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Severus Alexander

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Everything posted by Severus Alexander

  1. Wow, that Maximian struck under DD is the best I've seen! Congrats!! I especially love the nice plump eagle. ๐Ÿ˜„ (That style eagle seems to correlate with officina gamma.) Here's my set (except for DD himself!):
  2. That's a truly beautiful portrait of Athena, @Curtisimo, and what a fascinating writeup! I'm particularly interested in the early history of the Olympians even though it's hard to conclude much with any certainty. (Maybe that's why I find the subject so fascinating!) I think my two favourite portraits of Athena are on this diobol from Thurium: and on this Leukas stater (which I don't have in hand yet): I like these facing portraits issued by Antiochos I too: (@Ryro, let's see that awesome animation again!!) For full-length depictions, maybe I'd pick this Bactrian drachm: or this Gigantomachy depiction on a big provincial of Gordian III from Seleukeia ad Kalykadnon:
  3. Excellent!! I'm very happy all three coins will be going to good homes. ๐Ÿ˜Š I'll aim to post a wrap-up comment later today.
  4. Okeedoke, I'll do my best... though I fear that we greybeards form more than our fair share of the pool! ๐Ÿ˜† Here goes... The basilikon is all yours, @mc9, should you choose to accept it!
  5. OK, now for the final prize. Surprisingly (at least to me) the most valuable coin in monetary terms is the last to be chosen! This lovely (if partly flat-struck) basilikon: will go to a thread participant who had 9 ballots or fewer (as per the rules in post #1). Here are those participants, with their ballot numbers: And random.org chooses: Coingrats, @Edessa!! If I'm not mistaken, the coin fits pretty well with your collection. Let us know if you intend to keep it or pass it on in some way. All three coins are ex my collection, so I'll include their flip inserts, complete with my snazzy collection logo... which happens to be Byzantine themed! ๐Ÿ˜„
  6. That's wonderful... I'm sure they will greatly appreciate it! Congrats again! ๐Ÿ™‚ I wish I could have included you, I really enjoyed the coins you showed us! It wasn't the lack of contributions to our thread, not at all. Instead one of the rules was that to be included in the balloting a participant had to have made at least 50 posts outside this thread. That is, the contest was intended for those who have proven themselves significant Numisforums contributors... something I'm sure you'll do before long.
  7. Congrats again, @Nerosmyfavorite68, I hope you enjoy the coin! BTW I only tagged you (instead of pm'ing), so it wasn't a pm problem. ๐Ÿ™‚ That said, be sure to pm me your address so I can send you your prize. (I won't miss your message because my settings are such that I get an email whenever I receive a pm... highly recommended!) AND... on to the next one! Congratulations!! It's about time one of our pre-eminent numismatists won something, don't you think? @Valentinian, let us know if you'd like one of the two remaining coins, or if you'd rather assign your prize to someone else or redraw. Here's what's left:
  8. Sorry for the extra day's wait! My excuse is the NHL season is starting and my Flames were playing last night... you'll be pleased to know they trounced Vancouver 10-0!! ๐Ÿ˜„ I used random.org to draw from our total of 302 ballots. The ballots were assigned as follows, in accordance with the list I posted a few days ago: Congratulations, @Nerosmyfavorite68! Which of the following coins do you want most? Since ID work is at least half the fun of collecting I've provided only minimal information (there's a tiny bit more on p.1 where the prizes were initially announced). If you have a question, though, don't hesitate to ask. As per usual with these things, prizewinners always have the option to offer their prize to someone else, e.g. a beginner collector or young numismatist. You may also request that I redraw from the pool of participants who had 10 ballots or fewer. Once @Nerosmyfavorite68 has made his choice, I'll draw for the next prize.
  9. Fantastic!! Note that Foxโ€™s remarks are still consistent with a pre-Roman date (after all, we know the smaller denomination existed then too e.g. in Seleukid coinage). Even if itโ€™s Roman it would likely be early i.e. Republican.
