Troyden

Indeed they are wonky. I admitt, I saw only museum-grade specimens before purchase which perhaps influenced my perception. Those coins look produced in haste, which may have influenced quality.

So there's this coin. It's the famous Caesar's lifetime portrait denarius, sometimes called flamboyantly (yet incorrectly) "the coin that killed Caesar". But there's something weird about it. I mean it's shape. The flan is elongated, it looks almost like an egg. Definitely out of proportions typical to a Republican denarius. I have little doubts as to its authenticity. I've bought the coin from a good seller and further traced its provenience to a reputable auction house which sold it a few years back. So what's the reason for this bizarre shape? Was there some production flaw when the flan was cast or maybe it somehow got deformed after minting?

1. Rise of the empire. Tetradrachm of Antiochus I Soter, Antioch mint. 2. Twilight of the empire. Drachm of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, eastern mint in either Media or Hyrcania.

There's actually a good reason why so many of Gordians (and Philips for that matter) survived. These were some of the very last silver coins of relatively good finesse that happened to circulate among the civilian population. The monetary system collapsed under Decius, in large part because the imperial treasury including mobile mint accompanied the army and were captured by the Goths after the disaster at Abritus, while soldiers paid with coins produced so far perished or were enslaved. Facing with inflow of debased coinage, people were hoarding Gordians at massive scale. This had a double effect of producing a massive number of surviving coins and further worsening the financial situation of the state.

Helmets, you say? Then you can't forget about the coinage of Mesembria, which used helmets as it's distinctive symbol. Yes, I am aware that the distinctive shape of the Corinthian helmet on Mesembrian coinage led some to believe there was some double entendre in play here. Diobol, Mesembria. Circa 400-350 BCE, weight 1.26 g., diameter circa 11 mm. Catalogue: SNG Cop. 652.

Somewhat incredible that broken Latin legends were still appearing so late.

We know that Caracalla was a massive Alexanderboo. He, among others, tried to recreate the phalanx for his Persian campaign and notoriously plundered Alexander's tomb. But are there any sources that he also collected coins?

First known collector was Augustus himself, followed by Theodora Porphyrogeneta. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coin_collectors

I looked up this seller. He's on ebay since 2014. If he hasn't since wound up on fakesellers' lists like those maintained by Forvm or augustuscoin, then he's not a confirmed fake peddler. The rule of thumb should let us assume he's a legit seller. However, even legit sellers sometimes let a fake slip through.

This is mine "Macedonian shield". Silver tetradrachm of the "Macedonian First Republic", i.e. one of the Roman created protectorates after the Third Macedonian War.

Of even bigger consequence was how much Justinian was able to antagonize religious minorities. They went from being mere malcontents straight into a fifth column waiting to get rid of Roman rule.

My favourite is of course the big follis of Justinian I. Constantinople mint, weight 23.04 g, diameter circa 40 mm. Catalogue: Sear 163. Regnal year XII, corresponding to 538/9 CE. Though as many already know, I'm personally quite ambiguous as to the man's achievements.

You might be also interested in the coins issued by Ober-Ost - Central Powers' occupation autority in what's today the Baltics, Belarus and northeastern Poland. Those were 1, 2 and 3 kopeck coins, subdivisions of the so called "Ostrubel". For some reasons German authorities kept the old Imperial Russian currency names, even though everything related to Imperial Russia was absolutely despised by the locals. Picture below is from Wiki, I never ever bothered to get one.

This is something distinctively WW1-related. A 10-pfennig 1917 coin of "Kingdom of Poland" a German puppet state formed in latest 1916 after Germany and Austria-Hungary occupied the entirety of former Congress Poland. The state was intended as a source of manpower and part of the so-called "Mittle Europa" - a project of small Germany-aligned puppet states in Central and Eastern Europe. The state wasn't success to say the least. It was difficult to find Poles willing to cooperate for various reasons ranging from doubts in German victory, outrage at plunder by the occupying forces and up to obvious favoritism given to Lithuanians and Ukrainians regarding competing territorial claims. The coin in question reflects the reality of the era. It's denomination in pfennig (substraction of "Polish mark") was alien to Polish tradition and betrays the foreign origin. It was minted in massive, inflationary quantities making even well preserved specimens affordable today. At the same time it was made from cheap base metals, which causes the coin to rust! I'm not kidding. My first specimen literally rusted after it spent brief time in damp air. On the other hand, the coin stands out as part of the very first distinctively Polish coinage since mid 19th century, when Russia clamped down on the last remnants of Congress Poland's autonomy.

