Ancient Coin Hunter

I have a Billon tetradrachm of Alexandria...Zeus holding thunderbolt on the reverse. 23mm 12.1 grams. It does seem that with Commodus the fabric of the tetradrachm was further debased so that the coins were potin from this point forward. Why are Commodus coins not particularly popular? Not sure. I do think perhaps it's because he was an unlikeable figure who ended up being strangled in his bath by the wrestler Narcissus.

An Etruscus example, prince of the youth:

Here's my Focas....also has XXXX for 40 nummi on the reverse. Focas was a bad emperor but he did introduce beards as a style for Byzantine emperors, and also was the last emperor to build something in the Roman Forum, the column of Focas, which once carried this inscription from the Exarch of Italy: The inscription on the statue reads as follows: “To the best, most clement and pious ruler, our lord Phokas the perpetual emperor, crowned by God, the forever august triumphator, did Smaragdus, former praepositus sacri palatii and patricius and Exarch of Italy, devoted to His Clemency for the innumerable benefactions of His Piousness and for the peace acquired for Italy and its freedom preserved, this statue of His Majesty, sparkling from the splendor of gold here on this tallest column for his eternal glory erect and dedicate, on the first day of the month of August, in the eleventh indiction in the fifth year after the consulate of His Piousness.” He also managed to erect a colossal statue of himself in Constantinople which has not survived to the present day.

Mount Argaeus is definitely visible. I'd vote for Gordian the 3rd.

I would have paid with a Gordian III antoninianus. Not only do I have a bunch of them but they are amazingly valuable. 😜 😜 😜 😜

Nifty. I actually have no siliquae yet. I have some hexagrams and miliaresion of Byzantium but no late Roman silver, should remedy that.

Very cool thaler. Don't have any but have admired them since I started collecting coins back in 1980. The only thing I have like that is a piece of 8 from Ferdinand of Spain that a neighbor gave me.

Very interesting piece. I hope it turns out to be somewhat unique. An Eastern provenance would make sense in this case I think,

Nice new additions to the collection and Happy Holidays!

Nice wins. I like the reverse of the first example where instead of "SOLI" the legend says "SOLE" Also, Constantine reputedly hated the title of FILIVS AVGVSTORVM....

I read the article on livescience and it seems to be everywhere on the Interwebs. I'm not convinced. How many Roman (or even barbarous imitations) don't have proper Latin form even if blundered? Once in awhile names are in the vocative or dative case and hence don't end in VS. I can think of types for Gallienus, Volusianus, and Constantine which end in alternative cases (but usually nominative for 99.9% of Roman coins) His name was Sponsianus, not Sponsian. Just a fake.

I have a "rare" drachm of Marcus Aurelius from Alexandria. Supposed to be rare according to the dealer. Supposedly the Elpis hitching skirt and holding a flower is a rare emission. Type: AE Drachm, 33mm, 22.95 grams Obverse: Bare headed and draped bust of Aurelius right M AVPHLIOC KAICAP Reverse: Elpis Standing left holding flower and hitching skirt LEND EKATOV Reference: BMC 1238 listed as "rare" by R.A. Numismatics (Cited from: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/marcus-aurelius-drachm-of-alexandria.320744/)

Wonderful story. I recently moved from the SF Bay Area to Washington state, realizing a large profit on the sale of the home. Moving in day was quite remarkable though as the movers' truck got stuck on the driveway and they had to call a big rig tow truck with a winch to get the truck to budge. And there were various other adventures moving into a three story house without an elevator and lots of heavy furniture!!! Second photo is of the sun through the fog on that afternoon. All in all I was victorious in the effort...

No you are not being too sensitive. The dealer should not refer you to online prices while you are looking at something in his inventory. Just bad form. I also don't deal with sellers who are rude or unresponsive either in person or online. One strike and you're out, basically,

I'm wondering how the OP coin would be tariffed to the sestertius? Does the radiate crown equate to a double sestertius (as T. Decius struck)?

Here's a Gratian AE2, 6.2 grams:

Don't have any Artemis types. Will have to remedy that.

Galba of Alexandria. It's interesting that he managed to produce so many coins in a brief time from that mint, so we can assume he had a strong control of that "Imperial Property" province.

Might be someone in the local sorting location who has noticed a trend of coins being shipped to you and is pilfering them, probably not the letter carrier I would imagine, though it seems like he or she might ring the doorbell and notify you of a problem rather than consistently delivering empty boxes and mailers. When Jamesicus (may he RIP) sent me a Diocletian of London the letter was opened and of course, nothing inside.

Here's a couple... Claudius...Licinius....Numerianus

Nice Aurelian coin. Not really surprised that it seemed like Diocletian. Good win from a large lot!

I am surprised that I don't have a Quintillus in my collection (I just checked). But, lots of the DIVO CLAVDIO CONSECRATIO coins were struck during his reign...

Interesting coin.

Interesting coins. I don't have any die matches at the moment.

So are the open door types always fakes?