  10. This Naumann coin appears to be a 1427, officina gamma: Leu sold a lovely 1426 last year: In retrospect I wish I had bid on that coin!
  11. After reading the whole thread Iโ€™m also inclined to think itโ€™s a fantasy. But I want to add one other theory to the mix since a fantasy ex nihilo seems so unlikely, what with the surfaces and testimony of later alteration. Overstrikes can produce some puzzling coins. The bull reminds me most of the Seleukid type introduced by Seleukos I: What if that were overstruck by e.g. this Dionysos type of Alexander Balas? Maybe you could get those leaves appearing out of context. Both coins come in a variety of styles so could maybe produce the somewhat cherubic look of the OP coin. (Both coins are the right size, too.) That leaves the odd reverse legend to explain. My suggestion there is that the mess produced by the overstrike was โ€œrestoredโ€ (i.e. tooled) into its present form, along with some smoothing to reduce the evidence of overstriking. That would fit with what the dealer said. Itโ€™s quite likely that the two types Iโ€™ve chosen here arenโ€™t the best ones to represent the general idea, but I wanted to put it out there in case someone else can improve upon it. I do think the Seleukid bull is the best match for the reverse, other than the legend of course. Maybe a later Seleukid bull type was overstruck on a Dionysos coin, i.e. Iโ€™ve got the order wrong. There are other Dionysos coin possibilities, and the Seleukid bull motif was used later e.g. by Selekos II. The bull was paired with heads other than Medusa as well, e.g. Apollo: The cleaner lines of the head of Apollo might fit better than the complex Medusa. Anyway, you get the idea! @kirispupis, it seems to me there are some indications on the coin that overstriking is a possibility. What do you think? P.S. I hadnโ€™t seen Johnโ€™s suggestion or the later discussion just now. I will add that there are examples of the bull type fitting the size and weight criteria e.g. http://numismatics.org/sco/id/sc.1.23 .
  12. Wow, that coin looks like a 3D relief of an alien moon! I immediately think of Chinese coins for this sort of thing. Definitely some sort of crystally thangs going on here, on this early Chinese bronze cowrie: Must be some interesting minerals on this heavy (9.45g) early Qin ban liang, c. 350-300 BCE: And for a different sort of adhesion, check out the actual ancient fabric at the top of the reverse of this Han ban liang (H7.17, c. 175-120 BCE):
  13. With that suggested search, you're #1 for me on both Bing and DuckDuckGo. On Google you don't even show up! ๐Ÿ˜  That strengthens my resolve to continue not using Google as my go-to search engine. Random post-1204 Byzantine: John Comnenus-Ducas of Thessalonica (1237-42) O Aฮ“IOC ฮ˜EO St. Theodore standing facing, holding spear and shield; to left, lis. Rev. John standing facing, holding labarum and akakia, being crowned by St. Demetrius. DOC 15. SB 2200. Flattened.
  14. I saw that one! Glad I didn't bid you up on it. I decided I didn't need a full follis to add to my half that I picked up earlier this year: These second reign coins are tough to find at a reasonable cost, it's quite right to call them rare (whether featuring Justinian alone or with his son Tiberius). I'm not sure if Sol is also talking about the rarity of the officina mark... only a super specialist would care much about that I think. That said, the officina mark does offer something of special interest: the retrograde R before the gamma, which is very clear on your example. I wonder what the explanation for this is!
