Nerosmyfavorite68

It's a lovely piece, as one would expect from AncientJoe.  Really nice!

From the alpha to the omega; I present my nearly junkbox example.

Here's my not-so-nice but only photographed example of Galba.  The other one is worn but has a much more pleasing smooth patina.

Orichalcum sestertius, RIC I 245, BMCRE I 94, F, grainy, Rome mint, 20.650g, 35.1mm, 180o, c. 9 Jun - Aug 68 A.D.; obverse IMP SER GALBA AVG TR P, Laureate and draped bust right; reverse ROMA in exergue, Roma seated left on cuirass, vertical spear in right, left arm rests on shield set on helmet, S - C across fields

The title says it best; it is indeed a lovely denarius of Faustina II.  You've been pretty disciplined about adding quality pieces. I see some hints of rainbow toning.  It's another nice addition.

How long does shipping take from Australia?

The only non-bulk Faustina II I have was a wonderful Secret Saturnalia present from CPK!

Is it available for purchase in pdf form?

I almost never buy LRB's, but that looks like a worthwhile book to have.

5 hours ago, idesofmarch01 said:

As I read through this thread, it seems that a more descriptive title for it might be "Head Scratchers and Regrets: Whatever was I thinking when I bought this coin?"

Mostly I agree with the opinions that "ashamed" is too pejorative to really apply to a coin that was once deserving of our ownership, but I do find insight and amusement in many of the coins and stories posted in this thread.

Yes, the head scratchers and regrets are the themes I was going for.  I have very few coins of Decius; I tend to have few of the really common guys.  I'm certainly NOT ashamed of this TD.

Trajan Decius, 249-251. Æ Sestertius (30 mm, 16.08 g), Rome. Obv. IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG Laureate and cuirassed bust of Trajan Decius right. Rev. VICTORIA AVG S C Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond. RIC IV 126d; Cohen 117

If the pit were anywhere else on my double sestertius, it wouldn't bug me as much.  The decrepit Caesar wasn't a 'bad' buy, as I'm not out much and the high $200's was dirt cheap, even for 2010.

There's dozens of coins worse than those two, but I'm not ashamed of them.  I don't even think about them.  They're just there; things which I picked up on my collecting journey, mainly when I was in my starting phase.

My 'co' first coin was much worse; it took me years to figure out that it's probably a dupondius of Nero.

I knew about the Buyids, from historical atlases, but didn't know too much about them.  Writeups like these are always welcome.

The closest I have are Sasanian and a couple of modest dihrems of the caliphate.

Perhaps you could get something from Prieure or Savoca?

Ebay and Greece? Ruh-roh.

With Greece's ridiculous laws, I'd say it'd be a problem, unless the guy is clever and/or unsrupulous.

Are people within Israel allowed to collect ancient coins?

I looked and there are only two Israeli dealers listed on vcoins.  Both have slim pickings, presumably because of the war.  Ma-shops is more poorly set up, but I didn't see any Israel within the pull-down list.

During one of my recent buys, I could have sworn I saw a we can't ship to Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and there might have been a couple more.

Tom Vossen, my most recent dealer, notes 'We ship to all countries."

LAC: all countries.  I don't feel like going through the gamut, but maybe it's a case-by-case dealer, whether they're in Dubai, the EU, or here.

I enjoyed the writeup and the caligraphy is very nice. The price was also a nice bargain.

That's a good question.  However, there were one or two vcoins dealers from Israel.  What about within the country?

I guess the eyeless Decius and the Caesar denarius are the only ones I'm reticent to trot out in show-and-tell.

With prices what they are, and what I've spent recently on home repairs, I'll have to be content with the cheap Caesar.

I'll just wait around until the price bubble bursts.  What goes up must come down.

I especially liked the patina on the first coin.

This is a lowly example, one of the cheapest examples the dealer had, but I have so few empresses, so I trotted out Salonina.  Not counting bagged bulk coins, I have maybe a half dozen examples of empresses?

Salonina, Augusta. 254-268 AD. AR Antoninianus (3.78 gm, 23mm). Colonia Agrippinensis mint. Struck 257/8 AD. Obv.: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust to right, set on crescent. Rev.: VENVS FELIX, Venus seated left, holding sceptre and reaching for child before her. RIC 7; RSC 115.

I ended up feeling sorry for the Gazan fisherman, per the 2017 incident. 

