Coinmaster

This might be a nice topic for this forum: did you see a nice coin online that you're not going to buy? Share it here and you might make someone else happy. I propose two rules: 1. No coins that you're selling yourself. 2. Add a brief remark, why you think this is a nice coin to buy (good bargain, great historic story, good quality, etc.). For a start, how about this nice aureus? It's above my budget (11.900,- Euro) but it's a gem! I like it because it's an aureus from Marcus Aurelius: the good, stoïc emperor. It's in great condition and the price seems low to me for this coin type and quality. Marcus Aurelius (161-180) AV Aureus Rome, struck AD 169. Av: ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXIIII, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rv: FELICITAS AVG COS III, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and vertical scepter. RIC 201, Cálico 1850a, BMCRE 489, Biaggi 847, Mazzini 177. Needle sharp with lovely rose color toning. NGC grade AU; Strike: 5/5; Surface: 4/5, edge scuff. Fine Style. Removed NGC Case. Ex. Austrian Auction House Ex. New York Sale (source: https://www.ma-shops.nl/kalchhauser/item.php?id=1280)

Yes, it's found in the river Waal, Gelderland, The Netherlands and bought by the museum in 1898.

Hi all, Has anyone seen this coin like object before? Could this be a award/stipendium for high ranking military? Votis Vicennalibus - vows (prayers) for twenty years of rule. Could this be from 320: Licinius and Constantine? Where does the NN stands for? The graffiti is CCAA and stands for Cologne (Köln). https://hdl.handle.net/21.12126/131796

In his time Constantinople (former Byzantium and later Istanbul) was called 'Nova Roma'. With the transfer of the Palladium that act would have been a contribution.

A true gem in your collection, congrats and enjoy!!

Great collection of coins @GERMANICVS, thanks for sharing! And thanks for your reply. About ULTORI, yes, I was thinking about this too, but the double die match coin is of great condition, with enough space for the text, don’t you agree?

I was just strolling trough The Gollnow Collection and saw this remark at coin lot no. 1100: ‘What makes this coin particularly interesting is that it was struck from the same reverse die as lot 1117 below. This not only connects the SALVS GENERIS HVMANI type to the PACI P R issue, it also attests the concurrent use of dies for both plated and solid silver coins.’. See: https://leunumismatik.com/en/auction/27/. Very strange, or even disturbing is the fact that all the Gollnow coins are attributed to either ‘forces of Galba’, ‘Rhine legions may/june-december 68’ or ‘Vitellius’. What?! Has Vindex suffered a damnatio memoriae?! This can not be true at all. Vindex must have produced coins for paying at least his own army / rebellion group, with clear propaganda texts on them, to overthrown the brutal government of emperor Nero. Like the coins with the text ‘MARS VLTOR’, the revenging war god Mars. Ultor means revenger, just like the name Vindex. Clearly, this cannot be a coincidence. Reading Sutherland again (RIC, from page 197 onwards), I even find no hard evidence for Galba striking ‘rebellion coins’ at all between March-June 68, until the death of Nero. I also don’t know of any find specimen of that period from Spain. Does any of you? So shouldn’t we give Vindex more credit for producing (most of) the coin types? We really should look better at coin finds from this period: where are they found?! In my own research I have noted 3 coins of a type that’s attributed to Galba, but two of them have been found in The Netherlands. How likely is this to be from a Spanish coin production place (like Tarraco), instead from Gaul (Vienne)? To conclude, I do agree with this remark in the Gollnow catalogue: ‘Intriguing as this observation is, it shows that grouping civil war coins only by types is a dangerous endeavor that can easily lead to the wrong conclusions. In the troublesome years of 68 and 69, the coinage of each political stakeholder was eagerly received by their respective allies, opponents, and successors, leading to a conglomerate of intertwined numismatic iconography that only gradually reveals its secrets.’

Thanks for sharing Klaus. I just saw this article with the - no coincidence - same title: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272464212_Plated_coins_false_coins#fullTextFileContent.

