Valentinian

That is a real beauty! I'm sure it is very rare. Congratulations!

There are many wonderful Severus Alexander coins above, including provincials. Year 5 at Alexandria is particularly interesting because there are Alexandrian year 5 coins from two different years and two different mints.. I wrote a website on it: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/SevAlex/ Here is one of the coins on that page that looks a lot like the middle bronze from Rome. This is a tetradrachm of year 5, but 26 mm instead of only the usual 23 mm--it is significantly broader and much thinner. The portrait looks like his portraits on imperial coins, not those on Alexandrian coins, and "year 5" is written out as L ΠEMΠTOY. L is the Egyptian symbol for "year" and ΠEMΠTOY is "fifth". The type is Serapis (an Egyptian god, distinguished by the modius on his head) standing left, raising his right hand, and holding transverse long scepter. The obverse legend is long: A KAI M AVP CEOVHR AΛEΞANΔPOC EVCEB Imperator Caesar Marcus AURelius SEVERUs ALEXANDERVS Pius 26-24 mm. 13.55 grams. Emmett 3134 The coin was struck for Alexandria, but with dies of Roman style and struck in Rome. Take a look at that site: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/SevAlex/ if you like coins of Severus Alexander or coins of Alexandria, Egypt.

Quirinus is a supposedly important Roman god about whom we know very little. Various sources suggest a connection with Mars, Romulus, or the Sabines. He appears on two Roman Republican coin types explicitly labeled with his name, but neither gives us much of a hint as to how he should be regarded. C. Memmius C.f. 56 BC. Crawford 427/2. 18 mm. 3.77 grams. Head of Quirinus right with long beard. QVIRINVS down the left, C. MEMMI C F down the right MEMMIVS AED CERIALIA PREIMVS FECIT (counterclockwise from 11:00) around seated figure of Ceres holding a torch and ears of grain, with a snake before. The reverse refers to a distant relative, an Aedile, being the first to celebrate the Ludi Cereales, sometime before 211 BC. One story, with flimsy support, relates Quinius to Romulus. It says Romulus who founded Rome disappeared in mysterious circumstances. One Roman said that he saw Romulus ascending to heaven and Romulus told the Roman he was henceforth to be known as “Quirinus.” Crawford finds it “self-evident to me that that the type is irrelevant to the assimilation of Quirinus and Romulus.” Apparently, we actually know very little about Quirinus. He may have been a Sabine war god, assimilated to Mars. Crawford says, “The type may reflect “the moneyer’s claim to possess a Sabine origo.” Here is the second type which mentions Quininus. Crawford 268/1, 124 BC. (Date revised since Crawford who dated it to 126 BC. See Yarrow, "Coins of the Roman Republic to 49 BC".) N. Fabius Pictor, possibly the grandson of a priest of Quirinus. 17 mm. 3.80 grams Helmeted head of Roma right Seated figure of Quirinus, labeled as such on a shield (QVI/RIN), holding an apex (priestly hat) and spear. PICTOR down the left. ROMA in exergue. N FABI up the right. There is a lot we don't know about ancient Roman times, including the role of Quirinus. Show us anything related, or maybe some other obscure Republican type.

My experiences are much different. I won coins from Savoca on Sunday and got them today, Wednesday, in Oregon! Every time FedEx has been great, and I have had many envelopes delivered FedEx. I am sorry to hear others have had poor experiences, but all my experiences have been excellent.

Collectors wonder how to pronounce ancient names. If you collect Byzantine coins and seek a coin of Heraclius you might like an AE example with much of his name clearly legible (many of his AE coins have little of his name legible in the legend). Also, you’d like to know how to pronounce his name. Is it Hair ah CLY us Hair ACK lee us or is the H not aspirate, like this air ACK lee us, air ah CLEE us, or what? [By the way, the best guess is "none of these"] This coin is relevant because the legend is unusually clear: 25-23 mm. 5.22 grams. ∂N hRAC-PERP AVG Sear 842 We spell it “Heraclius”. So, in “hRAC” is the “h” an “H” and the “e” missing, or what? I connected with my good friend and Byzantine expert @Voulgaroktonou. He wrote me, “The name [Heraclius] begins with an aspirated Eta: Ἡράκλειος. In Classical Greek, the aspirate would have been voiced, and with the stress on the alpha, would have sounded something like Hair ACK lee us. In modern Greek, it is unvoiced, so Ἡελλας (Greece) is pronounced Ellas. There is evidence that the sounds of Greek were shifting to the modern pronunciation as early as the Roman period, so it is a safe bet that the name would have had an unvoiced aspirated eta. Also, the modern pronunciation of eta is “eeta”, not “aita”, so most likely the name sounded like EerAKLios to contemporaries.” Back to the coin. Where we might write his name beginning with “HER” (and aspirating the “H”) instead of “ER,” it seems the Byzantines did not need the aspirate letter. You can see the change in pronunciation as early as the third century, with, for example, this coin of Probus (276-282): 24-22 mm. 3.59 grams. ERCVLI PACIFERO, Hercules standing left with olive branch and club. Notice the spelling of "Hercules" does not include an initial "H". RIC 383v Ticinum. Sear III 11984. Does anyone have an AE coin of Heraclius with much of the name legible? How is it spelled? Edit: Conclusion. Coin evidence suggests pronouncing the nameear ACK lee os or ear ACK lee us(although actual pronunciation heard at talks and coin shows may vary all over the map [as you can see from the dictionary citation in the next post])

