Nerosmyfavorite68

Very interesting!  Sadly, I don't think I have anything of ancient Spain.

Pretty neat, especially the OP (and the rare double portrait coin, as well).  I love coins of Probus, although I have a grand total of two, one of which was purchased in the 1990's, the other in 2009.

Parthians are fine, but Sasanian coins are my guilty pleasure; namely those of Khrusru II and later kings.  I also like the very early ones, but they're quite expensive.

Interesting! 

Ok, cool.  That kind of makes sense.  I don't have much experience with the later, stylized ones.  When I buy Parthians, it's usually the ones with a more realistic portrait.

Should these be considered billon?  Would that explain the BD on some of the uncleaneds?

The Sasanian drachms were of high quality silver, but many managed to have green adhesions, mostly stable verdigris.

Very cool.  I enjoyed the writeup!

Here's my only Quietus. It wasn't a bad bargain coin:

Quietus, Usurper. 260-261 AD. Billon Antoninianus (4.03 gm, 23mm). Samosata mint. Obv.: IMP C FVL QVIETVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: APOLINI CONSERVA, Apollo standing left, holding branch and resting hand upon lyre; star to left. MIR 1728n; RIC 3. (nice surfaces in person).

I apologize for being an annoying numpty per Sasanian and Parthian coins, although I'm pretty good at ID'ing the ruler, I have no references for these.  I try not to ask for ID help too much.  I've just been on a Parthian/Sasanian kick lately.

However, the upcoming coin which I purchased with this, the star of the order, is ID'd fully! More to follow on that.  I chose the best one they had (in my opinion, although it wasn't the most expensive).

This was one of the rare times that I wanted a later, stylized king.  This one was actually one of the best of the uncleaneds, not having too many adhesions (and some had BD).  What was the silver content at this time?

Here's the Vologases VI, adn the sparse information in the listing.

And if I remember the So You Think You Can Rule Persia? podcast correctly, I think Vologases VI was the last Parthian king?  And that he briefly controlled an Iranian rump state?

And the massive amount of information... 20mm, 3.14g.

That is an exquisite portrait, reminiscent of the later ones.  Those are the only ones I usually collect of Domitian.

Pretty cool. Sadly, the only Carthage issues I have are Byzantine.

Zurqieh had offered an uncleaned Heraclius solidus, which had hard sand stuck to the harder-to-get places.

Perhaps there was a sale, and they didn't update it on one platform?  Marc B's coins are often cheaper on his own website, probably due to fees on vcoins, etc.

Very nice!

I examined my solidus again, and under certain light, it does look like the picture.  What's going on is a blob of metal in the nose area.  It doesn't seem to be a divot or gash.  There doesn't seem to be damage on the reverse, so I'm guessing there wasn't a repaired hole. My guess would be a serious die break?

Unless one looks at it really closely, it doesn't look bad from afar.  It's certainly an upgrade to my sub $20 nummus.

Wow, that's quite a nice bust, especially for the time.  I love stuff like that; thanks for sharing!

Unless it's something like this, and even this appears to have had a tiny amount of cleaning, virtually all ancient coins have had some level of cleaning.

That's quite a nice 8 Euro find!

Yes, I think the notes only applied to Constantinople.  At least, that's the way I interpreted it.

It's pretty cool that my budget solidus was made during the 'fall' of Rome.  Were it one of the Western emperors, it would have cost a lot more.  It could very well have been made to finance the ill-fated Basiliscus expedition (what a numpty).

This humble coin has certainly brought me a lot of joy. 

Yes, I should have elucidated; I was tired and kind of stressed out from the day.  I meant, in terms of thanking the dealer when the transaction is exceptional or something truly special.  It's silly to write over mundane situations.  Or, if their service is truly exceptional, one can thank them the first time, to let them know that their efforts are appreciated.

For example, the recent Magnus Maximus siliqua brought me a lot of joy.

I've done it three or four times.  Sometimes they write back.  Sometimes not.  The thank-you's are best done sparingly.

I had also written to Aaron Berk.  I wanted to discontinue the paper auction catalog, and I would never both someone of his stature with such a mundane request, but I had wanted to express positive feedback concerning his podcast and to pass along some special memories of shopping at HJB, so it was kind of a 'two-fer'.  He was gracious enough to write back, although unfortunately, the latest paper catalog just showed up. I guess it's like the "Cat Came Back" cartoon.

