I think we need our own 'Post an Old Coin and and an Old Tune' thread

[Roman Collector]

There are few names more Italian than Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco. He was born 10 years before Bach and Handel.

Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 21.36 g, 29.5 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 173.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII, head of Marcus Aurelius, laureate, right.
Rev: RESTITVTORI ITALIAE IMP VI COS III, Marcus Aurelius, in military dress, standing left, holding vertical spear in left hand and clasping right hands with Italia kneeling right before him, holding globe in left hand; SC in exergue.
Refs: RIC 1077; BMCRE 1449-1450; Cohen 538; RCV 4997; MIR 259.

Edited July 25, 2023 by Roman Collector

[expat]

Lucius Verus oversaw a successful military campaign against the Parthians between 162 and 166 CE. However, while in the east, his legions contracted smallpox and brought it back to Rome. This triggered the Antonine Plague, which killed millions of Romans and severely weakened the empire.

Under authority of Marcus Aurelius. AE As Rome 165-166 CE
•  Obverse Legend: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX
Type: Head of Lucius Verus, laureate, right
•  Reverse Legend: TR P VI IMP III COS II S C
Type: Victory, winged, draped, standing left, setting right hand on trophy, at base of which is a shield
RIC 1448, Cohen 282. 25mm, 8.94gr

 

[akeady]

Very sad news of the death of Sinéad O'Connor today.   Intro' by Gay Byrne for about 40s...

Here's a Naevius Balbus denarius -Cr. 382/1a:

😞

[expat]

Marcus Julius Severus Philippus (Philip the younger). Struck under Philip I

Philip II, AR antoninianus. 22.4 mm, 4.91 g.(Thick flan), Rome mint, 249AD.
IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. / LIBERALITAS AVGG III, Philip I, holding short sceptre, and Philip II seated left on curule chairs, extending right hands. RIC 230; RSC 17, Sear 9265.
Appears to be reverse die match to example held by American Numismatic Society, http://numismatics.org/collection/1957.172.754

 

[Roman Collector]

Here's a pleasant old tune!

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.89 g, 32.2 mm, 5 h.
Rome, 166-170 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 7 hairstyle).
Rev: IVNO S C, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter; at left, peacock.
Refs: RIC 1645; BMCRE 914-15; Cohen 121; RCV –; MIR 17-6/10b.

[Steve]

 

Here are 2 cool songs from a classic album (Madman Across the Water)

 

Madman Across The Water - Bing video

 

Oh, and here are a couple of my ex tiny lil' coins ... 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Steve

[expat]

Diocletianus would not accept second best

 

Diocletian AD 284-305. Potin Tetradrachm (19.5mm, 7.38 g.)
Egypt, Alexandria mint, dated RY 6 (AD 290/1).
Obv. A K G OYA ΔIOKΛHTIANOC CEB, laureate, cuirassed bust right
Rev. Eirene looking left, holding branch and scepter, leaning on a lituus shaped column, SL (date) across field. No reverse legend.
Attractive brown patina.
Rare variety with Eirene leaning and SL instead of LS

 

[Roman Collector]

This one is a twofer! Two old songs and two old coins. 😲 Although the two songs are similar,* they are from two separate albums, recorded and released at two separate times (with another album in-between). Similarly, although the two coins have a similar reverse design, they were issued at two separate times (with other reverse types in-between).

*Both written and produced by John Rostill and with bass harmony sung by Mike Sammes.

 

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 28.83 g, 32.5 mm, 12 h.
Rome, 162-164 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust, right, wearing two strands of pearls (Beckmann Type 7 hairstyle).
Rev: CERES S C, Ceres seated left on cista, holding corn-ears and poppy in raised right hand and short, transverse torch in left hand.
Refs: RIC 1623; BMC 895n.; Cohen 39; MIR 2-6/10b; RCV –.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.69 g, 31.4 mm, 11 h.
Rome, c. 170-175 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 10 hairstyle).
Rev: CERES S C, Ceres seated left on cista, holding corn ears and long, vertical torch.
Refs: RIC 1621; BMCRE 894; Cohen 36; Sear 5271; Banti 25; MIR 3-6/10c.

[JeandAcre]

Here's one that, not lying this time, I just got, and haven't posted yet.

Since the series is beyond my frame of reference (mostly, I just liked the dreadlocks and the bilingual legends), here's the dealer's description.

Juba I, Numidia, Silver Denarius, Utica mint, 60-46 BC. 18mm 3.55g * RARE *

Obv: Diademed and draped bust right, sceptre over shoulder Lettering: REX.IVBA - Translation: King Juba

Rev: Octastyle temple on base with steps Lettering in neo-Punic IOBA HMMLKT - Translation: Juba King

Ref: GCV# 6607, CNNM# 84-85, MAA# 29, Mitch AC# 84, SNG Cop# 523

And, since Canadians are so much in evidence here, why has no one put up any Bruce Cockburn?  Anyway, time to fix that.

