rvk

Very nice coins. Lots of different groups with pleasant portraits. My group 1 "younger portrait w/ plain throne" style:

On 4/6/2024 at 3:48 PM, AncientJoe said:

I'm easily won over by nice toning, despite knowing that it's ultimately transient and in the fullness of time will become gray. That said, I do ensure I'm storing my coins in as inert of a manner as possible to avoid accelerating toning.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Those are very nice.

Vespasian. 69-79 AD. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.54g). Ephesus mint. IMP CAESAR VESPAS AVG COS III TR P P P; Head of Vespasian, laureate, right / PACI AVGVSTAE; Victory, draped, advancing right, holding wreath extended in right hand and palm over left shoulder. EP[H]E lower right. RIC II 1431 (C2).

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Nice pick up. My rome and antioch pair:

Incredible coins. The Demetrius I Poliorcetes tetradrachm is specular.

AR Denarius, 3.62g

Lugdunum Mint

AVGVSTVS DIVI F; Head of Augustus, laureate, right

IMP XIIII; Augustus, togate, seated left on platform, receiving child from standing barbarian

RIC 201A.  Lyon 65.  RSC 175.

@Octavius Beautiful Nero Victory. Vespasian's issue:

AE As, 11.77g

Lugdunum Mint

IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS VIII P P; Laureate head right

S C in field; Victory flying l., with shield inscribed SPQR

RIC 1240. 

During the time of Mithridates IV Eupator cities were given the authority to produce local coinage bearing their name. There were ten issuing cities in the Pontos region (Amaseia, Amisos, Chabakta, Gazioura, Kabeira, Komana, Laodikeia, Pharnakeia, Pimolisa and Taulara) and three outside of Pontos (Sinope, Amastris, and Dia). I collect very lightly in this area and have never seen that city legend before.

AIMI-ΛΙOY -> Aimilion

AMI-ΣOY -> Amisos

AMAΣ-ΣEIAΣ-> Amaseia

XABA-KTΩN -> Chabakta

Your full legend is likely "ΚΟΜΑ-ΝΩΝ" -> Komana

Very nice, scarce city type. My more common Amisos (AMI-ΣOY) issue:

On 10/23/2023 at 5:22 PM, CPK said:

And a collection favorite from Alexandria Troas:

Very nice coin, a variant you don't see very often.

Some Obol's:

Domitian. 77-79 AD. Æ Obol (4.13g, 18.7mm). Alexandria mint. ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑΝΟΣ ΣΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ, LϚ; Laureate head of Domitian, right / Griffin seated, right, with wheel. RPC II 2534.

Vespasian. 69-79 AD. Æ Obol (3.68g, 19.5mm). Alexandria mint. AΥΤΟΚ ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒΑ ΟΥΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝΟΥ; Laureate head of Vespasian to right / Lς; Hawk standing right, wearing skhent. RPC II 2443.

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11 hours ago, Limes said:

Nice catch! I was wondering about the spelling, though. Is there a difference in meaning, between IVDAEA and IVDEA? And is IVDEA only used on the middle bronzes?

No difference in meaning. I (sadly) haven't studied or practiced Latin for quite some time, but this is a neat example of pronunciation preferences evolving over time. I'm not sure about your second question.

Great coin @David Atherton

10 hours ago, seth77 said:

I'm particularly interested in access to the database from my phone. I now use my own html tree that links to pages that are stored on a usb stick. I'm also curious if I'll be able to import the data from my html pages, that are pretty standardized. I'll see this weekend when I get more time.

It's unfortunate but the OpenNumismat team ended development on the Android app a few years ago. The only current existing solution to view the database from your phone is to use their offline web page (https://opennumismat.github.io/open-numismat-app/). Which is very limited and I've found problems with it (not all coins show up?). A crude alternative is to use an SQLite viewer app on your phone.

If there is a Java developer out there.. the Android project is still around but I can't find a way to build it without running into error after error (https://github.com/OpenNumismat/open-numismat-android).