Welp, I guess I don't have to worry about fake provenances.  Off the top of my head, maybe less than 10 of my coins have a known provenance (other than the dealer).

Justinian II; Second Reign, 705-711 AD. Ravenna, Year 21=705/6 AD, Follis, 2.84g. Berk-817, MIB-54, DO-23, Sear-1445. Obv: Legend mostly off flan, Facing bust of emperor with short beard, wearing crown and loros, and holding [cross potent] (off flan) and cross on globe. Rx: Large M between A/N/N/O and X/X/[I], cross above, RAV in exergue.   Ex: HJB.

That's one of my favorite issues!  Cool example!

Mine is pretty nice, but it's in the unphotographed section of my collection.

Podcast #45 is out on youtube and addresses Roma and the 'looted' 2017 Gaza decadrachms.

This one was in the 2006-8 range, from Dr. Fishman.  I regret not buying a solid 'silver' Antioch Antoninianus of Claudius II.  It seemed to be solid, good billon, and not silvered.

L. Antestius Gragulus - AR Denarius - 18mm, 3.89g Craw 238-1, Syd 451

The above was last year's present.

Justin I - 518-527 - AE Follis - S83 - 17.72g off A Nikomedia - star & cross

Here's my only other decent Justin I, purchased for the unusually wonderful patina.

I can't say that toning is 'always' more attractive than brightly cleaned, but I'd say that it is, 85% of the time.

I'm not sure.  I'm not familiar with the gentleman.

My latest purchase was mainly centered around a coin for Dad's birthday present.  I added two coins for myself, a Justin I and a Salonina Antoninianus.

Wow, did it arrive quickly!  Deutche Post is supposed to be the slowest of the slow, but these have been arriving pretty quickly.  It was 8 days, order to door, this time. 

While browsing, I spotted an unusually superior 40 nummia of Justin I.  Usually superior and Justin I are oxymorons.  His AE coins, as well as the early ones of Justinian, are among the ugliest of the whole Byzantine line, in my opinion.

This one just caught my eye.  I didn't intend to buy a Byzantine, but when one sees a Justin that isn't miserable, get it.  This example has an unusually large flan.  Could it have been overstruck on a large module Anastasius?

That's another hole to fill; a decent example of Anastasius.

Justin I. 518-527. AE Follis (17.51gm, 35.5mm) Constantinople mint. Obv.: D N IVSTINVS P P AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: large M; Δ below; *-*; [above, cross]; CON in exergue. SB 62; MIB 11.

Salonina, Augusta. 254-268 AD. AR Antoninianus (3.78 gm, 23mm). Colonia Agrippinensis mint. Struck 257/8 AD. Obv.: SALONINA AVG, diademed and draped bust to right, set on crescent. Rev.: VENVS FELIX, Venus seated left, holding sceptre and reaching for child before her. RIC 7; RSC 115.

The Gordian III is a birthday present.  Mom called me, asking about a Maxentius with a temple  on the reverse (the standard type).

Once I spotted the Justin, I wanted to get the present from this dealer. The Gordy was the nicest thing I could find, in that price range.  I got him a really nice Roma head denarius last year, but turns out he prefers coins with portraits of individuals.

Antioch. Gordian III. 238-244 AD. BI Tetradrachm (12.20gm, 27mm). Obv.: ΑΥΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC CΕΒ, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right seen from behind. Rev.: ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞΟΥCΙΑC, eagle standing facing, head and tail left, wings spread, wreath in beak, standing on exergual line; SC in exergue. Prieur 282.

The Salonina was originally purchased as a thank-you gift to a co-worker, but she's really not into coins, so I decided just to keep it for myself.  I don't collect the imperial ladies very much, but this one has a nice, large flan.  The 'Cologne' mint is the best of the Gallienic mints, in my opinion.  I'm pretty sure that it's my only silver Ant of an empress.

The silver coins from this dealer are usually brightly cleaned, and these were no exceptions.  However, the Gordy is handsome and should make a nice present.  Having a family member interested in ancients does make present-buying easier!

Feel free to post any better-than-average coins of Justin I or a pre-reform Justinian I.

Happy birthday!

It's flabbergasting how fast prices have risen for all types.

My elephant, a 1990's era purchase, has a hole, but is otherwise decent.  I'm sure it was sub-$200 then.

That's a good addition!  I am missing Leontius.  I've always wanted one.  The gold seems to be more common than the Constantinople folles.