  15. Almost draw time. (See the first post to refresh your memory about the three prizes.) According to my calculations, four people exceeded 30 portraits and so got the maximum number of ballots: @Hrefn, @sand, @Valentinian and @voulgaroktonou. (Four extraordinary collections!!) Otherwise, the ballot counts are as follows: @Al Kowsky: 16 @Ancient Coin Hunter: 12 @Broucheion: 4 @CPK: 1 @Edessa: 5 @ewomack: 12 @Jims,Coins: 25 @John Conduitt: 1 @mc9: 9 @Nerosmyfavorite68: 17 @Octavius: 1 @O-Towner: 2 @Pellinore: 6 @Prieure de Sion: 1 @quant.geek: 2 @Rand: 9 @robinjojo: 12 @Simon: 22 @TheTrachyEnjoyer: 2 @ValiantKnight: 4 @wittwolff: 19 If you think I've made a mistake, let me know. (There should be one ballot per legally played individual, portraits only). Remember that you can assign your prize to another Numisforums member, or ask me to redraw from the pool of players who have fewer than 10 ballots. In any case the third prize will be from that pool of less broadly experienced Byzantinists. (Hmm... that description doesn't really apply to @quant.geek or @TheTrachyEnjoyer!) I'll leave this up for a couple days and then make the first draw sometime on Sunday. The first winner can choose from any of the 3 prize coins. (If someone wishes to add to the prize pool they're more than welcome to do so, just post a photo of the coin below.)
  16. I'll be posting a wrap-up before too long... still computing the number of ballots etc. for the prizes! Thanks for your patience... ^^ Basil's eyes are glazed over from waiting!
  17. I haven't seen any reputable news services present this as anything other than what it is: an obvious hoax perpetrated by a fraudster. I wonder how he explains how an "alternative evolution" came up with humanoid body structure complete with hip bones? ๐Ÿ˜† Does he propose that the DNA in these pseudocreatures also evolved independently?? I wouldn't put it past him. Crank science is annoying but at least it's also funny. Added: OMG @DonnaML, that Vox article is hilarious! Here's the "demon fairy" that Maussan sold to some sucker in 2016 for $10,000: (It later proved to be โ€œsome conglomeration of a bat, wooden sticks, unseen epoxy and other items designed to deceive.โ€ ๐Ÿ˜†)
  18. Seems I may not be alone in having few coins from the "Empire" of Trebizond. In fact, this is my only one! I hope others can rectify this in the coming days... Empire of Trebizond, Manuel I Comnenus AR Asper. Circa AD 1238-1263. St. Eugenius standing facing, holding long cross; O Aฮ“IO to left, ะ„Vฮ“ะ„ฮฮ™O to right, three pellets in triangle in inner left field / Manuel standing facing, holding labarum and akakia; manus Dei to upper right, MNHฮ› to left, OKH to right. Sear 2601. 1.87g, 21mm.
  19. @voulgaroktonou, it's always a pleasure to see your amazing Constantine XI examples! If you get a chance when you're back from your short holiday, I'd love to hear how Bendall confirmed the identify of these smaller denominations. I'm imagining the larger denominations have enough legend to assign them to Constantine, and that there's a close enough match to the eighths? I love the Runciman book. ๐Ÿ™‚ I haven't kept up with the thread for various reasons, so I'll drop in all the emperors I've missed in one big mass. For the most part I've restricted myself to one example per personality, though I had an extra slot and so stuck in both AR and AE for Andy II and Mike IX. And before we get to Trebizond, here's my example of one of the first coins to come out of the Ottoman mint of Constantinople after the conquest. It's an akรงe dated 865 AH = 1460/61, the mint's first year of operation: Now time for the denouement!
  20. One of the more historically interesting reverses for Philip is his first issue from Antioch, "celebrating" that patched-up and unfavourable peace treaty he signed with the Sassanids in his rush to get back to Rome and consolidate his power: "PAX FVNDATA CVM PERSIS" For his millennium issues, I have a cippus on an As (pretty scarce): For Philip II here's a purty serpent from Tomis! I find these late Moesian issues very interesting because they're the last ones before this area was overrun by the Goths and their buddies. Their relative commonality is due to the hoarding that took place at the time.
  21. You mention Phanes... here's mine: ... except it's a fourrรฉe. (Not willing to pony up what it would take for otherwise!) Interestingly, it's a die match to some examples that are considered "official", whatever that means for this issue. I'm not sure what to make of that. One possibility is that the "official" mint produced fourrรฉes, i.e. the whole thing was a fraudulent operation! Which could explain why it didn't last long...
