Nerosmyfavorite68

The nicest Severus I have is just a 'mint state', i.e. everyone elses' EF from HJB. You all know my photography problems... Very nice, Al Kowsky, per usual. Do you even have any decrepit coins ?

P.S. A is 400-something dollars and B is 260-ish.

I don't often ask these what if questions, but I'm in a bit of a quandary. Both coins in question are Republican denarii, one imperatorial and one late Republic. Would you go for the imperatorial, an issue I've always wanted (which comes up on vcions way less than the Ephesus Antony-Octavian) which is actually affordable but the coin is somewhat decrepit (aF by wear, which isn't terrible by itself, but the coin is pock marked to death), or a beautiful coin, which I have no great passion for, but am only getting because it's beautiful, affordable (about $100-something less than coin 1), and presumably scarce. I don't remember seeing many of these. Both come from dealers whom I'm very comfortable buying from. I've only bought one from A, but it came SUPER fast, my fastest European buy.

I'm not sure what's being asked. Are we talking 'dream coin'?

Pretty cool! I have no coins of Trebizond. From the History of Byzantium podcast, probably in the Manuel podcasts, I want to say that the Sultan of Rum sent out some of the Gabras (pretty sure it was Gabras) family, who had converted to Islam, to bargain. Perhaps they had a branch of the family in Cappadocia? Pretty sure it was Gabras, it's a distinctive name.

Nice Antiochus, Magnus Maximus. I picked up a nice one at a remainder sale of Alex Malloy, a couple of decades back. It was my most pedigreed coin, coming from one of the 'robber barons', I forget which without digging up the coin. Ex; Boston? museum.

Welcome to the wonderful world of large and heavy coins! I got a really nice HUGE one from Sphinx, some years ago at a coin show. Of the photographed ones, some random ones, all Ptolemy IV: Ptolemy IV - AE Hemidrachm - Sv. 974 38.4 mm. 42.893 g. sea green patina Ptolemy IV - AE Tetrobol - Sv 1148 - 37mm 47.3g GB42291. Bronze AE 36, Svoronos 1148 (Kyrene); SNG Cop 207; Weiser 97 (Ptolemy V, 204 - 202 B.C.); Noeske 151; BMC Alexandria p. 75, 75 (Ptolemy V), F, Alexandria mint, weight 43.430g, maximum diameter 35.9mm, die axis 0o, obverse horned head of Zeus Ammon right, wearing taenia; reverse ΒΑΣΙΛΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ, eagle standing left on thunderbolt, wings open, head turned back right, ΣΕ between eagle's legs; GB42313. Bronze AE 40, Svoronos 974 (Ptolemy III); SNG Cop 224 - 226; Weiser 91 - 92; BMC Ptolemies, p. 66, 37; Noeske 155 ff., F, Alexandria mint, weight 36.094g, maximum diameter 39.1mm, die axis 0o, obverse head of Zeus Ammon right, wearing taenia; reverse ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, eagle standing half left on fulmen, wings closed, head right, filleted cornucopia ascending behind from shoulder, E between legs; Forum notes: Although the diameter is normal, this coin is extraordinarily light for the issue which is normally about 45 grams. We did not find another published example under 40 grams and many are over 50 grams.

Are there any spiced wine recommendations? Witches' Brew is pretty tasty for a $7 wine. The Romans loved to spice up their wines.

At some point this weekend, I'll try the book and the Note 20. Can't hurt.

A beer thread reminded me of a question; are there any wines similar to ancient Roman wines? And as my birthday approaches, I sure wish I could find the mysterious cocktail ingredient velvet falernum. I even visited a world-famous grocery store; no velvet falernum. I rather enjoy Witches' Brew spiced wine. While cocktails don't have this effect, wine just makes me feel really hot during the summer. It's more of a fall/winter thing for me.

It must be regional; although I'm more of a cocktail guy, I don't recall seeing that in the beer aisle. I guess I'll have to check next week... MOtor Oil beer/ale, from Scotland was pretty good.

What are some other Valerian Ants with interesting or out of the ordinary reverses? I think this might only be my second Valerian Ant, the first being from Allen Berman, c. 1994. I mostly collect Sestertii. Not counting uncleaned stuff, I might only have 20-25 Ants, total? A guesstimate.. A quarter of those would be Carausius. I guess I don't have to be too ashamed, were it not for the encrustation, mine would actually be better than average.

I also ordered... London Ancients takes about two weeks on the nose. So, I'm guessing 2-3 weeks.