One of my favorites from the period. 1792 "five sols" coin (?) or token minted by private company Freres Monneron using a steam mill. Entrepreneurial brothers exploited a loophole in French laws which briefly allowed private interests to mint coinage. The Monnerons made these tokens in huge numbers and they were actually widely used as tender because of combination of coinage shortage, obvious artistic quality and political considerations (the king's effigy is notably tiny which made it more desirable in then-current political climate). The loophole was quickly fixed by the French legislature which forced the Monneron tokens out of circulation. Not that it changed much because the Monnerons were already out of business by then.

Let's share those coins we have, which can be said to be one of a kind. Or almost. Many are inexpensive, many are just variants of popular types. But each of them is unique in its own way and often tells an interesting story. When I bought this coin, I didn't realize what a rarity I got my hands on. This is, of course, the Chersonesos hemidrachm. A very common and inexpensive coin, "bread and butter" for any collector of Greek coins. I too bought it in order to make another checkmark on my list. However, I had a big problem with cataloging this coin. It wasn't in McClean, SNG Cop, or any of the other standard reference. The problem was the reverse - nowhere to find mention of this strange figure that could intuitively be described as Athena Promachos, a common theme in Greek art. Finally, after a long search, I found this type described in the Weber collection catalog under number 2418. So interesting that this type is absent from standard references, and to be found in a relatively obscure source from the 1920s. Weber plate.

Hadrian had notably bad, selfish character. He's one of the "good" emperors simply because the state was at its peak. He was, however, the only ruler of the period whom we know was despised by his large segments of his subjects.

DIVI•F betrays it's Octavian. Cr 546/7 Similar lot: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=1884&lot=716 Description says it's the last coin of the Republic.

Love those.

Sicilian follis of Justinian II. I have a mixed attitude to Byzantine coinage. At one hand, they are incredible cool as something that came from medieval iteration of the Roman Empire. At the same time, the decline of artistic value when compared to the coinage of Principate and even the Late Roman period is staggering.

Mine is one of the very first coins that came to my collection. A thicc Nero's as. Lugundum (Lyon) mint. I really like this coin. Also Nero is one of few ancient people truly well recognized by the general public. So his coinage serves as an excellent introduction into the hobby.

I wonder what was their point in minting these. I understand the general idea of the restoration coinage, with Flavian emperors trying to legitimize themselves as lawful successors of the Juliano-Claudians. After all, some historians even suggested that Vespasian was supported in his bid for power by Neronian (and by extension Juliano-Claudian) loyalists. But Drusus was by then an obscure figure, hardly in living memory. What was to gain by bringing back a "literally who?". Edit: spellcheck changed 'Juliano' to 'Judeo'.

Lionskin counts? Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, circa 325-322 BC (lifetime), weight 17.23 g., Catalogue: Price 3641, Babylon mint Obv: Head of beardless Heracles right wearing lionskin headdress Rev: Zeus Aetophoros seated on stool-throne left, wearing a himation over his lower limbs, eagle on outstretched right hand, sceptre in left hand, ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ (of Alexander) to the right

Tetradrachm (double shekel) of Mazaeus as satrap under Alexander the Great, circa 331-328 BC, weight 17.04 g., Catalogue: Sear 5652, SNG Cop 260, SNG Berry 1456, BMC Arabia etc. p. 180, 1 var., Babylon mint Obv: Baal/Marduk, seated on stool-throne left, wearing a himation over his lower limbs, lotus-tipped sceptre in outstretched right hand, BLTRZ (Baaltarz) in Aramaic right Rev: lion walking left, MZDI (Mazaeus) in Aramaic above

Vandal Africa. Tiny nummi of Hilderic.