it just flicks the picture up and down and I have to remember to lift my thumb above the picture, which is hard when you're using one hand and you don't have long fingers...

I use lindner coin boxes.

I actually knew that, but it's a bad habit of mine to call it Pegasus. It is most commonly referred to as pegasus, and searching 'gallienus pegasus' will yield much more results than 'winged horse'. Also, Sol's horses were only sometimes winged, and depicted much more often sans wings. But a single winged horse is usually, albeit not always, Pegasus. So ease, commonality, and familiarity are all reasons I say Pegasus even though it is not correct.

I had two coins on my wishlist from the Leu auction and I was lucky enough to win them both. Despite the Herculean lion being a much more rare coin, I prioritized the Pegasus as it's a potentially unique coin, luckily the pegasus was first and I was able to win them both. The Pegasus caught my attention because you can see it has reins. Upon closer inspection, you can clearly see a bridle and what appears to be a chamfron, or facial plate armor. I've not seen any other examples of a Gallienus pegasus with tack and armor, but I'm still searching for other known examples. With all the reforms Gallienus made to the military, especially amping up the usage of heavy cavalry, it makes sense that this would be represented on a coin, but less so on a pegasus. Either way, I'm ecstatic to have won it. I am also very happy that I was able to upgrade my Herculean lion to this beautiful example. My original, which I may be releasing for sale to give other collectors an opportunity to have one, although I'm not sure how many serious Gallienus Zoo collectors are out there. I feel like many beginners collect a few of his common issues and then move on.

Here's four Neptvno capricorns that I have, the first one I bought is my favorite, the second one is also a very nice coin of a different style, both the first have the distinction of having unusually nice obverses for a Gallienus Zoo coin. The third is a pretty bad coin, but I have yet to come across a nice example of a capricorn with the small, straight horns for sale and I'm also in need of a capricorn with the longer, very slightly curved horns. And the fourth I don't have in hand yet, it is potentially the same reverse die as the first, but I'm not sure as it looks to be bearded and the first is not. The more common reverses I have tons of different styles of and am always looking for more!

I really like animals and mythical creatures on coins and my main collection, the Gallienus Zoo, is based solely on reverses. To be honest, I don't much care about the state of the obverse, I prioritize the reverse style and quality in that order. There are rare military obverses, which are nice, but the prices for those go unusually high so I generally don't go for them. I try to find coins that have different styles, or dies, than ones I already have and there is plenty of variation amongst Gallienus' 30 zoo reverse types, 31 if you count the right facing Ivnoni coin that only features Salonina. Here's four Mercvrio criocamps, the first three I believe to be the same die and each one upgraded the previous, the fourth is a completely different die which is why I added it to my collection.

Same thing happened to me!!!

For $12 those are pretty decent. I like the pegasus style where the wings are dotted instead of solid lines. The centaur you sold for ~$7 actually looks like a barbarous imitation.

That's a very nice centaur and a beautiful bust of Gallienus. I find that on a lot of his coins you have either a nice bust or a nice reverse, but rarely both. Yours is actually a different type than mine. There are 3 Apollini centaur types. Mine is 3a7 and yours is 2a7. @DonnaML has a really good post that includes an entire list of all the types here:

After waffling over many coins I finally found one that felt right for my giftee. I added a couple coins for myself and intend to repackage my gift and ship it out myself. Unfortunately, I'm heading into a winter storm that could shut my city down so hopefully there won't be too much of a delay. Eight years ago we had a storm that dropped over 6ft of snow in 48 hrs and that shut us down for a week! Here is a picture of exactly eight years ago today, if you see the black spot in that snow pile, it's my side mirror on my car!