Hey Sulla, I enjoyed your blogs and with this post I recommend them to others. I think we all study our coins to some extent, but you obviously extensively study yours and then write them up very well. For the rest of you, just click on "Blog" at this page. https://www.sullacoins.com/

I have a fun Roman overstrike. Where does your spirit reside? This flipover strike has GENIVS coming out of the back of the head of Claudius II: 23 mm. 3.32 grams. [IMP C CLA]VDIVS AVG [GENI]VS EXERCI RIC 48K. Sear III 11340. I think this coin was struck twice with the same dies, the second time after being flipped over. The left half of the reverse is still clear on the obverse (left image) from the first strike. I imagine this coin was originally poorly struck on the original obverse (on the right) and was to be struck again. It was (accidentally? flipped over between strikes.The original reverse was fairly well struck (on the left, above) and not fully obliterated when stuck with the obverse die the second time. (The die was struck at an angle.) The obverse die right side (the face and end of the legend) appeared, so we see the head from the second strike, and the entire reverse image was impressed. This reverse shows traces of overstriking, but I don't see where the original undertype (head of Claudius) was. I think this is called a "flipover double strike." It is cute that we got half of each, obverse and reverse, on one side.

Early Byzantine coins have the numeral of the denomination prominently on the reverse. "K" is "20" in Greek; the denomination of this coin is 20 nummi. The mint of this coin is Cyzicus, "Kyzikos" in Greek. Note how the "K" the the denomination serves double-duty as the first letter of the mint abbreviation: KYZ. Justinian, 527-565, struck year 15 = 541/2. Sear 208. DOC (184). MIBE 121a. I invite you to show us an interesting mintmark.

Thank you very much for letting me know. And, thank you for your kinds words about my site. http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/

So, Red, do you think the OP coin is an overstrike?

Die breaks! The vertical lines on the face of Roma project outward, as die breaks would. The weight is right for a denarius, and Romans are known for letting old coins circulate, so there is no excuse for an overstrike.

The big geopolitical event of the 1990s was the fall of the Iron Curtain. Those "two busts vis-a-vis" coins of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna were rare until then. Those of us collecting in the 1990s saw a flood of coins from "Lower Moesia" come out. Look at nice catalog from the 1980s and you will probably see none. Here is one I got in 1999: 28-27 mm. AVK CEΠT CEVHPOC IOYΛIA (Autocrater Sept. Severus Julia) ΔOMNA (Domna) CEB (Augusta) VΦΛOYΛΠIANOVM APKIANOΠOΛITΩN (Flavius Ulpianus at Marcianopolis) Fortuna standing, holding rudder and cornucopia E in upper left field for the denomination, 5.

That is a very nice coin. It is like RIC Siscia 351 but that one doesn't have the "A" behind the bust. I agree it is unlisted. What a beauty!

This coin of Constantius Gallus came from the recent Leu auction: Constantius Gallus24 mm. 4.30 grams. FEL TEMP REPARATIO Emperor standing left on galley, holding Victory on globe, and standard with chi-rho, Victory steering the galley.III in left field, star in upper rightΓSIS in exergueRIC VIII Siscia 329.Sear V 19001. I have a web page listing and illustrating all the AE types of Gallus, with commentary and comments on frequency. http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Gallus/ Take a look. It's interesting if you like late Roman AE. Show us your coins of Constantius Gallus!

I'd like an entry "Ancient" in the list of forums. Today I started a thread on "auction experiences" and I didn't know which "Forum" to select. Maybe that would be "General," but many threads could have both Roman and Greek coins in them and "Ancient" would seem a good way to categorize them and more meaningful and evocative than "General."