  22. Not that I'm aware of, but I found it pretty easy to find die matches on acsearch... there aren't that many known dies, I believe.
  23. Gordie's provincials definitely tend to be more interesting than his imperials. My most interesting is this Gigantomachy (battle between the gods and the giants) featuring Athena and an anguipede giant: The coin is from Cilicia: Seleukeia ad Kalykadnon. Here's a rather silly looking imitation, with a very unflattering depiction of Diana on the reverse! I'll include one legit imperial. We've seen the type already (the Farnese Hercules), but it's one of my favourites and this one is purty:
  24. Coingrats!! A grail coin for sure. I was over the moon when I snagged this hemihekte version: No attention was drawn in the listing to the fact that it was inscribed, and apparently I was the only one to notice... so it went very cheaply. Your lion is much less crude than mine, closer to the uninscribed style. As you probably know, the same dies were used for both the hektes and hemihektes. Have you found the dies for your piece?
  25. On the contrary, I think they knew exactly what they were doing. After the shocking religious innovations and Eastern flavour of Elagabalus, the point of SA's coinage was to be as boring as possible! "Nothing to see here, everything's back to normal, yes?" ๐Ÿ˜ A bit sad for us collectors, though. He does have some awesome architectural types due to an extensive rebuilding program during his reign. Not a big help to us, though, as the coliseum type is uobtainium in any denomination, and the nymphaeum is very expensive and tough to get. (I remember bidding on an As that ended up going for 4K+.) Not my coins: For collectors, maybe the best combo of interest and ease of purchase is this type: In some way Sev Alex restored the money (RESTITVTOR MON), though exactly what change he's advertising here isn't fully clear. Since the type is found only on the dupondius, restoring the quality of its orichalcum is a good bet. Whatever the exact reason behind its issue, it's a pretty cool type. Here's a related type seen less often: Moneta has a little pile of coins at her feet. ๐Ÿ™‚ (There's a related sestertius with the legend MONETA AVGUSTI. This coheres with the theory that SA improved the quality of the mint's orichalcum.) (You'll notice that my focus for SA's coinage is his middle bronzes. I know a lot less about the other denominations and there could easily be some exciting ones I'm forgetting about!) A currency reform isn't all that important when it comes to general history. If that's more your thing, then maybe the best types to get would be those associated with SA's massive military response to the first invasion of the Empire by the Sassanids under Ardashir. There are a couple Victory types that aren't hard to get. Here's a scarcer Profectio issue. (The Profectio was an official departure ceremony, in this case his departure for the East to take on Ardashir): This (anticipatory) triumphal type is also associated with the war: Some other reverses I like... Here's a rare Liberalitas scene on a small As-sized medallion: ^ from the R. D. Frederick collection; previously part of the Curtis Clay collection, acquired by Clay from Lanz Graz IV, 23 November 1974, lot 605, from the collection of the Marquis de Albrecht Hohenkubin (von Kubinzky)(1885-1972) - a collection formed in the early 1900s, buried during Allied bombing of Vienna in WWII, then dug out of the rubble in 1955. And speaking of Liberalitas, here's an Antioch mint denarius showing Liberalitas, but mislabeled as "LIBERTAS"! Continuing the error theme, here's a technically interesting reverse. Not the type, but this coin has a particularly deep die clash, the portrait is very clearly outlined: Moving to provincials, here's a Koinon of Macedon issued under SA showing Alexander taming Bucaphalus: Some nice clasped hands from Philomelium: An Alexandrian tet (Rome mint dies) with Julia Mamaea on the reverse: And finally an interesting reverse for Mamaea, from Claudioseleucia in Pisidia, with an appallingly ugly portrait but a cool depiction of Pan: Sorry for the effusion of coins, but I figured I'd better speak up for my man Sev Alex. ๐Ÿ˜„
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