Severus Alexander

Good point. I’ve found that in cases where they ding you with high courier fees they’re almost always open to an alternative arrangement through the postal service (a much better option in Canada). The only major exception is Naumann - they’re very inflexible. As a result I almost never bid in their auctions. I should note that sometimes this means the package isn’t insured, but I’m OK with that if it’s not a really high value. I’ve only had one low- value package get lost; meanwhile I’ve saved hundreds in shipping costs.

It’s worth getting a late Antioch antoninianus, if you’re a history-based collector (I am too). These coins were used for the unfortunate expedition against the Sassanids that resulted in GIII’s death. Eastern provincials are good too, some great reverses there! Interesting question! I tend to agree with your observation. Now that I think about it, sestertii and dupondii tend to have nicer patinas than asses, I’d say. Maybe orichalcum/brass tends to patinate better than copper? Byzantine AEs are mostly (but not exclusively) fairly pure copper, I think. Some Justinian 40 nummi are pretty brassy looking, but that’s a type that seems to patinate better than the usual Byzantine AE, I’d say. Maybe the relative youth of Byzantine coins has something to do with it too? Pure speculation based on anecdotal recollections, I hasten to add!

Of the Constantinian ladies, the only one I have a really good portrait of is Fausta (it's the reason I bought the coin): My Trier Helena isn't too bad: And my Theodora (from a group lot) could probably use an upgrade, but nice ones tend to be pricey (by lrb standards, that is!):

Your top 3 are my picks too. 🙂 I remember discussing 1 and 3 with you (such fabulous coins!!) but I had forgotten about #2, a really excellent example. The incuse letters on the tablet, as well as the style of Janus, are indicative of an earlier issue, I think... is that right? I realize you've just included a tidbit of history with each coin here, but in case it's missing from your longer form info, a detail worth adding to your pi-style is that Aristotle and Plato were just concluding their time together at Plato's Academy. Plato died c. 347 and Aristotle left at the same time, eventually returning in 335 to found the Lyceum. Along with the Demosthenes connection, I think I need one of these! I'd like to single out the Kroton too, with the looooooong pedigree. I've said it before, but the toning on this coin is very special! Here are a couple of Krotons I've picked up, inspired by yours. First an obol from the time Pythagoras was there, c. 530-500. It's a cute little thing in hand! This next one's a triobol, usually dated either 425-400 or 425-350; I suspect it may be an issue from when the city was held by Dionysios I of Syracuse from c. 379-367.

Congrats on the project, sounds awesome!! I don't think you use a Mac, but for others following along, I've found Mellel to be good for long book-length projects. (BTW, I found the learning curve on LaTeX to be not worth the effort... depends on how much technical stuff is in the text, e.g. equations etc. Lots of that kind of thing would justify learning to use this.) I'm low on MSCs (I generally leave them for you! 😉) but here's one for the thread: Pyrrhos of Epirus as king of Macedon (274-272 BCE) @kirispupis: Allen, King of Seattle looks like a ton of fun! And the Seattle book looks quite lovely. 👍

I probably shouldn't encourage people – it's dumb to invite more competition! – but the fear of allegedly "hidden" costs etc. is way overblown IMO. Just like you'd factor in shipping costs when buying on VCoins or ebay, you factor in the buyer's fee, which is easy to find under the "Auction terms" link on biddr, or the "Terms of Sale" link on Numisbids: If you can't find it straightaway in the text that pops up, just search for "%". To that, add in the corresponding exchange rate in % of your own currency (from Google or wherever), and you've got your max bid. Easy-peasy! Lots of dealers make their money by buying at these auctions and selling on VCoins. If you have reasonable knowledge of your target area, it makes sense to cut out the middleman.

I get plenty of neat stuff for less than that from various auction houses on biddr, especially the ones with very low starts and minimal ID info. LRB’s of course, but also Greek AE. I also agree with others above who suggest a shift of focus, especially off the beaten track of Greek and Roman silver.

I have quite a few portraits of Constantine that I really like. My top 2: ^ The out-of-proportion face, especially the eye, compared to the helmet charmed me so much I had to have this coin! The black-and-tan patina on this campgate from Nicomedia really sets off the stark portrait nicely: As I said, those are my two favourites - at least today! Here are some runners-up. A late style Antioch: And here's an early one, as Caesar (gotta love that eyebrow): Rome style after the Milvian bridge: ^ this second example, PACI PERPET, is very small, just 16mm. (@CPK, I gotta find a Rome example like yours! Fabulous!) The obligatory "eyes to heaven": Early Constantinople style: And a cool helmet from Trier: Finally, here's a silly one. The reverse of this Bosporan coin is probably supposed to be Constantine (though there's a small possibility it may be Licinius instead): ^ Rhescuporis VI (308-342), dated 324/5

After having looked into the Heraclius/Maurice distinction further, I've come to the conclusion that without a clear name, or a clear beard, or a die match, it's very hard to be certain whether a particular example is Maurice or Heraclius. There's just too much variability in other aspects (headgear, brow, etc.). (The EBCC photos are very helpful in this regard.) I'm about 85% sure the OP is Heraclius, based on the apparent beard. But is that a beard on the die? or roughness? or an artefact of striking? Maybe you can be 99-100% sure with the coin in hand, but I can't be based on the photo. Same problem here. A maybe-beard, no helpful bits of legend, trefoil crown (less common on Heraclius). Doesn't look like year 3 either. I couldn't be sure which emperor this is. Here's my SB 804. Clear-ish beard, clear legend, die match to EBCC 17.20. No doubt on this one! (20 euros at auction, including fees... a lot cheaper than that uncertain VCoins example!) I like that it's an overstrike on a Nicomedia coin, too. I think it makes sense to steer clear of coins where there's some doubt, given that it's not that difficult to find a clear example.