I have the hard copy of the Photoshop Creative Suite CS5, which has Photoshop, but no Lightroom, infuriatingly. Not that I'm an expert at either. I've never used Lightroom. I like the modern Audition (although, infuriatingly, I have to use 1.5 to do basic things like variable time correction or insert silence). The rental on Photoshop is just WAY too much for what I use it for. I also have a pretty up to date Paint Shop Pro, and although I never use it, GIMP. I have some experience with workingwith RAWs. Randygeki's setup is something I can build, but the camera setup is left out. I actually have a pretty ready made workspace, with that 1940 Philco chairside. It was built to be a side table. And per an earlier Rube Goldberg reference...

Did the rulers of Media issue coins?

Thanks for the tip.

I don't know, I've become satiated in my record collecting hobby. I've achieved 99.5% of my goals and records take up a lot of room. Coins are small and no one forces me to buy coins. I've also reached the point of semi antipathy in my other hobby. I got so burned out on forever doing someone elses' project. I want to do something I like. I sure like to acquire coins, but I'm disciplined when it comes to my budget. Take the Roma auction, for example. I hate auctions in general and 90% of the coins are beyond my budget, so it's easy just to treat such auctions in the same way as gazing at a reference book.

I'm going to have to do a deep dive this weekend and soak up all the information here; there's a lot of great tips! I'd sure love to see a post-photography thread as well. What to do after the coin's been photographed. I.e. tricks for photoshop/paint shop pro/etc. novices. One could have a fantastic raw photo, but not know what to do with it afterwards. I have problems separating the image from the background. I wonder if the Note 20 has a macro lens? I could do the book setup..

Yes, exactly!

Everybody has coins of Menander, but what about the other Indo-Greeks? I'd like to learn more about them. What rulers are the most common? I'd like to find the cooler rulers, the ones with the helmets or hats. Also, what is a good catch-all search phrase if I want to find the maximum Indo-Greek Drachm hits in vcoins? I fished out a very decrepit and porous reduced standard Indo-Greek Tetradrachm from an HJB junk box. I hope to ID it someday. I'd have to dig it up, an dmore importantly, improve my photography skills. I believe it's a helmeted bust. It's been many years since I bought the coin; who was the later Indo-Greek ruler who made joint coins with Calliope? I bought an HJB example, way back when. He had a bag full of them. At the time, I could only afford the chipped one.

Do you ever feel like the coin zombie, the 1976 Scooby Doo character who shuffled around mumbling, 'coin, coin, coin.'? I've been a lot like the coin zombie lately, being very active in my buys. In fact, several Scooby Doo episodes dealt with a coin (the mummy and didn't the Black Knight?). By the way, Scooby Doo was heavily based upon the all-time great radio show, I Love A Mystery (and they probably borrowed from Doc Savage). Whatever became of the dark house mystery genre, by the way? Well, I guess this is a good place to post random coins. The zombie was after a gold coin, if I recall correctly. Shiny coins of any metal (or flashy ones) will do. This coin zombie would like to eventually find a Manuel or Isaac II Hyperpyron. I've had to settle for a Manuel Trikephalon. I'm too lazy to go to the folder with the appropriate coins, and I've posted my good (photographed) gold coins to death, so I'll leave that to you guys. The only non-posted one is a junk box worthy Justinian Tremissis.

I may be wrong, but looks like the 'uncertain Greek mint.'

Thank you. My spidey sense turned out to be correct. I thought it was Roman. The weird shape would make sense for sealing goods. It looks almost like a juvenile bust.

Believe it or not, mine was actually the best one on vcoins. I guess it's a scarce type, purchased to reward myself after going through some hassles last week. There's certainly some nice coins here and a stunning set of deities. I wonder how Valerian's capture was announced in Rome? Although Gallienus is one of the underrated emperors for just holding things together, he could have at least deified Valerian I.

I usually don't collect Valerian or Gallienus unless they're Sestertii, but there was something I really liked about the reverse design. The Cologne mint is also one of my favorite mints of the two. I especially like the heroic bust Gallienus issues. Attribution: RIC Vi 5 Cologne Date: AD 258 Obverse: VALERIANVS PF AVG, radiate bust right Reverse: DEO VOLKANO, Vulcan standing left holding hammer and pincers anvil at feet all within tetrastyle temple Size: 22.26mm Weight: 2.55 grams Please post any Cologne mint coins you have of the Valerian family. I have my eye on a much nicer Valerian II.