 

 

[JeandAcre]

I'm kind of on a Canadian tear for a minute.  Next is likely to be Neil Young ...anyway, you were warned.

Funly, though, I'm back to finding long-lost pics of coins that have been languishing in effectively anonymous files for years.

Marquisate of Provence.  Raymond VI (1194-1222) or VII (1222-1249), counts of Toulouse.

Obv.  Crescent and star.  DVX. MARCh PV[vencie].

Rev.  Cross of Toulouse.  +R: COMES PALACI.  Duplessy 1606 and 1606A, incorporating elements of both legend variants.

And, thank you, some Joni Mitchell.

 

[expat]

 

 

[JeandAcre]

 The other really solid denier of the marquisate of Provence (Toulouse) that I just rediscovered pics of.

 

Marquisat de Provence.  (Not to be confused with the contemporaneous county of the same name, across a border --right, you get this with the French duchy, and Hohenstaufen county of Burgundy.  ...A little like how many French viscounts and counts are variously named Geoffroi and (don't get me started) Hugues.  Not a lot of creativity going on ...and we get to deal with the ensuing mess.) 

Raymond V (yep, there's Another one), as count of Toulouse; 1148-1194.

Obv.  Crescent and star; pellets in two corners of the field.  (From 9 o'clock:) +R.COMES ('S' couchant). 

Rev.  Cross of Toulouse (the heraldic device of the earlier counts: https://www.midi-france.info/19_toulouse.htm).  'Coupant la legend' as in the later example, above; D [/] V [/] X [/] M.

Duplessy 1604.

Nope, it ws too good of a day (my Sunday) to do any Neil Young, as threatened.  That can wait.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by JeandAcre

[JeandAcre]

..No, Honest, it's really been that good of a day.  This is my best denier of the county of Melgueil, in the same neighborhood as Provence.  Anonymous, c. (edit: 11th-12th) 12th-13th centuries.  (Promise you, I never did that before the four years (of days) of the the prior, duly esteemed American administration, and the year and three months of sheltering in place for COVID.)  With relentlessly blundered legends.  (Duplessy 1578).

 And here's some c. mid-16th c. Italian lute music, from the late, great Julian Bream.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by JeandAcre

[Roman Collector]

Bumping this thread with my favorite version of this old jazz standard. Cass Elliot could SING!!

Here's an old coin I've had in my collection for many years.

Elagabalus, Augustus 218-222 CE, with grandmother, Julia Maesa, Augusta 218-224/5 CE.
Roman provincial Æ pentassarion, 14.55 g, 28.4 mm, 12:00.
Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis, under Legate Julius Antonius Seleucus, 220-221 CE.
Obv: ΑVΤ•Κ•Μ•ΑVΡΗ•ΑΝΤΩΝΕΙΝΟC•ΙΟVΛΙΑ•ΜΑΙCΑ•ΑVΓ•, Laureate head of Elagabalus, right, facing diademed and draped bust of Julia Maesa, left.
Rev: VΠ•ΙΟV•ΑΝΤ•CΕΛΕVΚΟV ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΙ-ΤΩΝ, Dikaiosyne standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae; E (5) in field, right
Refs: Moushmov --; AMNG 962; Varbanov 1620; Mionnet S. 2, 101, 273; similar to BMC 3. 36, 63.

[JeandAcre]

Yes, Mama Cass was some Stuff.  My mom bought this album when I was reeeeally low to the ground; it was a staple in the house from then on.  I hope my big brother still has it.  

 

And this might be as far from early-hippie-era California as you'd want to get, at least in the broader cultural sense.

Viscounty of Chateaudun.  Anonymous denier; the earliest issue with the bleso-chartrain profile ('vers 1020-1040').  Duplessy 462.  Rev.  +DVNIS CASTII-I (both 'S's couchant, and retrograde).  Duplessy 462, with the ubiquitous, minor legend variants.

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by JeandAcre

[expat]

The title says it all

CILICIA. Seleucia ad Calycadnum. Severus Alexander (222-235). Ae.
Obv: ΑV Κ Μ ΑVΡ СЄΟVΗΡ ΑΛЄΞΑ, with remaining part of legend ΝΔΡΟС right field inside legend.
Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: СЄΛЄVΚЄΩΝ ΚΑΛVΚΑΔΝ, with remaining Ω of legend in upper right field.
Tyche, holding branch, seated left on rocks between two columns; river god Calycadnum to lower left.
RPC VI online 7034.
Condition: Near very fine with striking green patina.
Weight: 13.99 g.
Diameter: 29 mm.
This coin (AC Search) sold by Numismatik Naumann (formerly Gitbud & Naumann). Auction 79, Lot# 439, 07/07/2019.

