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Here's a coin with a flag: Country: El Salvador Edge: BANCO CENTRAL DE RES Coin: 1971 5 Colones REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR AMERICA CENTRAL 1971 - Flags flank triangular arms within wreath, date below 150° ANIVERSARIO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA DE CENTRO AMERICA 1821-1971 josé Siméon Cañas y Villacorta 5 COLONES - Liberty statue, Cañas bust at right, dates at left, denomination below Shape: Round. Wt./Size/Axis: 11.50g / 29.8mm / 6h References: KM 142 Acquisition: Artemide Aste Online auction 19.1E #884 (part of) 21-Oct-2012 Notes: Nov 17, 12 - Proof in 0.999 fine silver - pity about the fingerprints! Next - another shiny silver coin (preferably not with fingerprints!)

Oh - I see there are no drawings - "Il n'y a évidemment pas les reproductions de pièces (l'auteur n'est pas dessinateur !)"

A lot of work! I wonder if they drew any coins too? - I don't see any in the pages shown. ATB, Aidan.

Here's William Butler Yeats. This is the second one of these I bought as I hadn't added the first to Tantalus and thought I didn't have it - I need to add the two of them. WB's brother, Jack, was a well-known painter and was also commemorated on a coin - perhaps this is a first - two brothers commemorated for different achievements on coins? Next - some other modern commemorative. ATB, Aidan.