Hello @Anaximander @Alegandron @Limes @rasiel and other interested civil war coin friends. I'm happy to let you know I just bought my first Vindex coin! By luck I guess, as I never thought I'd buy a kind of nice one well below 500 Euro. I bought it for 283,- including postage which is, I think, a bargain. The coin is clearly a fouree, with a copper core, but this was quite common: these coins were struck in the same mint and have a copper core due to a lack of silver. It's the above photo, with the terrible reverse side(!). But, just wait before laughing out loud, what convinced me to buy this coin is the following. First of all, I generally don't worry too much about the reverse side of coins, since the obverse is what I see when looking into my coin tray. 😉 Additionally, I discovered that this is a yet undescribed variant. The reverse should read: MARTI VLTORI, but here VLTORI is missing. While searching for comparable material, I found a double die match on acsearch! See the coin below my coin. This one is also a fouree, but in significantly better quality (and also twenty times more expensive). On this coin, VLTORI is also missing. The coin type is RIC I² 17; Martin 34; Giard 6. The first two do not mention the variant, in Giard the coin (a different specimen) with the missing VLTORI is depicted but not noted as such in the description (see below plus some other examples). I just found Giards 1998 publication entirely available online! So see here for those who want to download it for free. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that Mattingly and Giard attribute this coin type to a Spanish origin. However, Martin argues that this cannot be correct, due to the strong link with the Gallic MARS VLTOR coin types (see pages 24-25 in his publication) and linked die stamps (see p. 87): with Martin 44 (RIC I² 22), Martin 37 (RIC I² 21), etc. Find spots are (only?) known in England and coins from collections in France, Austria and Germany. See: https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).cw.17 and https://ikmk.smb.museum/object?lang=en&id=18228328. I couldn't find any in Spanish collections, like: https://www.museunacional.cat/es/coleccion/numismática. In all, this makes no strong case for a mint place in Spain. But please let me know if you have more find spot information. Interestingly, Martin did not mentioned Martin 34 (my coin) as being linked with Martin 72 (RIC I² 29) on page 87 which is linked to Martin 70-71 (RIC I² 53-54) = Gaul/Vindex! Also, Martin 14 is not in RIC but it is linked to Martin 13, Martin 26/27 and - again - Martin 70! Martin 31 is not included in RIC and is missing with image in Martin. However, it is an important link between Martin 70 and Martin 76 to Martin 80. I suspect that the reason this has not been noticed earlier is because Martins publication is in German, a language not many French and English speakers are proficient in. Very unfortunate, as it leads to old opinions being repeated instead of new knowledge being adopted. Clearly, the entire overview in RIC I² of coin production for the year 68 needs revision. In any case, I am happy with this new, unexpected acquisition!

Ahh, F.U.N.! Had to look that up (I'm from The Netherlands). 😉 http://www.funtopics.com/

Thanks @Al Kowsky, I think you're right! Here's my example (backside quite worn, but I love looking at this portrait in my coin tray ;-)).

Haha, these kind of facing portraits always makes me think about the melting face at the end of Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark! 😉

Very nice coin! Coins from Frederik II are most interesting because of Frederik II himself. He was seen in his time as 'wonder of the world'. And this does not seem like an exaggerated title. It is also said that the Renaissance began with Frederick II. Many books have been published about his extraordinary life, and Frederick II certainly belongs in the ranks of Augustus, Charlemagne, and Napoleon. His gold coin (the first since the later Middle Ages), inspired by Roman examples and Charlemagne's portrait denarius, is also very interesting for coin enthusiasts. If I were to choose a medieval coin collection theme again, it would probably be coins of Frederick II. See also: https://www.e-periodica.ch/digbib/view?pid=snr-003:1976:55::242#82 and the attached file. Enjoy your coin! Frederick_II_of_Hohenstaufen_1208-1250.pdf

Looks genuine to me too. And an offstrike seems plausible. When a unique piece looks us in the face from the mist of time, it's hardly ever welcomed with open arms. But that's logical too. I think this 'coin' would be worth much, much more when a similar gold piece was found. Exciting piece, thanks for sharing!

Just stumbled upon this publication: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327300756_Biometric_Portraits_of_Emperors_on_the_Roman_Coins Looks promising, what are your thoughts? I'm interested as I'm also looking for denarii which looks more or less similar as marble busts. Unfortunately most busts on internet are frontal. I really must visit some museums in Italy!