 

 

[ewomack]

The Emperor theme from Star Wars and a coin of an Emperor (who may have wanted this for his theme song?)

Leo VI (AD 886-912); Constantinople; Æ Follis; Obv: +LEOn bAS - ILEVS ROM* Leo enthroned facing, wearing crown and loros, and holding labarum and akakia; Rev: Inscription in four lines: +LEOn / Eh ΘEO bA / SILEVS R / OmEOh; 6.90g, 28.00 mm;  Sear 1728

[Amarmur]

The song: Thrift Shop by Macklemore

 

I thought the $5 price tag was good for this "MS 62" Arcadius. Bought it as kind of a joke piece with that label.

[JeandAcre]

...Well, except that, after "Thrift Shop," everything in real ones started spiking.  The Grunge bands, who got their wardrobes from them, did everyone a favor by not doing a song about them; kept prices down.

But The Specials need some Selecter, by way of homage.  ...Here's a denar of Speyer, a coissue of Konrad II as emperor and Heinrich III as 'King of the Romans,' which maybe didn't get enough pressure.

And some Spesh-I-alls, as I will say.  ...As I & I would really tell you....

 

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by JeandAcre

[JeandAcre]

Yipes, I'm deeply in 'Can't Shut Up' mode.  Here's a denier of the future Edward I as Duke of Aquitaine (likely minted in Bordeaux), c. 1252-1272.  Evoking the posthumous pennies of Henry III, but in reverse, esthetically as well as chronologically.

Obv.  The Angevin lion, but passant guardant (facing, right paw raised), perhaps indicating Edward's cadency relative to the English throne.  (This is still well before systematized marks of cadency entered the heraldic canon.)  +EDVVARD FILI'

Rev.  [...] +h. REGIS ANGLIE:  (...'Edward, son of Henry, King of England.'  Note the substantive 'Anglie,' in contrast to the earlier, ubiquitous 'Anglorum,' denoting 'the English (people).'    Duplessy 1037.

From my all-time favorite of the too-few They Might Be Giants albums that I ever heard:

 

 

[expat]

Robbie Robertson RIP. As lead guitarist for Bob Dylan and as guitarist, singer songwriter for The Band. Thank you.

 

 

[JeandAcre]

Sorry for this, @expat, but this puts me back in the mode of bouncing directly off of other people's contributions.

...For The Band, I lean toward thinking that Stage Fright is kind of underrated.  The lyrics might not be on the same level as the earlier material, but the music is as good as anything they did.

Here's my best 'Damietta' denier of Jean de Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem, by marriage; probably minted in Acre, the de facto capital.  (Malloy CCS p. 80, no. 43; cf. Perry, John of Brienne pp. 109-10 and illustration 4.)  Jean is likely to have met St. Francis of Assisi when he showed up onsite in Egypt during the 5th Crusade, the occasion (if not the location) of this issue. 

Francis arrived primarily as an unofficial papal envoy to the Ayyubid sultan, al-Kamil, on what some modern Catholic theologians have characterized as a peace mission.  A summit, of sorts, did occur, according to primary sources.  But whether a corresponding face-to-face meeting with Jean took place or not, Francis's impact on him was pronounced.  Jean ended his life in retirement to the Franciscan order, and was buried in the characteristic brown habit (Perry 102-3). 

...'Saints and sinners?'  If you stick to the same context, you can as easily say, 'losers and winners.'  (I've often wanted to say to an Arab Muslim, 'Congratulations on the Crusades.  You kicked our ass.') 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by JeandAcre
Omissions; the ubiquitous typos

[Roman Collector]

I've had this song in my head all day.

Here's a coin I've had for a long time.

Gordian III, AD 238-244.
Roman Æ Sestertius, 20.01 gm, 28.2 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 5th officina. 9th emission, AD 241.
Obv: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: PM TRP IIII COS II PP SC, Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch and resting left arm on lyre.
Refs: RIC 302; Cohen 252; Sear --; Banti 72.

[JeandAcre]

This is a scarily debased dirham of the Andalusian taifa (local emirate) of Zaragoza, symptomizing the raids and exactions of tribute by the kingdom of Aragon during the early, 11th c. phases of the Reconquista.  

Taifa of Zaragoza.  Ahmed I al-Moqtadir; base dirham with date of AH 473 (c. 1080 CE).

I really need how even in the issues of the feckless, embattled taifas, most of which didn't outlast the 11th c. CE (thanks both to the Christian Visigoths, and the Berber Almoravids), the time-honored Islamic convention of dating coins by year was often adhered to.  You get a mint, and a year.  Fun.

Some Cassandra Wilson (..."Don't you want to be /Right here, right now?")

 

(Edit:

"Do we really want to go to Mars?"

--As in, I know; let's f-ck up another planet!

Sorry for that ...but really, not very.)

Edited August 12, 2023 by JeandAcre

[expat]