Super coins 😄 I like all of them 😄

Happy New Year, all! I wasn't going to bother with a Top 10 for 2023, but decided to stick together something. I selected these by just looking at all the coins added in the last year and picking 10 that stood out for whatever reason. The order is based on when I added them. 1. RR Aes Grave as I'd wanted a big cast coin for some time and got this in January last year and picked it up from CNG at NYINC. I wondered if security at JFK would take an interest in it (it was in my coat pocket), but no, fortunately! A practical difficulty with storing these is their thickness. Abafil make double depth trays which work well for them, but the Marmotta cabinet only holds standard thickness trays. However, at NYINC, they told me they can make a Marmotta cabinet for the extra-deep trays as well, so I got one of those made during the summer. It takes 10 of the extra-deep trays (or the regular trays), so I've moved most of my RR bronzes into that and left the other Marmotta (20 regular depth trays) for the smaller silver coins. I should have enough storage now for RR coins for several years. When I took the photos below, I didn't have a an extra-deep tray with spaces big enough for this, but that's been rectified now. Gens: Anonymous Coin: Bronze As I - Laureate head of bearded Janus I - Prow of galley right Mint: Rome (ca. 225-217 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 249.20g / 64mm / 12h References: Sydenham 71 Crawford 35/1 HN Italy 337 ICC 74 BMCRR Rome 1-9 Provenances: Ex. S & S Collection Acquisition: CNG Online auction Triton XXVI #598 10-Jan-2023 2. Papal Medal I picked up a couple of references on papal medals during the year - including Bartolotti - and a few medals as well. This was the first one to arrive. I like the big bridge on a pontifex maximus medal 😄 Issued By: Pius IX Type: Commemorative Details: | PIVS IX PONT MAX ANNO VI - Bust of Pius IX right ALBANO ET ARICCIA PONTE CONJVNCTIS MDCCCLI - View of the bridge of Ariccia Grouping: Single Designer: G. Cerbara Shape: Round. Mint: (1851) Wt./Size/Axis: - / 43mm / - References: Bart. E. 851 Acquisition: Artemide Aste Online auction Asta 61E #1101 8-Jan-2023 3. RR Denarius The Irish International Coin Fair returned in February '23 after an absence since 2020. There weren't many ancient coins, but Richard Walshe had some and I picked up a couple (both I already had, but these are upgrades) - this is one of them. Gens: Furia Moneyer: L. Furius Brocchus Coin: Silver Denarius III VIR BROCCHI - Head of Ceres, right; on left, corn-ear L·FVRI CN·F - Curule chair; on either side, fasces Mint: Rome (63 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 3.66g / 19mm / 6h References: RSC 23 (Furia) Sydenham 902 Crawford 414/1 Acquisition/Sale: Hibernian Coins and Notes Irish International Coin Fair 18-Feb-2023 4. Caracalla Aureus My only gold coin of the year - not really sure why it attracted me, but I guess it's nice to have some bling, holes and all. Ruler: Caracalla (Augustus) Coin: Gold Aureus ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT - Head of Caracalla, laureate, right P M TR P XV COS III P P IOV VIC - Jupiter, nude to waist, seated left, holding Victory in extended right hand and sceptre in left hand; at feet, left, eagle Mint: Rome (212 AD) Wt./Size/Axis: 7.46g / 20mm / 6h References: RIC 200 Acquisition: Naville Numismatics Online auction NN Live 80 #644 2-Apr-2023 5. Voce Populi Halfpenny The first Belfast coin fair in years was in June, organised in part as an event to mark the Numismatic Society of Ireland (Northern Branch)'s 60th anniversary. Baldwin's had a table and had a pile of their Fixed Price List catalogues - unfortunately for me, they'd brought mainly Irish coins rather than ancients from the list, but I'd wanted a Voce Populi coin, so got this. UK-based dealers hadn't, for the most part, travelled to Dublin for the earlier fair as they now have to pay VAT on their stock coming in (13.5% or 23%, depending on age) and claim it back going out. They could attend the Belfast fair without these up-front payments and so a few did. Since the Brexit agreement, Northern Ireland is in an interesting situation as there are no cross border checks between Republic and Northern Ireland and it remains in the EU Single Market. So... goods to be kept within the UK can cross freely to N.I. from Britain while goods to be exported to the EU through N.I. should pass through checks and be taxed (at what rate?). I could freely buy things in N.I. and bring them home without paying 13.5%/23% as they were already in the Single Market (well, sort-of!). Anyway, the Voce Populi slot is now filled - quite an ugly coin, I suppose, but I got it at a reasonable enough price. Country: Ireland Coin: 1760 Halfpenny VOCE POPULI - Laureate bust right HIBERNIA - Hibernia seated left, holding long sceptre and branch Shape: Round. Wt./Size/Axis: 6.05g / 26mm / 5h References: DF571 Acquisition: Baldwin's Belfast Coin Fair 10-Jun-2023 6. Ireland World Cup €15 The Ireland women's soccer team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2023 and this coin was issued to mark the occasion. In the event, Ireland probably underperformed - they managed a draw and two defeats and went out after the group stage. The manager was dropped after the campaign and they've won their last six matches with a new interim manager, so we hope there's more to come. A second cousin of mine (I don't know her, though a sister has met her a few times and she's given a jersey to my niece) was on the team and played in all the matches, so I thought it was worth sticking this coin on the list. Country: Ireland Authority: Central Bank Coin: 2023 €15 ÉIRE 2023 - Harp IRELAND WOMEN'S NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM 2020 15 EURO - Shamrock above tricolour Shape: Round. Mint: (3000) Wt./Size/Axis: 28.28g / 38.61mm / 0h Acquisition: Central Bank Online shop 14-Jul-202 7. Spain €30 Xacobeo 21/22 Commemorative Nothing to do with coins, but the best thing I managed to do in 2023 was walk the Camino de Santiago (Camino Francés) for 11 days - from León to Santiago. I'd done shorter stints of up to a week before in 2003, 2006 and 2010, but this was the longest (315km according to my official cert.) and fastest. I'd taken 3 weeks off after a tapeout and was short of ideas - it came down to a choice between a fast "Round-the-World" or just go to Spain and walk - this was easier and turned out well - I had no time to plan anything elaborate. I booked on 30th Aug (4.32PM I see from a quick check of emails) and flew to Madrid at 6.20AM on 31st. A night there, fast train to León, a night there and started walking on 2nd Sept. I'd a flight home from Santiago booked for 13th (Numismatic Society meeting on 15th and 13th was the last direct flight to get me there on time), so I had to get to Santiago by 13th - the Camino passes Santiago Airport, so in the worst case, I could walk straight to Departures and finish there 😄 I got to Santiago on 12th and met up with some old friends there and safely home. Here's a panorama shot I took along the way. Recommended for anyone who likes a nice walk 😄 I'll certainly do it again, but no idea yet when or which route. Anyway, here's something I picked up on eBay after - a €30 uncirculated issue marking the 2021 Xacobeo (Holy Year - so-termed when the 25th July - Feast of St. James/Santiago - falls on a Sunday). It's not as impressive as the 2010 proof I have marking an earlier Holy Year, but nice enough for an uncirculated issue. The little hologram panel has a few little images of the scallop shell, the date, mintmark and a flecha (arrow) - which can be seen by tilting the coin back and over (hologram image taken from numista): Country: Spain Coin: 2021 M €30 FELIPE VI Y LETIZIA / ESPANA 2021 - Conjoined heads of Felipe VI and Letizia 30 EURO / XACOBEO 21.22 - Pilgrim approaching Santiago de Compostela Shape: Round. Mint: Madrid (1000000) Wt./Size/Axis: 18.00g / 33mm / 6h References: KM 1523 Acquisition: estoeshistoria eBay 225701329556 15-Sep-2023 8. NSI Northern Branch Medal As mentioned earlierm, the Norther Branch of the Numismatic Society of Ireland celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2023 and here's the medal they minted for the occasion, with Carrickfergus Castle. A mint operated at the castle in the late 12th/early 13th centuries; the obverse is based on the very rare John deCourcy halfpenny of the late 12th century. Issued By: NSI (NB) Type: Commemorative Details: | NUMISMATIC SOCIETY OF IRELAND (NORTHERN BRANCH) - Crozier and cross; legend PATRICIVS 60th ANNIVERSARY / 6 DECEMBER 1963 - 2023 - Depiction of Carrickfergus Castle Grouping: Single Shape: Round. Mint: (2023) Wt./Size/Axis: 31.10g / 40mm / - Acquisition: NSI (Northern Branch) Online 21-Aug-2023 9. RR Denarius Most of the coins I bought this year were again RR coins - here's another. It's fairly worn and the only reason it makes the list is that it was quite a bargain at €44 - the Shield & Carnyx denarius is quite rare. Maybe I'll upgrade from it some day, but it fills the slot for now. Gens: Anonymous - Shield & Carnyx Coin: Silver Denarius X - Helmeted head of Roma right - Dioscuri galloping right; below, shield and carnyx Exergue: ROMA Mint: Uncertain (ca. 206-200 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 3.83g / 19mm / 12h References: RSC 1 (Decia) Sydenham 290 Crawford 128/1 Acquisition: CGB Online auction e-auction 542 #brm_861578 4-Sep-2023 10. Another RR Denarius Here's another one - in decent condition, but an off-centre strike. On the obverse, I suppose we're looking at the edges of the die at the left of the flan? A hexagonal or octagonal die from the looks of it. Gens: Flaminia Moneyer: L. Flaminius Chilo Coin: Silver Denarius IIII•VIR / PRI•[FL] - Diademed head of Venus right L•FLAM[INI?] - Victory in biga, right, holding palm-branch and reins in left hand and whip in right hand Exergue: [CHILO] Mint: Rome (43 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 3.88g / 19mm / 2h References: RSC 2-2a (Flaminia) Sydenham 1088 Crawford 485/2 RBW 1700 HCRI 171 Provenances: Ex. Collection of a Hanseatic Romanophile, Kuenker, Auction 347, 22-Mar-2021, lot 931 Ex. Kuenker, Auction 143, 6-Oct-2008, lot 421 Acquisition: Roma Numismatics Online auction Auction XXIX #415 9-Nov-2023 And that's it - Happy New Year to all! Any comments, etc. welcome. ATB, Aidan.

