expat

Fortuna seated

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/mystery-of-plato-s-final-resting-place-solved-after-bionic-eye-penetrates-2-000-year-old-scroll/ar-AA1nx8RN?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=1b60306453504e9d9ccaf60eb9641fb8&ei=44

CARACALLA AR Denarius. Victoria - VICT PART MAX.
Obverse: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right.
Reverse: VICT PART MAX. Victory advancing left, holding palm and wreath.
 A good example of this interesting coin, celebrating the roman victory over the Parthian empire during the reign of Septimius Severus.
RIC IV-1 144a. RSC 660. Rome mint, A.D. 204.  3,2 g - 18 mm.

NEXT: Elagabalus

Probus was an active and successful general as well as a conscientious administrator, and in his reign of six years he secured prosperity for the inner provinces while withstanding repeated invasions of barbarian tribes on almost every sector of the frontier.

After repelling the foreign enemies of the empire, Probus was forced to handle several internal revolts but demonstrated leniency and moderation to the vanquished wherever possible

Probus AE Antoninianus. Siscia, 279 AD.
IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG, radiate bust left, wearing imperial mantle and holding eagle-tipped sceptre / VIRTVS PROBI AVG, trophy standing between two captives. RIC 820, Cohen 942.
22 mm, 4,87 g

Left facing portraits are severely lacking in my collection. So I made some amends to the situation by winning a cheap coin at a recent auction.

Probus AE Antoninianus. Siscia, 279 AD.
IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG, radiate bust left, wearing imperial mantle and holding eagle-tipped sceptre / VIRTVS PROBI AVG, trophy standing between two captives. RIC 820, Cohen 942.
22 mm, 4,87 g

Post your left facing portraits or captives reverses

Couldn´t decide which son, so here is two

NEXT: Septimus Severus

Another first for my collection. Short reign of 2 years

Volusian, AR Antoninianus, Antioch.. AD 251-253. 22 mm, 4,30 g

IMP C V AF GAL VEND VOLVSIANO AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right, three dots beneath bust / ADVENTVS AVG, Volusian on horseback, riding left, holding spear and raising right hand. RIC IV 224a; RSC 2a.

To get back on track

ANTONINUS PIUS AR Denarius CONSECRATIO
 DIVVS ANTONINVS, bare head right / CONSECRATIO, eagle standing right on garlanded altar, head turned left. RSC 156. BMC 48. SEAR 5192.
RIC 431 (Aurelius). Rome mint, after AD 161. 3,0 g - 18,5 mm

NEXT: Decorated altar

Hercules

Commodus, AR Denarius, 187-188 AD. M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT, laureate head right / P M TR P XIII IMP VIII COS V P P, Hercules naked, standing front, holding patera and club. RSC 534; RIC 162. 17 mm, 2,91 g

The word ADVENTUS on coins in Roman times was almost exclusively used for Caesars, to celebrate the ceremony of welcoming a Caesar when he arrives at a city.

So, we will combine a coin with a song recognising celebration.

Volusian, AR Antoninianus, Antioch.. AD 251-253. 22 mm, 4,30 g
IMP C V AF GAL VEND VOLVSIANO AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right, three dots beneath bust / ADVENTVS AVG, Volusian on horseback, riding left, holding spear and raising right hand. RIC IV 224a; RSC 2a.

 A fantastic pick up. Amazing engraving showing his very Roman nose and his protruding upper lip. Great addition for your collection.

Austro Hungarian. 1892

Value     8 Florins = 20 Francs
Currency     Austro-Hungarian gulden (decimalized, 1857-1892)
Composition     Gold (.900)
Weight     6.4516 g
Diameter     21 mm
Thickness     1.2 mm

Laureate head of Emperor Franz Joseph I, wearing a moustache and dense sideburns going down to the neck. Around this bust the inscription "Franz Joseph I by the grace of God, emperor and king".

Austrian imperial symbol, namely a crowned double-headed eagle with its mouth open, tongues outwards, wings spread, stamped with a shield surrounded by the collar of the Golden Fleece. He holds a sword in his right hand and a crown in his left. In the arc of a circle an inscription "Empire of Austria"; the motto is written in Francs and in florin "8 Fl - 20 Fr". At the very bottom in the middle of the coin, the year of issue.

Lovely write up and great coin examples.

I have only one coin related to Carthage, 2nd Punic War

Cybele and lion

Caracalla 196-198 AD. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust right / INDVLGENTIA AVGG, IN CARTH below, Dea Caelestis (Cybele)  riding lion springing right over water gushing from rocks on left, holding thunderbolt & sceptre, and wearing ”City Wall” crown.

