Severus Alexander

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):

With that suggested search, you're #1 for me on both Bing and DuckDuckGo. On Google you don't even show up! 😠 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 AΓIOC ΘEO 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.

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!

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.)

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!

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? 😆 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 “some conglomeration of a bat, wooden sticks, unseen epoxy and other items designed to deceive.” 😆)

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 AΓIO to left, ЄVΓЄΝΙO to right, three pellets in triangle in inner left field / Manuel standing facing, holding labarum and akakia; manus Dei to upper right, MNHΛ to left, OKH to right. Sear 2601. 1.87g, 21mm.

@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. 🙂 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 akçe dated 865 AH = 1460/61, the mint's first year of operation: Now time for the denouement!

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.

You mention Phanes... here's mine: ... except it's a fourrée. (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 fourrées, i.e. the whole thing was a fraudulent operation! Which could explain why it didn't last long...

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.

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:

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?

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?" 😁 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. 🙂 (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. 😄

Sorry to have been MIA in this thread for a while. There are a number of reasons, the most interesting of which is this savage beast in our neighbourhood: We're still on evacuation alert but thankfully haven't been evacuated, and now the part of the fire near us is somewhat under control; as long as we don't get high winds again we should be fine. About 200 houses have been lost in other areas, though, including that of a friend of mine. His house was burnt to the ground, there's literally nothing left of it. 😢 Apparently there are still people who don't take climate change seriously. Not many around here any more, let me tell you. But enough of that. I'm picking a good spot to drop back into the thread, as some of my very best reverses are on Elagabalus coins! First, arguably the most representative Imperial reverse type for him, from the Antioch mint: This of course shows the Stone of Emesa, the earthly incarnation of the god Elagabal, on its journey to Rome at the beginning of Elagabalus's reign. The stone is in a quadriga, with an eagle on its front. This coin was a gift from a group of my amazing coin friends. Please see @TIF's fabulous post on the type as well. My other favourite Elagabalus reverse is this Triptolemos driving his serpent biga: See the grain in the fold of his cloak, and scattering from his upraised hand; also the tiny serpents engraved on the front of the chariot. This is one of my favourite coins, period! And a fine illustration of why Roman collectors are missing out when we restrict ourselves to imperial types, as I once did. (Mint: Nicopolis in Moesia Inferior.) Some others I like... ^ This is an ex-Dattari tetradrachm from Elagabalus's very first issue at Alexandria. Only a handful are known, but the inscription appears to celebrate Elagabalus's victory over Macrinus... so while the Nike type isn't unusual this one's historically pretty cool. Here's another provincial from Nicopolis: I like this early depiction of a camp gate, from long before the type became popular on Imperial coinage in Constantinian times. Last, a general type we've seen already and will doubtless see more of, because it's a great reverse to have for Elagabalus: I think the depiction is particularly nice on this one, and it has a point of extra interest: this is a rare instance where the star appears behind the emperor. While star position didn't matter much for other types, it apparently did matter a lot for this one, as it was quickly moved to the front. There are even a few star-in-front coins where the remains of the errant star can still be seen, erased on the die.

Too bad you weren’t the only one to spot it, @Finn235! (Based on the hammer.) Still, you got it for a good price, coingrats!

Great coin, a very desirable type! Brings back very fond memories of this thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/so-these-exist-snake-cowboys.314032/ Here's another weird one: It's an A. Pi drachm. A few details: The name Harpocrates comes from the term Har-pa-khered, the Egyptian epithet for Horus as a child. He was a god of the dawn sun. Due to a misunderstanding of his usual gesture of holding a finger to his lips, which to the Egyptians symbolized childhood, Harpocrates was worshipped by the Greeks as the god of secrecy. The Menelaites nome, where this coin was issued, contained the famous town of Canopus. Its main cults were devoted to Amun, Harpocrates and Sobek, the crocodile god, thus the depiction on this coin. (Sobek is apparently also closely associated with Horus.)

Hypothesis: linked are two coins from Erythrai, struck for Geta, SNG Copenhagen 773. But it's not unusual to see the same types struck for Septimius. Arrows indicate where the serpent is perhaps visible on @Topcat7's coin. The apparent "B" at the end of the legend is perhaps a wonky/corroded N, maybe with interference from the serpent design. The size, weight, fabric appears to be correct. Whaddya think?

Al, you're forgettin' about the young 'uns who do everything on their phones. Incredible, I know! I don't know how they can stand it. Of course that may have something to do with my old eyes... 🤓

Geez, now I'm wondering if I should've bought a turdy one!! Great coin. 😄

I think it might be a cista rather than an altar. Sometimes they're depicted nearly closed, along the lines of this: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1048271 Any evidence of a serpent?

Here's his first issue proclaiming his legitimacy ("Adoptio"), from a mint in the east, probably Syria, right where Hadrian was at the time: And his champion at Trajan's court, Plotina (issued in Thyateira, Lydia): When the adoption document finally surfaced, it was signed not by Trajan but by Plotina, and was dated the day after Trajan's death.

Follow this link to see all eight!

My best chance of having a Glykon is this Nikopolis of Geta (fishy/furry tail, nimbate, and is that head hair hanging down, or just a beard?). There's a good chance the same mint produced many of the Moesian and Thracian city coins from this era.