Super coins! I especially like the Terina stater, but all great! ATB, Aidan.

I have "Ancient Coin Collecting" down as a hobby in my CV (IC design - as noted above, quite a few engineers collect coins). It's quite a while now since I've changed job, but at one interview the HR interviewer remarked on it - her late father had collected military buttons. I got that job, though I don't think the coins and buttons were a big factor in that. I remember a long time ago ('89) talking about telescope mounts and the aurora borealis in interviews as astronomy was an interest at the time (still is, but on the back burner) and there's no harm at all in talking about something you're interested in. I can't recall any CVs we get here mentioning ancient coin collecting, but I would see that as a plus - people hire people like themselves. At one time, we half-jokingly decided we needed another runner for our 5K relay team and asked anyone who mentioned running as a hobby about their times, etc. 😄 In fact, our team never took to the field (or track) - our keenest runner has since left (he told me he suggested running at lunchtime to his new colleagues and got blank looks) and the rest of us are aged and slowing, so I might be better off getting people interested in coins. ATB, Aidan.

The story is from 2022 and the ANS has an article fro Dec. 2022 on the coins. https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/sponsian/ Indeed, the first point against them is that they are cast, which is not in dispute. ATB, Aidan.

I make it 2270 types in Crawford - I may have made a mistake or two along the way, but when I made a spreadsheet of all the types, that's what I ended up with - still in China, but have been able to get access to some things through VPN! ATB, Aidan.

Impressive coin - the best thing about Segovia is the aqueduct, though! From 2002, taken with a fairly early Fuji digital camera. A cloudy day in 2006 (slightly better Canon): I haven't been back since! ATB, Aidan.

Three great examples! I have lesser ones, maybe someday to be upgraded! ATB, Aidan.