Algeria, N. Africa. Lion, left.

ROMAN EMPIRE, Geta, as Caesar. AR Denarius.. Rome, AD 200-202. 21mm, 3.34gr. P SEPT GETA CAES PONT, bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right / SECVRIT IMPERII, Securitas seated left, holding globe in right hand. RIC 20b, BMCRE 240-243, RSC 183a,  Cohen 183 - SEAR RCV II (2002), #7200, page 565

RPC Volume: I №: 1568
Reign: Tiberius Persons: Tiberius (Augustus)
City: Thessalonica  Region: Macedonia Province: Macedonia
Denomination: Leaded bronze (22 mm) Average weight: 9.26 g.
Obverse: ΤΙ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ; laureate head of Tiberius, right
Reverse: ΣΕΒΑΣΤΗ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΩΝ; bust of Livia, right
Reference: Touratsoglou, Tiberius 1–32 (c. 14–20/23)

I have only purchased once from Portugal, coins via an auction. Delivery was slow even though it borders us here in Spain. Doesn´t really relate to your question, but the point was there was no delay with customs probably because it was EU to EU. If you reside in a country outside of the EU it could be vastly different.

Ref Augustus AE As, RIC 233, Cohen 237, BMC 567 Augustus, AE as, Lugdunum Mint, CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRAE, laureate head right / Altar of Lugdunum, decorated with the corona civica, between laurels and stylized figures. Flanked by columns supporting facing Victories holding wreathe and palm. ROM ET AVG below. 26mm, 11.07gr

A subject I know @Ryro will appreciate. A Roman Republican coin depicting a Greek mythological tale.

M. VOLTEIUS M.F. Denarius (75 BC). Rome.Head of young Hercules right, wearing lion skin / Erymanthian Boar right, M VOLTEI M F in exergue. Volteia 2
sear5 #313, Syd 775, Cr385/2.
( 3.48 g. 17.8 mm ).
In Greek mythology, the Erymanthian boar (Greek: ὁ Ἐρυμάνθιος κάπρος; Latin: aper Erymanthius) was a mythical creature that took the form of a shaggy and wild tameless boar of vast weight and foaming jaws. It was a Tegeaean, Maenalusianor Erymanthian boar that lived in the glens of Lampeia beside the vast marsh of Erymanthus. It would sally from the thick-wooded, cypress-bearing heights of Erymanthus to harry the groves of Arcady and abuse the land of Psophis.
Mythology
The fourth labour of Heracles was to bring the Erymanthian boar alive to Eurystheus in Mycenae. To capture the boar, Heracles first chased the boar with shouts and thereby routed it from a certain thicket and then drove the exhausted animal into deep snow. He then trapped it, bound it in chains, and lifted it, still breathing from the dust, and returning with the boar on his left shoulder, staining his back with blood from the stricken wound, he cast it down in the entrance to the assembly of the Mycenaeans, thus completing his fourth labour. When the king [Eurystheus] saw him carrying the boar on his shoulders, he was terrified and hid himself in a bronze vessel.

Please post your coins with mythological references, the labours of Herakles/Hercules

Gold sovereign

NEXT: Dragon or Kraken

1 hour ago, Parthicus said:

The reverse inscriptions are clear, it's mintmark VH (or WH) which is accepted as Veh-Ardashir, and the date is definitely Year 13.  Obverse is pretty borked, so no help from either crown or inscription, but other details (having a single circle around both obverse and reverse, crescents with stars at the 3,6, and 9 o'clock positions on obverse but no ribbon-ends projecting outside the line at 12 o'clock) confirm it as Hormazd IV (579-590).  And yes, he did have coins dated Year 13, so that checks out.  Oh, and (belated) Happy Birthday @expat !  Sorry I am late to this thread, I have a nasty cold right now and am mostly just resting in bed.  (Nothing too serious, looks like, just unpleasant while it's happening.)

Thanks for your knowledgeable answer and for the Birthday wishes. Much appreciated.

Interestingly, on Todays Savoca Blue Auction, there were a number of Hormazd IV and Kusro II drachms with shattered or broken obverse die strikes.

@ambr0zie and @Ryro thanks for sharing your wonderful examples. As mentioned, a truly iconic image. And as also mentioned above, it is incredible to think that the misguided deeds of their past are forever struck into the coinage. But the stories and mythology are great reading.