We have threads that mention auction experiences, for example: https://www.numisforums.com/topic/366-cng-e-sale-wins-share-‘em/ I'd like to focus more on the experience than the particular coins I won. Maybe they will get their own threads later. I won coins in Leu auctions 22&23 of August 20-22. They arrived yesterday, Sept. 16. The auction was huge and I knew shipping would take some time, but it seemed slow. However, now I am very happy with it all. When I the shipment arrived I understood more about why it seemed slow. My envelope had eight sheets of paperwork sealed in a thin bag sealed to the outside of the envelope and then more paperwork and the coins inside. I'm guessing a well-attended auction with 5000 coins yields 1000 different winning bidders. That’s a lot of envelopes, each enclosing all right coins and none of the wrong coins. Add paperwork inside lined up in the clear window for a shipping address and the paperwork outside in the bag. It’s a huge amount of work to do that nine hundred times and then do something special for each of the one hundred (I am guessing at these numbers) buyers who need/want something different done. Keeping track of what has been done and what needs to be done and entering individual shipping information into records must be a nightmare. If the firm works only with its normal staff, I can see that might take days or even weeks. It is probably not that easy to hire short-term staff who could do the sorting, packing, shipping, and recording who are also reliable around tiny but valuable objects. I always download the auction photos and compare them to the coins. I’d say Leu’s photos were excellent. One coin among the five had a distinctly better surface in hand than suggested by the photo. All the other coins were as good as their photos, or maybe the tiniest bit better. I’m very pleased. Tell us your recent auction experience!

Okay! That sounds good enough! Thanks for letting us know. If it is commercially available, what is the name of the product?

I wonder if the adhesive is archival quality. Over time, chemicals can degrade the surfaces of coins. I have had denarii turn darker and darker. I have not heard of any adhesive used in the context of long term preservation. I recommend printing the front and back labels side-by-side and not cutting between them, rather folding along the line. So, in the example below (I am recommending the orientation, not the appearance or content), cut along the middle lines making four flip inserts. Fold along the remaining vertical lines. Now the back and front will be aligned without adhesive.

The New York Times reports that a quarter-shekel of the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 finally cleared the legal hurdles to go to Israel from which it is thought to have been looted. It had been seized from a Heritage auction in 2017 as it was about to begin. The coin was estimated at $500,000 to $1,000,000. Apparently the consignor had submitted paperwork with a false provenance. This is a link to the article which includes an image. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/arts/design/rare-silver-coin-jews-israel.html

Now it is Monday, Sept. 12, and today Leu sent me the tracking number and it was mailed the 7th and is already in the US. I should have the coins in a few days.

You have it correct. The "GAL" is there with a coin that has the second "A" is "MAXIMIANVS". As you have it now in the title, that makes it Galerius.

True! I have a web page on distinguishing Maximian, Galerius, and Maximinus II: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/distinguishing.html There are many examples of pairs of coins that have very similar legends but belong to different emperors. For example, this is one of the pairs considered: Take a look at that page to see who they are. Again, it is http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/distinguishing.html

It is Friday afternoon Sept. 9 in Oregon and I still have not been notified by Leu when they will ship my wins, or that they have. The email they sent saying "You will receive the tracking number of the shipment within the next 10 working days." was received 9 days ago. Maybe I will hear soon.

Simon, that is a wonderful group. I only wish the image were larger so each coin could be appreciated. I love it when someone can show a theme that this their own and not dictated by fashion. Not many of us are trying to complete a type set of post-reform coins of Alexius I ! However, I do like coins of Alexius, especially the inexpensive AE. Here is my page on his coin reform: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Byz/Alexius.html and here is one of the anonymous folles attributed to him: Class K is distinguished by the borders of large pellets.This piece: 25-22 mm. 6.92 grams.Bust of Christ facing, IC XC either side, inside a rim of large pellets. 3/4-length figure of Mary standing, orans, facing, inside rim of large pellets. Sear 1901.

I spent quite a bit of time studying the quadrans and semis denominations. I have an opinion, expressed on my "quadrans" page: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/quadrans/ that any coin thought to be a quadrans or a semis is a semis if it has an imperial portrait. Your first coin with the Hercules portrait does not have an imperial portrait, but has a similar corresponding type with the same reverse and Trajan's name and portrait. Many call it a quadrans, but I'm not so sure. That is the default choice and they are hard to tell apart. I think it is a (small) semis. We know that some earlier emperors (Augustus, Claudius, etc.) issued the quadrans denomination. It is about that size. It is easier to just call it a quadrans than come up with criteria that distinguish quadrantes from semisses. But we know that in the second century the smaller denominations were used less and less and then stopped being issued at all. That might suggest the quadrans denomination was the first to go out of production (making these more likely to be semisses), or maybe both the semis and quadrans denominations went out of production at the same time, apparently by mid second century. I would like to see some actual evidence (as opposed to a modern assertion based on only the fact that someone earlier called them quadrantes) that these small coins with imperial portraits from the second century are quadrantes, if they are. I think they are semisses.