Hi Donna, I have quantity rather than quality! There are others with more, though. I made a spreadsheet of all the types in Crawford some time ago - I cannot remember offhand how many entries there were - it was slightly more than 2500 I think. CRRO was organised that way, but now has lumped some varieties together under one number at the main search page, so now it shows 1747 entries - varieties are only listed when you select a type. Some of the varieties seem minor to me - in some cases legend varieties are lumped together, in other cases they merit a separate entry - but others are more significant. Right now I'm in Shanghai and don't have access to the spreadsheet (I have a copy on Google Docs, but that isn't accessible in China - I had a VPN, but that stopped working on Day 2 here, so a bit cut off!), but will update in a couple of weeks. CRRO doesn't render properly for me here, I suppose it's pulling in some files which are inaccessible, so it looks like this for me - most of the text is Black On Black, so has to be selected to be read: Anyway, there are some types not in Crawford - e.g., the H denarius. Additionally, more recent work by Andrew McCabe and others splits up some of Crawford's bronze categories - e.g., the 56 series, into different issues. Cr 56/x is a catch-all for anonymous bronzes and several different issues are represented. There was a strange quinarius sold by Artemide a couple of years ago which quickly reappeared (on Roma?) which is a new and strange type, if real! Yes - plenty of symbols to keep anyone busy for lifetimes. There was a large collection of RR coins sold fairly recently (2 - 3 years ago) by a Spanish auction house with many different examples of symbols on the coins - there were at least of dozens of different symbols per type represented. I threw in a few bids but didn't win anything. I don't think any Irish banks will take on new customers for deposit boxes either, so we are also stuck with expensive private operators. Some of us from the Numismatic Society of Ireland went on a tour of the Bank Of Ireland's College Green branch last year - a fine building which once housed the Irish Parliament, before the Act Of Union. When the parliament building became surplus with the abolition of the parliament, it was sold to the bank and has been a commercial bank since. Anyway, part of the tour went to the vault, where they have shelves and shelves of stuff left there for, in some cases, a couple of centuries. There are not as many treasures as alluded to in the article below, but I wouldn't mind a rummage (our guide was disparaging of the guy mentioned in the article): https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/right-here-in-the-banks-there-s-literally-hoards-of-stuff-unclaimed-1.3815521 I will not be happy if Sentinel goes out of business or I go in sometime and find I've been raided! ATB, Aidan.

Nice ones - I'll vote for Sihtric, one of his pennies has been on my wishlist for a long time. All great coins! ATB, Aidan.

Good luck! Overall, I've got 2340 coins on Tantalus. The RR part has grown to be the largest, but I'm still attracted to other coins too 😄 ATB, Aidan.

That's lovely and no need to count past 1! ATB, Aidan.

Congrats on a wonderful aureus! ATB, Aidan.

I'm in Shanghai at the moment and the Great Firewall of China is blocking Google images, but I will look properly when I get home and pick a top 3 from these. VPN to work was working yesterday and I could see things, but not today - oh well! ATB, Aidan.

Storage is an interesting issue. Most of my RR coins are in Abafil trays, some of them in this Marmotta cabinet: This takes 20 trays - when I took this photo', I had mixed bronze and silver coins in the same cabinet - denarius-sized and smaller coins fit into the trays with 77 spaces, so this can hold 1540 coins if filled with 20 of those trays. For larger bronze coins, I was using 40 space trays. There are seven or eight trays with bronze coins in the picture. I had one tray of Augustan denarii there too - Augustus overlaps the Republican and Imperial eras, so I put him with the Republicans. I've since got another Marmotta made by Abafil for the double depth trays for Aes Grave - this takes 10 trays. So far, I have only two of the extra-deep trays, so I moved 8 trays of normal thickness bronze coins into that as well. It is better to store the bronze and silver coins together as they were issued together each year - the same moneyers issued bronzes as well as silver coins. However, the largest bronze coins are much larger than the silver coins, so storage-wise I'd have to use more trays. Hence the separation into trays of denarii and trays of bronzes. The really large Aes Grave coins are in trays with only six spaces. I'll take more photos, but it will be a couple of weeks before I get to it. One annoying thing about trays is that you need to leave some empty spaces to allow for additional coins. Otherwise, after each addition a big reorganisation is needed. One solution might be to start off with enough space for all available coins and just populate the ones you have. Of course, this doesnt' allow for duplicates - but perhaps only one coin of each type should be in the trays and duplicates (or near duplicates, such as varieties with different symbols) could be kept in envelopes? For now, I've got everything in trays, but for some types I have several examples (e.g., 13 of Cr. 340/1) and am tempted to relegate some of them to envelopes! The rest of my collection - Roman Imperial, Greek, Modern - is in a mixture of loose trays and cabinets - by Alberto Zecchi, Peter Nichols and Swan - and folders and some in envelopes. Shamefully, there are 2 ancients in slabs 😄. As far as security - I keep my most expensive coins in Sentinel Vaults - which is safe but a hassle to get them out. ATB, Aidan.

