Molag Bal

A late joint reign ant of Gallienus: IMP GALLIENVS AVG: Radiate and cuirassed bust right. PAX AVGG: Pax standing left, holding branch and scepter. V in left field. 5th emission of Rome. MIR 208d (10 ex), RIC 341.

I won this yesterday making it my new latest coin! I'm very pleased to pick up an example of one of the rarer reverse types for Gallienus from Antioch. In my ACsearching I only found only one of the type properly listed in the past but with a left facing bust. The day of the auction this coin was at a 37 euro pre-bid so I steeled myself for a fight at the live session. When it came up I bid once to 38 and thankfully that was all it took. 😃

I have 7 coins of Probus, 6 of which I acquired last year and would like to get more, since I'm still missing a consular bust and the SOLI INVICTO and ADVENTVS reverse types. And the AEQVITI series is also neat... Not to mention all the rarer bust varieties and legends. Obv: IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG. Radiate and cuirassed bust right. Rev: VIRTVS PROBI AVG / XXI VI. Mars advancing right, holding spear and trophy over shoulder. RIC 811 Siscia Weight: 4.30g. Diameter: 22mm.

As far as I know this reverse was only issued for Saloninus. P COR SAL VALERIANVS CAES DII NVTRITORES MIR 1606e, RIC 35 This paragraph taken from: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=dii nvtritores

Poor Valerian. Here is a pair from father and son at Samosta: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG: Radiate, draped and cuirassed right. PIETAS AVGG: Emperors sacrificing MIR 1676e IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS P F AVG: Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. PIETAS AVGG: Emperors sacrificing MIR 1684m

Happy New year! My first coin of 2024 is an antoninianus of Gallienus. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG: Radiate bust right, with drapery over shoulders Rev: VICTORIA AET: Victory standing left, holding wreath and palm branch S/P//- Rome, 9th emission MIR 708A var ,RIC 586 var (Siscia) This bust/reverse pairing was unknown to Göbl. Wolkow identifies one example he lists as unique in his booklet GALLIEN – L’ÉMISSION DITE « DES FIGURES ASSISES » ET LES ÉMISSIONS S/P-P/II. This was from CNG XXXI, lot 1122 and pictured below. They appear to be die matches.

Wonderful additions this year, Tejas. I love the Thrax and Nero portraits. And the special Probus bust is magnificent. I second Qcumbor's suggestion to have it professionally cleaned. It looks to be in excellent condition under the encrustations.

Congratulations on the additions to your collection this year! I enjoyed the write up of the Claudius Gothicus from Siscia which I missed when you first posted it. The portraits there are so distinctive. My three favorites are the VOTA DECENNALIA, ADVENTVS, and Gallienus with Aegis. I also picked up one of the aegis busts this year and it is one of my top coins. It looks to be an obverse die match with yours, though a VIRTVS reverse.

For your question "Is it really possible to determine an engraver by style?'" I think the answer varies depending on the mint and time period. For coins of Gallienus at Cologne the portraits varied significantly. For example the first of these pictures, the lower engraver is very distinct, and as far as I have seen, never engraved portraits with the spear and shield with GALLIENVS AVG GERM V legend. This suggest some level of organization or structure in my opinion. Today I got in a new coin pictured below: Gallienus, 253-268. Antoninianus (Silvered bronze, 21 mm, 3.50 g, 5 h), Mediolanum, 263. IMP GALLIENVS AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gallienus to right, wearing aegis on his left shoulder. Rev. VIRTVS AVG Virtus standing front, head to left, holding spear in her left hand and placing her right hand on shield set on ground. Cohen -. MIR 1158s (2 examples). RIC -. From the E. Mensch & A. Bauer Collection of coins of Gallienus. This looks like an obverse die match to the example in MIR: It's also a die match to a coin in the N.M.McQ. Holmes collection: The one in the Holmes collection is from the 3rd emission at Milan according to Gobl. But mine is from the 4th emission. Does that mean one needs to be assigned to the other emission? Or were cross emission die matches possible?

I wasn't able to participate after settling my Leu invoice but I won 5 coins at previous sales and am very happy with them. Your collection is spectacular, congratulations on a successful auction!

Is the phrase "from a European collection formed before 2005" misleading if the collection started before 2005? That's how I always interpreted it.

I'm glad the whole saga was finally resolved for you. And doubly glad that the area I collect is rarely faked!

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/savoca_gmbh__co_kg/234/product/seleucis_and_pieria_antioch_nero_with_agrippina_junior_circa_ad_5468_dated_ry_3_and_year_105_of_the_caesarean_era_tetradrachm_ar/1953702/Default.aspx Savoca won it!

I have picked up a handful slabbed coins this year. Not because they were slabbed but because I wanted the coin inside and would have paid the same price for them "raw." More often than not slabbed coins are a rip off, especially anything with a high grade. But because they are usually bought and sold by people who collect the rating rather than the coin, it's possible to get nice deals, especially on scarce types like maridvnvm says. The left facing Gallienus from Antioch I recently posted in "Post your latest ancient!" was one, listed at the same price as common coins in "AU" slabs. Same for the unpublished Salonina in "Gallienus and Claudius II imperial coinage in the East." And I just got this Gallienus for $27, which would be a ripoff for a common coin of his but when it is the second known example with this bust variant I'm happy to add it to my collection.

My latest ancients include two Gallienus antoniniani from Antioch. I have a handful now from the mint with good slivering and it's been fun adding different reverse types. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG; Radiate and cuirassed bust right. Rev: LAETITIA AVG; Laetitia standing left, holding wreath and anchor. VIIC• in exergue. MIR 1642b (8 ex), RIC 616 Obv: GALLIENVS AVG; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust left. Rev: GENIVS AVG; Genius standing left, holding patera and cornucopia. Palm frond in exergue. MIR 1629b (3 ex), RIC -