I was very intrigued by this post! I wondered how it worked, and whether it could be used to measure silver content in 3rd c. antoniniani, for example, even though their metal composition varies on the surface vs. inside. If it works by measuring conductivity, it sounds like ancient coins are beyond its abilities, unfortunately. From the Sigma verifiers site: "In silver coins, additives can change the reading significantly.... For old numismatic coins, variability will be high, and no data base has been developed for analyzing them... we need to know the specific alloy we are measuring and then determine if the item being tested falls into the range of that alloy." We normally wouldn't know enough about the coin being analyzed for this to work on ancients. Bummer! 😞

Of course you should! And then I'll post mine after. 😁

My two favourite portraits of Licinius I, from Rome and Antioch respectively: I also quite like this Siscia even though it is ordinary head right: ... and this London too: Something unusual: here he is with his face obliterated by an Umayyad fals overstrike. The undertype is definitely a Ticinum Sol issue, probably RIC VII 4. This fals was struck 2500 km away, in Syria, 400 years later!! 🤯 ^ oriented according to the undertype And finally, here's my favourite Licinius II portrait, from Cyzicus:

What a lovely array of high quality coins! I’m glad to see some important ones missing, though, like the ex-Lockett LON Diocletian. 🙂 I can absolutely vouch for Joseph/@Alexios, a 100% reliable, upstanding guy.

@Kaleun96 nailed it! The harshness of the better (bottom) photo could also be addressed somewhat in software, by dialing down the highlights. (I would suggest raising the coin off the background too, but that’s a matter of taste.) Great coin, btw!

Jokes aside, that coin actually has a really nice portrait. (But I gotta wait another 25 minutes before I “like” it. Or more likely “cookie” it. Maybe I should offer an award for the poster who gets the most cookies from me…)

Agreed. But also pretty much guaranteed given that we cross the international date line in our time zones. Plus overlap would likely cause confusion on its own. (That said, there isn’t a rule against “catching up” by posting portraits that have already been covered! E.g. @Dafydd’s Nervas above.) (Probably a good idea to flag these as catch-ups though, if you plan to do this.) So our noble thread Caesar @CPK picked a time that worked for him, and that didn’t cause our European posters to cross the date line.

Nope, those ain’t the rules here! 😝 (Note that would completely invalidate the whole schedule…)

I - Severus Alexander, that is - always was a goody two shoes. Right, @Prieure de Sion? 😇 What happens is a less regular poster to the thread (in this case my good buddy @Curtisimo) goes by the date only, and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon without checking. Or maybe y’ll are just baiting me for entertainment… 🤨😁

Switch time isn’t until 3pm Eastern! Tsk, tsk. 😝

Not a ruler I have pursued with any vigour, for some reason. I should get one of the Dioscuri types!

Great topic! I know Kenneth Harl is working on a paper looking at this in detail for some of the Moesian and Thracian mints. Here's a variation on the theme. I've had the following year 1 Nicomedia follis of Heraclius for decades: Last year I spotted this year 2 which was an obverse die match, and snapped it up. This demonstrates that obverse dies were used across the year-change boundary.

This is a key point to support the contention that the drachms were replacements for the sigloi... I'd love to hear a summary of the evidence you refer to here. I continue to follow your series with great interest, thanks for the posts!! P.S. I was very happy to pick up this earliest dated Alex tet, Sidon, Price 3467. It was misidentified in the auction so I got a great deal. The Aramaic letter under the throne indicates RY 1 of Abdalonymos = 333/2, as explained in @Kaleun96's comment above. The coin got even better when I read Abdalonymos's story: a gardener of royal descent is raised to the throne of Sidon by Alexander at Hephaistion's request. Very cool! Plus it turns out I had spent half an hour with his amazing sarcophagus in the Istanbul archaeological museum. So a dumb question about dated tetradrachms had a very happy ending! 😊 Supports the old adage: don't be afraid to ask dumb questions!

I wouldn’t be surprised if this coin turns out to be ex Dattari, because of the toning. You might find it in a past Vico sale. (Note that some of their e-auction sections don’t show up on acsearch or the auction aggregators so you might need to dig on their website.)

This makes sense. I have some questions for you though, based on browsing acsearch. For some reason, all the AEs from Antioch for Diadumenian seem to end in "...NINOC C", "...NINOC CE", or simply "...NINOC." The ones ending in "CE" seem awfully common to have all been struck in the 2-3 weeks that Diadumenian was Augustus, especially when compared to his tetradrachms as Augustus, and even more so if we include the legends ending in "...NINOC C". The AEs and the tets of Diadumenian as Caesar are quite different from each other. For Diadumenian as Augustus (looking at Syrian mints more generally), the tets begin with AYT, as for his father, whereas his tets as Caesar begin KAI. All the AEs seem to begin with KAI which suggests they were all struck as Caesar. But then what does "C" and "CE" signify? We don't find this on the tets, only "CEB." Macrinus's Antioch tets all seem to end in "CEB" too. (Sometimes part of it is tucked under the bust.) Whereas Macrinus's AEs also include "C" and "CE" endings. So I'm left puzzled by what the "C" and "CE" mean on the AEs. Should be Sebastos. But there are surely too many Diadumenian AEs with these endings for them to have all been struck in a couple weeks. I'm thoroughly confused! 🤪 Maybe the Antioch mint workers were too?

And now for Maximinus II Daia! Although I have a few coins of his, the choice of portrait turns out to be an easy one. It's this follis from Antioch: It's another ex Dattari from the Vico sales. Too bad about the doubling on the reverse.