When I started I wanted to have a "Representative collection of RR coins". That would need some of all denominations and periods, but not every rare coin - the really rare coins probably weren't encountered too often even by the Romans, so no need to collect them 😄. I'm not there yet - probably need one or two of the later aurei and a few more earlier aes grave coins and currency bars, but it is achievable in a couple of years. I'd like to get every type - say, taking Crawford as a reference - but that will be impossible as there are maybe forty unique types and many more which are extremely rare and/or expensive, so I will never complete that. I'm interested in knowing when others have decided that their collection is complete and what they did then! I have most of the common/inexpensive types so at some point it will get to the stage where I can only add a few coins a year - maybe the fun in the chase will be all the more then or maybe I'll get frustrated, I don't know 😄 Congrats on your litra! It reminds me that I have at least two of those not on Tantalus. ATB, Aidan.

I see that the number of Roman Republican + Imperatorial coins I have on Tantalus has reached 1000! This number isn't exactly the number of coins I have, as some are not on Tantalus and I've given away 1, but it's near enough and I figured I'd reach 1000 by the end of the year. On Tantalus, this is coin 999 (coin 1000 was posted already in a "Latest coin" thread): Gens: Anonymous - L-T Coin: Bronze Sextans L - Head of Minerva right, wearing Corinthian helmet; below, two pellets T - The Dioscuri galloping right Exergue: ROMA Mint: Near Herdonia (213 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 10.09g / 24mm / 10h References: Sydenham 134 Crawford 98A/6 RBW 435 Provenances: Ex. Andrew McCabe Collection Ex. Gibboni Collection, Munzen & Medaillen, Auction 19, 16-May-2006, lot 598 Ex. Heracles Fixed Price List, Dec. 2003 Acquisition: Roma Numismatics Online auction Auction XXIX #320 9-Nov-2023 I'm not sure how many more RR coins I can add - I guesstimated it would take 20 years to get reasonably close to completing the collection and that was 5 years ago. So, another 15 years and likely adding fewer coins per year, but scarcer/more expensive ones? Maybe upgrade a lot of examples of common coins which are available in better condition than the examples I have? Start side collections in different symbols on coins? Will I ever be able to add Eid Mar denarius and other rare/expensive types? Anyway, here's to the next 1000. ATB, Aidan.

Ruler: Faustina II (Augusta) Coin: Brass Sestertius FAVSTINA AVGVSTA - Diademed draped bust right MATRI MAGNAE - Cybele, holding drum, seated right between two lions Mint: Rome Wt./Size/Axis: 23.20g / 29mm / 0h Rarity: S References: RIC 1663 (Marcus Aurelius) Cohen 169 Acquisition: London Ancient Coins Dea Moneta LAC 5 #119 (part) 29-Sep-2011 Next - Faustina II

Gens: Cornelia Moneyer: L. Cornelius Lentulus Coin: Silver Denarius L·LENT·C·MARC COS - Head of Apollo right Q - Jupiter standing facing, holding thunderbolt in right hand and eagle in left hand; on left, star; on right, altar decorated with garland Mint: Illyricum (49 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 4.09g / - / - References: RSC 65 (Cornelia) Sydenham 1030 Crawford 445/2 HCRI 5 RBW 1563 Provenances: Ex. NAC 52, October 2009, lot 264 Acquisition: Varesi Online auction #169 20-Sep-2020 Too slow - next lions (plural)

I just listened to More Than This about 20 minutes ago on Spotify 🙂

Two we've lost this year - duet from 1995... And quite a few years later from Shane's 60th birthday bash. A random coin picked because it has two heads on it. Gens: Cordia Moneyer: Mn. Cordius Rufus Coin: Silver Denarius RVFVS III VIR - Jugate heads of the Dioscuri right, wearing laureate pilei MN CORDIVS - Venus standing left, holding scales and sceptre; on her shoulder, Cupid Mint: Rome (46 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 4.03g / 20mm / - References: RSC 2 (Cordia) Sydenham 976 Crawford 463/1b HCRI 63 RBW 1606 Acquisition: Naville Numismatics Online auction NN Live 74 #370 19-Jun-2022 ATB, Aidan.