My potential black swan fear did occur.  The stupid catalog arrived at the same day as some coins.  I had feared the careless mailman would bend everything, but luckily, the coins were in a small enough mailer.  I'll try, try again with another HJB member.  No disrespect is intended; I am trying to declutter and since I'm legally blind in one eye, a catalog is kind of useless.

Or, I guess there's the opposite end of the spectrum, the plea letter, such as to a large European dealer, who through extreme carelessness, broke a cheap Nero, and then I never got any refund or store credit.  Lol, maybe I should hire Packgod (the platinum standard of insult comics) to make that entity a 'thank you' video.

A few recent buys from Incitatus Coins and David Connors, respectively, have given me a lot of joy, and I sent them each a note about how much I enjoyed the coins.

Do you ever send a thank-you note for special coins?

Quoting from Sear, "RIC distinguishes two phases of this issue.  The earlier (457-68) has an angled form of the letter G in the inscriptions, while the tip of the emperor's spear on obverse normally points between the P and E of PERPET.  The later (468-473) has a rounded G and the spear points between the E and T.

I guess mine is the second phase one?  Sear pictures two 21404's but the spear's in the same place on both.

Ordering from this dealer is a little bit like vault box; it's a bit of a mystery what your coin will look like, especially silver.  For instance, coins which are pictured as dark can be brightly cleaned in reality.

I was in the mood for Iranian coins, so I picked out some.  The downside of this dealer; the attributions are barebones, so no mint or date.  If anyone has any date or mint corrections, that would be most appreciated.  Many thanks to Ed Snible for some mint attributions.

The Khrusru with the bend turned out to be brightly cleaned, but the other Sasanians turned out to have really pleasant toning.

A big difference from VaultBox; I didn't lose my shirt on this purchase.  Everything was fairly priced.

Khrusru II

33mm., 4.10g.  AW mint

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Khrusru II

34mm, 3.67g AW mint, bend

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32mm, 4.06g, maybe AH mint

Parthian Empire. Orodes II (ca. 57-38 BC). AR drachm (20mm, 3.70g). Mithradatkart mint.

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Vologases I - 58-77 - AR Drachm18mm, 3.63g Ecbatana

Uncleaned

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Trajan AE Dichalkon.  15mm, 1.23 g, uncleaned

Those are really nice examples.

I suppose it's lucky that gold is so difficult to photograph.  The coin probably would never have stuck around if a trick of the lighting hadn't made the face look gashed out, even though it's not.  It's 'only' VF, but otherwise normal.

There's sharper examples (oodles of Sev's out there), but what makes the OP example truly special is the wonderful combination of fantastic toning, large flan, and full beading.  I haven't looked at mine in 20+ years, but while it's minty, it was brightly cleaned and just kind of another Severus.

Would someone mind posting the excerpt? I can't find my paper copy.

Yes, it's in Sear RCV 5.  The tip of the spear intersects certain letters.

There are two spans of time mentioned, I think.

The face looks less ghastly in person.  The trick of the reflection made it look like there was a divot. It's the same smushed nose/mouth that so many of these have.

When this, the cheapest solidus on vcoins, showed up,I hopped on it.  It arrived today.  From the picture, I thought that there would be some damage to the face, like a punch or something, but looking at it under a magnifier, it just lookslike the regular ol' die break face that so many of these have.  Anyway, it's still a much better placeholder than the decrepit nummus I have.

There's just something satisfying about gold coins.

My question: there's a way to tell which period these came from by where the spear is in relation to the lettering.  Which is mine?  Could people post some examples of the different periods?

I also got a hemiobol.  I had always wanted one of this issue.  It's amazing how many survived.

Leo I AV21 Solidus. Victory w. long cross. Constantinople

Obv: Pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing slightly to right, holding spear and shield decorated with horseman motif. D N LEO PERPET AVG.

Rev: Victory standing to left, holding long jewelled cross; star in right field, CONOB in exergue. VICTORIA AVGGG A.

RIC X 605.  AD 457-474.   4.31g. 

Mysia. Kyzikos AR9.5 Hemiobol.  Boar / Lion

Obv: Forepart of boar to left; on the boar's shoulder, retrograde Ε; to right, tunny fish swimming upwards.

Rev: Head of roaring lion to left within incuse square.

SNG Paris 375.  525-475 BC.  .36g.