Molag Bal

Rip Roma. I got a number of nice coins from them including my profile pic. 

Congrats David, and well said "Common coins give a collection scope, rarities give it depth." Love the portrait, and the video helps show off the reverse wonderfully. I haven't seen that episode of the Ancient Coin Podcast yet but it makes sense. We all have coins that look better in hand and it's easy to take and host high quality videos nowadays.

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 -  

I'm glad this thread was revived! Nice writeup and coins @seth77. The one from Samosata does look similar to the coin auctioned at Paul-Francis Jacquier. It's too bad it's so difficult to tell. Maybe with a keen eye and some luck a die match will surface.

In the past months I have acquired two seemingly unpublished antoninianii from Antioch, both small variations of common types. I would like to learn more about this time at the mint and read R. Bland's article The last issue of Gallienus from the mint of Antioch published in the Israel Numismatic Journal but haven't been able to find it online. If anyone has a PDF they can share I would appreciate it, before I bother Dr. Bland himself. 🙂 

This first coin has a common reverse: VIRTVS AVG with PXV (for TR P XV) in the exergue. Between the two bust types -draped, cuirassed- MIR cites 18 and 9 examples respectively [This seems like a severe undercount, as budget houses offer scores of "fresh" eastern coins each year]. What makes this rather ugly coin unusual is the delta below the bust on the obverse. The placement of officinae on the reverse at Antioch was not settled until Claudius Gothicus. For an apparently short time based on the number of known examples, the mint struck coins with the officina mark on the obverse. The sequence for the last emissions at Antioch are as follows:

Emission 14: Nothing in exergue
Emission 15: PXV in exergue on reverse
Emission 16: Officina on the obverse, PXV on the reverse   <- My coin here
Emission 17: Officina on reverse, finally without PXV

In MIR there are examples for Gallienus AETERNITAS, SOLI INVICTO, LVNA LVCIF, IOVI CONSERVAT, SALVS, and Salonina VENVS, but no VIRTVS examples known to Gobl. There is one cited with delta on the reverse, but there is no picture given. Due to the useful reference scheme Gobl uses to give IDs to supposed or hypothetical types this will be 1666n. 

The second coin fits into the 14th emission. This antoninianus of Salonina was a lucky eBay find. The VENVS AVG reverse is another common one, and was the only type struck for Salonina in the final emissions at Antioch. MIR cites 35 examples of this type with PXV [again, undercounted]. A seller listed a handful of Salonina VENVS coins and I noticed this one did not have PXV. Idly curious about the ratio between those with PXV and those without, I opened my copy of MIR and was surprised to see that there were no known examples without! A scan of past auction results confirmed it so I bought the coin - the reference will be 1671h. I have since found a second example online which looks like a double die match. It is like a cousin to @Harry G's AETERNITAS, which was also not known to Gobl. 

Congrats! 

I just got my first tetradrachm earlier this month. I wanted one without the roughness I often see, and was lucky to win this for what I felt was a good price for the condition. I haven't decided yet if I will free it from its plastic prison. Photo and description both from CNG:

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. BI Tetradrachm (28mm, 12.62 g, 11h). 1st officina. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from the front; • below / Eagle standing right on palm frond, with wings displayed, holding wreath in beak; S C in exergue. McAlee 1119a; RPC IX 1626; Prieur 537. In NGC encapsulation 5746814-092, graded Ch AU, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5.

For Roman imperial from 268-276: https://ric.mom.fr/en/home

I sent vcoins an email about the seller listing 18th century buttons under the ancients section last year because it annoyed me too. They ignored me. 😃

I have three new Probus coins on the way from Roma.

Probus BI Antoninianus. Siscia, AD 280. IMP PROBVS P F AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust to right / CONCORDIA AVG, Concordia standing to left, holding patera and double cornucopiae; VI to right, XXI in exergue. RIC V.2 661; probuscoins.fr 1834 (this coin); Alföldi, Siscia V 22.32. 3.53g, 23mm, 6h.

Near Extremely Fine. Scarce variant with divergent wreath ties.

This coin published at Probus Coins Online (https://probuscoins.fr/);
From the collection of a Polish connoisseur of Probus coins.

Probus BI Antoninianus. Serdica, AD 280-281. IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG, radiate, helmeted and cuirassed bust to left, holding spear and shield / VIRTVS PROBI AVG, emperor on horse galloping to right, spearing enemy whose shield lies beneath horse; KAB in exergue. RIC V.2 878; probuscoins.fr 2677 (this coin). 4.01g, 23mm, 12h.

Extremely Fine. Very rare arrangement of reverse legend.

This coin published at Probus Coins Online (https://probuscoins.fr/);
From the collection of a Polish connoisseur of Probus coins.

Probus BI Antoninianus. Lugdunum, AD 281. IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / SPES PROBI AVG, Spes advancing to left, holding flower and raising skirt; III in exergue. RIC V.2 99; probuscoins.fr 774 (this coin); Bastien 324. 3.74g, 23mm, 12h.

Extremely Fine. Rare reverse legend, rarer than SPES AVG variant.

This coin published at Probus Coins Online (https://probuscoins.fr/);
From the collection of a Polish connoisseur of Probus coins.

Congrats! Very strange to put that in a group lot. They must have not recognized it as a rare type. 

Very unfortunate. I hope things go as well as they can for Mr. Beale but it doesn't sound good. 

Roma has auctions scheduled later this month. If the arrest happened in January they must intend to go through with them since they went up on the website just a few days ago. There were a couple coins I was interested in but I am not sure I feel comfortable now. A shame because I have only ever had good experiences with the company. 

Here's a newish Gallienus I haven't posted before with a GALLIENVS AVG GERM V legend

MIR 872q (10 ex) 

Cologne, 21mm, 3.78g.

From the Brian Holland Collection. Ex C.G. Collection (Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 167, 27 June 2007), lot 182; Stack’s (11 February 1990), lot 393.

I like the style of Cologne but wish they had produced a greater variety of reverses types.