9 hours ago, Captch said:

Ooh, that sounds nice.

I like the built-in html templates that come with open-numismat, but it's not clear how you edit them. Maybe you need to fork the project, make your edits and then rebuild it? Here's what the start of inputting my collection looks like.

You're talking about the reports, right? I remember going down this path. I eventually found that I can create my own reports in the folder "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/OpenNumismat/templates/" without rebuilding the project. Its annoying because you need admin privileges but once everything is set up it works well.

3 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

And I do have a quick question.  My current order is from Numismatik Naumann, my first order from them.   However, I was informed that the coin would have to wait a bit for an export license (I was not aware of that fact when I ordered) and that it'd take c. 2-3 weeks.

This was my first order from them as well. I followed up after 20 days for an update and they were saying that I have to wait for the customs folks to visit their office to clear the packages. Not the longest that I've seen but definitely not as streamlined as other auction houses.

Great find @David Atherton!

Second known Titus mule that I picked up earlier this year. Thought to have been a brief issue of an engraver error of a reverse type for Titus with a reverse legend intended for Domitian. A short-lived issue occurring some time around 69 AD, when Titus' name changed from Titus Flavius Vespasianus to Titus Caesar Vespasianus and Domitian became PRINCEPS IVVENTVTIS.

Titus. 69-79 AD. AR Denarius. (17mm, 3.27g). T CAESAR IMP VESPASIANVS: Laureate head right / PRINCEPS IVVENTVTIS: Venus standing right, leaning on cippus holding helmet and spear.

Great find!

27 minutes ago, akeady said:

Anyway, I don't actually know if it's the same person (with a spelling error in the sale information), or some other Tannenbaum collection - anyone know?

It is impossible to know for certain. In the area where Steve Tanenbaum collected (tokens & medals) I have always seen his stuff retain his full name "Ex Steve Tanenbaum" or "From the Steve Tanenbaum collection". Using his full name isn't surprising as he is very well known in those circles. But I wouldn't put it past an ancient dealer to drop his first name and misspell it not knowing who he is. In any case, that is a fine Lysimachos tet, congrats.

Beautiful coin, great portraits.

Here is a bronze of Vespasian and Titus:

Titus and Vespasian. 77-79 AD. AE26. Bronze AE26 (27mm, 13.2g). Crete, Koinon. ΘΕΩ ΟΥΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝΩ: Bust of Vespasian left / ΑΥΤΟ ΤΙΤ[ ] ΣΕΒΑΣΤΩ: Bust of Titus right. VG Rare. RPC II 22.

Lovely toning on yours.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 454-404 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 17.18 g, 5h). Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye / Owl standing right, head facing, spread tail feathers; olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square. Kroll 8; HGC 4, 1597.

Constantius I. 305-306 AD. AE Follis. Ticinum mint. CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, Head of Constantius Chlorus, laureate, right / GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI, Genius, wearing modius, nude, chlamys draped over left shoulder, standing left, holding patera in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand. RIC VI 35a. 28mm 10.35g.

On 1/14/2023 at 5:07 PM, Octavius said:

 My favorite portraits of Vespasian are of him with his famous "constipated" look...

I find those portraits most align with reality. My favourite description of Vespasian is as follows:

"Short and thick-set. Bald, with a residue of coarse and crinkly hair. Shrewd eyes brightened by a twinkle. Hooked nose, receding mouth, and nutcracker jaw. A face Italians of later age would caricature as "punchinello" and the English would call "punch". So for looks, one would have to award Vespasian low marks. For polish and social graces, zero. For imagination and innovative thinking, nothing very memorable. But for realism, for common sense, 10/10. A rock like man. Steady, reliable, and Roman."  - Odyssey

10 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Fantastic portrait on the Mars reverse.

I recently moved from Google Sheets to a free and open-source tool called OpenNumismat - and I am very happy.

