how do I proceed with provincials?

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

In the late 90's during the glory days of cheap coins, I purchased bulk lots for $1.50 each; as-sized Roman Balkan provincials, 2nd c. Asses/dupondii (mostly Trajan-Aurelius), and some trachea. While not world-beaters, they certainly weren't bad for the price, mostly being VG or rough fine, with surprisingly few bd'ers.  I stupidly misplaced the bag of asses during my move; I hid them too well.  However, some of the 'better' ones from that bag were in the box the provincials are in. I peeked in the bag tonight and nothing too bad seems to be going on.  They still seem ok.  I had removed some of the bd ones. I think I bought 50 each of the Romans and the provincials, respectively.

I'd like to do something with them someday.  Are there any online references for 2nd (mostly third) c. Balkan provincials?  I dont' think I have physical books for Balkan provincials.  Even if I did, it's a real chore to read paper books after my eye went south.  The bad eys is slowly returning, but slowly  is the key word.  I have a giant PC monitor and it's much easier to see electronic works.

My coin photography skills are very low,so that also hampers things.  The Asses were mostly stripped, but the provincials have somewhat of a patina. They also seemed to have darkened over the years. 

[Roman Collector]

54 minutes ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

Are there any online references for 2nd (mostly third) c. Balkan provincials?

Two places:
Moushmov.
AMNG.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Thanks!  It's been probably 10 years since I did more than peek into the bag.  I remember that there were quite a few coins of Macrinus and Diadumenian.

Perhaps the provincials could be a summer project.  I might invest in a photo scanner. Not only could I back up family photos, I could at least make somewhat passable scans of unphotographed coins. Doug Smith once wrote that he was unsatisfied with the results, but they were eons better than what I've been achieving.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by Nerosmyfavorite68

[DLTcoins]

BMC Greek (Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum) is pretty good for provincials, which are treated as an extension of the pre-Roman coinage. All but one (I think) of the 28 volumes are pre-copyright and available as pdfs at the usual archive sites online. There is a more recent series dedicated strictly to provincials but the original Greek series is still very useful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_Catalogues_of_Coins#Series:_Catalogue_of_the_Greek_Coins_in_the_British_Museum

Edited June 22, 2023 by DLTcoins

[DonnaML]

This link will tell you which emperors' provincial coinage is included in the volumes of Roman Provincial Coinage that are currently online: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/volumes . Unfortunately, not Macrinus or Diadumenian or even Septimius Severus, and otherwise only through Trajan Decius.

This link tells you where you can find most of the BMC Greek volumes online: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=British Museum. Department of Coins and Medals

Another source for online versions of the BMC Greek volumes  (mostly at Google Books) is numiswiki: do a search at https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/search.asp for "BMC" without more, and the 3rd column on the results page will provide links to online versions of particular volumes.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by DonnaML

[Ocatarinetabellatchitchix]

Nice suggestions here, but frankly very useless. My advice: like many other people, just post your 50 coins on Forvm Ancient Coins in the identification section and in less than 48 hours you’ll get them attribute correctly for free without any efforts. This way you’ll have plenty of time to spend in real interesting hobbies like watching tv or playing yoyo.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

That's a great suggestion, but my coin photographs are awful.