The epic Byzantine portrait thread

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

Dont worry about including for prizes 🙂

[Hrefn]

Kudos to you, @Severus Alexander for organizing this fun contest.  Should I win a prize, I would like you to pass it along to the young numismatist of your choice. 

Also, many thanks to fellow forum members for sharing your knowledge and collections with us.  This has been one of the most enjoyable discussions on Numis Forums.  It would be invidious to particularize, so I just extend my sincere gratitude to you all.  

[theotokevoithi]

[Severus Alexander]

Sorry for the extra day's wait!  My excuse is the NHL season is starting and my Flames were playing last night... you'll be pleased to know they trounced Vancouver 10-0!! 😄

I used random.org to draw from our total of 302 ballots. The ballots were assigned as follows, in accordance with the list I posted a few days ago:

Congratulations, @Nerosmyfavorite68!  Which of the following coins do you want most?

Since ID work is at least half the fun of collecting I've provided only minimal information (there's a tiny bit more on p.1 where the prizes were initially announced). If you have a question, though, don't hesitate to ask.

As per usual with these things, prizewinners always have the option to offer their prize to someone else, e.g. a beginner collector or young numismatist. You may also request that I redraw from the pool of participants who had 10 ballots or fewer.

Once @Nerosmyfavorite68 has made his choice, I'll draw for the next prize.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Wow, I almost fell over when I saw this!  Good thing I looked!  The PM feature doesn't work very well; I rarely know when someone PM's me.

They're all nice prizes. I'll take what's behind Door #1, please! The Constantinople Maurice.  I bought a nice Kyzicus Heraclius during the summer.

Thank you for the most generous prizes!  #2 and #3 certainly aren't shabby, either.

 

[Severus Alexander]

Congrats again, @Nerosmyfavorite68, I hope you enjoy the coin!  BTW I only tagged you (instead of pm'ing),  so it wasn't a pm problem. 🙂 That said, be sure to pm me your address so I can send you your prize.  (I won't miss your message because my settings are such that I get an email whenever I receive a pm... highly recommended!)

AND... on to the next one!

Congratulations!!  It's about time one of our pre-eminent numismatists won something, don't you think?

@Valentinian, let us know if you'd like one of the two remaining coins, or if you'd rather assign your prize to someone else or redraw.  Here's what's left:

[catadc]

I will take my omission as a sign that I need to have a more consistent contribution to this topic. No harm done; any coin would have stayed on your side of the pond. Just that the entire 2023 was complicated and it only now starts to settle.

[Valentinian]

11 hours ago, Severus Alexander said:

@Valentinian, let us know if you'd like one of the two remaining coins, or if you'd rather assign your prize to someone else or redraw.  

Thank you! I pick the 29 mm Cyzicus follis. I will contact you with a private message with the postal address of a young numismatist to send it to.

[Severus Alexander]

8 hours ago, Valentinian said:

Thank you! I pick the 29 mm Cyzicus follis. I will contact you with a private message with the postal address of a young numismatist to send it to.

That's wonderful... I'm sure they will greatly appreciate it!  Congrats again! 🙂

12 hours ago, catadc said:

I will take my omission as a sign that I need to have a more consistent contribution to this topic.

I wish I could have included you, I really enjoyed the coins you showed us!  It wasn't the lack of contributions to our thread, not at all.  Instead one of the rules was that to be included in the balloting a participant had to have made at least 50 posts outside this thread.  That is, the contest was intended for those who have proven themselves significant Numisforums contributors... something I'm sure you'll do before long.

[Severus Alexander]

OK, now for the final prize.  Surprisingly (at least to me) the most valuable coin in monetary terms is the last to be chosen! This lovely (if partly flat-struck) basilikon:

will go to a thread participant who had 9 ballots or fewer (as per the rules in post #1).  Here are those participants, with their ballot numbers:

And random.org chooses:

Coingrats, @Edessa!! If I'm not mistaken, the coin fits pretty well with your collection. Let us know if you intend to keep it or pass it on in some way.

All three coins are ex my collection, so I'll include their flip inserts, complete with my snazzy collection logo... which happens to be Byzantine themed! 😄 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Severus Alexander

[Edessa]

Lovely coin, great idea and thanks for doing this! However, I will choose to ask you to redraw. Let this go to a younger collector that doesn't have so much grey in his (or her) beard.

[Severus Alexander]

9 minutes ago, Edessa said:

Lovely coin, great idea and thanks for doing this! However, I will choose to ask you to redraw. Let this go to a younger collector that doesn't have so much grey in his (or her) beard.

Okeedoke, I'll do my best... though I fear that we greybeards form more than our fair share of the pool! 😆

Here goes...

The basilikon is all yours, @mc9, should you choose to accept it!

[mc9]

@Severus Alexander:

Thank you for organizing this great competition.

As I do not yet have this denomination in my Byzantine collection, I am honored and gladly accept it.

I will send you a pm with my details.

Thanks, MC9

[Severus Alexander]

Excellent!!  I'm very happy all three coins will be going to good homes. 😊

I'll aim to post a wrap-up comment later today.

[catadc]

I will squeeze in one post before the wrap-up. A few more portraits that I like or I find interesting for some reason.

A profile portrait of Justinian on a pre-reform follis (SB 160). 

 

And one post-reform and post-plague (SB 223). 

On this coin, detail are nice except the face. It is supposed to be Justin II (SN 383). One of the first coins I bought when I started collecting byzantines.

This coin of Theophilus (SB 1667) was my 6th byzantine. Never got a second coin of him. 

And this Romanus I (SB 1760) was my 10th. And, you might have guessed, never got a second one. In the beginning, I was poking around to see what I find interesting. Although the portraits of these are not bad, did not stick to this period.

What I find interesting about this Constantine X, SB 1854, is that it is struck over the more common SB 1853. Would be interesting to know if any 1853 was struck over 1854...

I have quite a few coins of Alexius I. Most have bad portraits. This one is one of the best byzantine portraits I own, although the coin is small size - tetarteron, SB 1922.

I have better (overall) coins of John II, but not necessarily better portraits of him. SB 1954, tetarteron.

These half tetartera of Manuel I (SB 1979), although very small, have some of the best portraits of Manuel in copper.

 

This tetarteron of Manuel I, SB 1970, is not a great coin. It is just surprising how the portraits are good comparing to the rest of the field.

One of the latest aquisitions, a tetarteron of John III, SB 2119.

Not sure whay I am including this stamenon of Andronicus III (SB 2477). Maybe just because I found it interesting enough to buy it, for a (still) unknown reason. There is (at least half) a portrait somewhere in there.