Pros:

• The tool uses an SQLite database file for storing data. Therefore your collection data is not locked to some obscure, proprietary format. You can very easily export your collection back to CSV to use elsewhere. For developers, this is especially nice for integrating your collection with other tools.

$ sqlite3 coins.db 
sqlite> .schema
CREATE TABLE coins (...)
sqlite> select id, title from coins;
1|Julius Caesar. April-August 49 BC. AR Denarius
2|Titus. 79-81 AD. AR Denarius

• Can use multiple database files for categorizing your coins. If you have a large collection this is nice to have.
• The SQLite database file can easily be synced across multiple devices using Google Drive, Dropbox or similar. Which makes it easy to have the collection on your phone, laptop, and work computer.
•   Able to categorize coins for easy searching. With a big collection this is an amazing feature. For example, I created a categorization to filter by Period and Ruler which allows me to drill into all coins within a given period and from there I can further filter coins by ruler from that period. After everything is filtered I can then sort by column "catalog ID (RIC)". In sheets this was very painful.

• Able to create your own coin status'. The tool comes with, by default, "Owned", "Ordered", and "Sold" status'. But you can edit these.
• Desktop tool will automatically save and manage backups (which has saved me a few times).
• Most fields needed for ancient coins are available.
• Global search. Similar to Ctrl+F in Sheets or Excel.
• Dedicated fields for images. Obverse and reverse images have their own dedicated sections which is nice. Then there is space to store up to 6 other images.
• Charts. You can plot fields on bar/progress/pie graphs.

Cons:

• No support to edit the collection on mobile devices. They had an Android app that they stopped supporting which they recently replaced with a web app, where you can only view your collection (https://opennumismat.github.io/open-numismat-app/) and not edit. Not a deal breaker for me as I usually have my laptop with me for editing. Would be nice to have though, especially to access "Wishlist" or "For Sale" coins on your phone while at shows.
• No field for die-axis. I use the "shape" field to record this as I don't use "shape" for anything else. There is a feature request to support a die-axis field (https://github.com/OpenNumismat/open-numismat/issues/68).
• The Market tab (where you fill in where the coins was purchased) is missing a field for currency. My workaround is converting everything to USD.

31 minutes ago, Severus Alexander said:

My favourite portrait of him is probably on this denarius from Ephesus.  Since it's early, though, it probably doesn't look a lot like him..

My pick from the Ephesus mint. The eyes tended to be larger and blank which gives it a more "godly" or "mythical" appearance (IMO!).

2 hours ago, Qcumbor said:

My biggest antoninianus is the following one minted for Gordianus III that I got from Forvm years ago, it's 25 mm and 6,95 grams

Gordian III, Antoninianus - Rome mint, 5th emission,  AD 05-243/02-244
IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
SECVRITAS PERPETUA, Securitas standing left, holding scepter and resting on column
6,95 gr, 25 mm
Ref : RIC #153, RCV #8661, Cohen #336, Michaux #409
Ex FORVM ancient coins

Q

That's a wonderful Gordian III. Beats mine: 24mm/4.44g

4 minutes ago, HipShot Photography said:

Photographing dark coins is no different that any other coins. It's always about getting the correct exposure. The problems arise if you have a dark coin and you're trying to make a light image.  These are all dark coins shot with a hybrid axial lighting system without sacrificing detail, tone, or texture.

Incredible detail. Do you post-process these images at all (aside from backgrounds etc.)? I've been meaning to give axial lighting a try as I am not getting nearly enough direct light on the coin. What are peoples thoughts on it?

9 minutes ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

Wow, stay safe rvk!   How did you unthaw/treat them? That's sure a nice Domitian.

I have a space heater running right now. Taking a while but things are warming up!

Up in Canada we are in a deep freeze, 5 days in a row of sub -20C temperatures. I almost made it out without issue but this morning my pipes froze. Tomorrow will be -2C, a 20C degree difference.. Oh, Canada.. Stay safe everyone!

Garlanded and lighted altars always make me feel cozy.