CPK

A beautiful coin that looked oddly familiar...until I checked my biddr watch list! 😄 Thought that looked like an Artemide photo. Nice score! I didn't bid on it, but I ended up winning another coin from that auction - somewhat unexpectedly as I anticipated being outbid during the live session.

That's a great portrait, but the reverse is no less artistic! I don't recall, offhand, seeing a drawn bow like that on an ancient coin.

Looks good to me.

Great coin @kirispupis. Sometimes the uglier ones are more interesting than the EF ones! Here is an unpublished antoninianus of Carausius - I have it labeled as an RIC 335 variant (obv. leg. and scepter angle), but it could also be labeled as RIC 336 var. (bust type and mintmark). CARAUSIUS, AD 286-293 BI Antoninianus (23.77mm, 3.31g, 1h) Struck AD 286-293. Camulodunum mint Obverse: IMP C CARAVSIVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Carausius right Reverse: PAX AVGGG, Pax standing left holding branch and transverse scepter, S-P across fields, MC in exergue References: Unpublished variant of RIC V 335 (obv. legend & scepter angle.) This coin illustrated on wildwinds.com. Corroded surfaces. The triple "G" ending in the reverse inscription was a propagandistic attempt by the rebel emperor Carausius to place himself as an equal among the ruling Augusti Diocletian and Maximian.

Another great interview from one of our favorite members! Thanks @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix and @akeady! That is a beautiful collection and library. 🤩

Here is another one of my more recent 'quality' denarii purchases - and one of my favorites: NERO, AD 54-68 AR Denarius (17.24mm, 3.47g, 7h) Struck AD 68. Rome mint Obverse: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P P, laureate head of Nero right Reverse: Legionary eagle between two standards References: RIC I 68, RCV 1947 A scarce type. Lightly toned with an excellent portrait. From the T. R. Hardaker Collection (1942-2019) "This type, among the last coins struck by the very unmilitary Nero, would seem to be an attempt to curry favor with the Roman legions of the provinces, which were beginning to rebel against his capricious rule. It did not work." - Classical Numismatic Group (lot description) Though this coin definitely exhibits more wear than my other purchases, it's still got a lot going for it in my opinion. The portrait is classic, late-reign obese Nero, skillfully executed and well-struck. The reverse is an interesting, and somewhat scarce, anepigraphic type, among the last types struck by Nero in the last year of his reign. By this time, nobody was willing to entertain Nero's depraved eccentricities. The coin is also very nicely toned, and I discovered an interesting collection provenance after finding the coin on ACSearch.info. It was formerly in the collection of T. R. Hardaker, a well-known authority on ancient Indian punchmark coinage, but who also possessed a sizeable collection of other ancient coins. Many of these (including this coin) were auction off by Baldwin's of St. James's auction house a few years ago. All in all, a very satisfying addition!

Thanks! I'm happy with how things are going. Though, I do need to start selling more. I've got a couple of little group lots that I need to photograph and list, whenever I find the time. Thank you!

Handsome little coin!

Congratulations on an interesting and rare coin @Parthicus! I don't yet have any Parthian coins, but to your point I can't really remember ever seeing a Parthian obol come up for sale.

Wow, what an incredible piece!

Lovely coin!

I understand your feelings, and as I said certainly a word of thanks was in order. If someone routinely behaves like that I tend to lose interest in helping as well. All I'm trying to do is give Amarmur the benefit of the doubt - after all we all forget to say 'thank you' sometimes. As for the preliminary assumptions, we all start somewhere and what may be obvious to some of us isn't so much for a beginner. From my observations in the past I think the OP is an honest contributing member and I'd hate to see him piled on just because of this thread.

A fascinating coin @Finn235 - congrats on the win!

Maybe I missed something, or maybe some posts were deleted, but reading the thread and @Amarmur's responses I don't think this kind of reaction is called for. He asked for ID help and received it. Sure, some thanks would have been appropriate, but it's hardly something to get that upset about. I've had some interactions with Amarmur and he's always been courteous and honest. Furthermore, he's been a pretty regular contributor here for over a year now - not at all one of those drive-by scammers fishing for a victim.

Oh wow! Very nice indeed - a lovely coin!

I have only one obol, which I bought for its connection to Pytheas the Greek, ancient explorer extraordinaire: GAUL, Massalia AR Obol (11.04mm, 0.73g, 2h) Struck circa 300 BC Obverse: Youthful male bust left Reverse: Four-spoked wheel, MA in two quadrants References: De La Tour 689 Lightly toned. Struck on a flan of good quality. Massalia was a Greek colony founded around 600 BC on the southern coast of modern-day France. Notable natives of Massalia include the great explorer Pytheas the Greek (fl. c. 320 BC), who travelled up the British Isles and as far north as Iceland, and later described his travels in a book entitled On the Ocean.

A beautiful coin @kirispupis, congratulations on the milestone acquistion!

Thanks - I also don't usually mind overpaying a bit, if it's a rare opportunity and I really want it - but in some cases, it might take a little while for the pain to subside. 😉 Thanks! I've definitely experienced the flip-side before of regretting not being more aggressive when I had the chance. Thanks! I know I will not regret this purchase. And since I have been selling so many coins I was well able to afford it, even though it was pricey! I still very much appreciate the worn rarities in my collection - and as a matter of fact, I just purchased an AE provincial that is in rather poor shape, but I'm very excited to own!

That Vespasian is a rare type. Congrats!

To complete the Flavian Dynasty, I needed a good Vespasian denarius. But even though I came across a number of possible candidates, none of them really seemed to 'speak' to me, if you know what I mean. Then I noticed a particularly fine example scheduled to be auctioned off later that month and put it on my watchlist. The bidding stayed pretty low, so I was hopeful of being able to snag it for a decent price. Ha, think again! The evening before the auction was to go live, I decided to make my move - so I placed a bid about double what the current bid was. Not enough. Both my bids and a feeling of desperation kept inching up and up as I tried to top the winning bid. Sigh. Yes, I finally topped the max bid, but by that point we were both in the stratosphere, almost double what I had previously decided would be my max bid, and it was with feelings of annoyance, guilt, hope, and resignation that I finally closed the web browser and headed for bed. Well, to make a long story short, my winning bid held - there were no additional bids placed, so I won the coin! But whew. I am afraid I may have overpaid for it, but oh well, it really is one of the finest portrait denarii of Vespasian I've ever seen! Plus, it is a rare type, rated "R" in RIC. So I will now present what might be the best yet in my 'quality' collection: VESPASIAN, AD 69-79 AR Denarius (18.35mm, 3.26g, 6h) Struck AD 74. Rome mint Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESP AVG, laureate head of Vespasian right Reverse: PONTIF MAXIM around winged caduceus References: RIC II 686 (R), RCV 2306 Lightly toned and lustrous. A magnificent portrait of Vespasian, and an exemplar of the veristic style of Flavian portraiture.

I'm glad you bought that one...because it keeps me from spending the money on it! I saw that as well and thought it was a shockingly good deal coming from that particular dealer. Congrats on the acquisition! It is a handsome coin despite the wear.

Interesting! If I want to take some coins somewhere to show people I usually just put them in flips. Occasionally I'll staple them into cardboard holders. Most times it's just a few coins so it works fine.

That is a beautiful coin, all around! Heavy, too. Congratulations!

Very nice coin!

Nice coin and writeup @DonnaML, thanks for posting! Good to hear you're on the mend. Doesn't seem to me you've lost any brain cells. 😉