Post your latest ancient!

[Victrix]

The Triumvirs. Mark Antony and Octavian. Spring-early summer 41 BC. AR Denarius  Ephesus mint; M. Barbatius Pollio, quaestor pro praetore. Bare head of Mark Antony right; M • ANT • I(MP) • (AV)G • III • VIR • R • P • C • M BARBAT • Q • P around / Bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard; CAESAR • IMP • PONT • III • VIR • R • P • C • around

Managed to get this very cheap for 350 , while the Octavian part is quite worn. I like the fact that it's a scarcer die and the multiple cuts all over the coin shows it travelled plenty. 

[Dafydd]

This is my latest ancient that is somewhere between Germany and Wales at the moment.

Kings of Macedon. Uncertain mint in Asia Minor. Alexander III "the Great" 336-323 BC. Struck 323-310 BC
Bronze Æ

20 mm, 5,63 g

Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress / Club and bow in bowcase, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ between; race torch below.

Nearly Extremely Fine

[John Conduitt]

I thought this was barbarous when I bought it. Apparently not. They made campgates with only two storeys. More like a latrine.

Magnus Maximus Nummus, 387-388

Constantia (Arles). Bronze, 0.94g. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right; D N MAX AMXIMVS P F AVG. Gateway of camp with star above; SPES ROMANORVM; mintmark TCON in exergue (RIC IX, 29). Found Essex.

[Victrix]

Senones potin coin, 150-50 BC.

Always happy to add a celtic coin with great flan quality to the collection 😄 

[Ursus]

20 hours ago, Victrix said:

Senones potin coin, 150-50 BC.

Always happy to add a celtic coin with great flan quality to the collection 😄 

Nice one! My latest ancient, the first ancient coin I have bought in months, also is Celtic. I like its luster:

Western Celts: Insubres, Cenomani, or Salluvii, AR drachm (imitation of Massalia), minted in southern Gaul, c. 2nd century BC. Obv: stylized head of nymph r. Rev: scorpion-like lion standing r.; barbarous legend above. 18mm, 2.62g. Ref: de la Tour 2126, CCCBM II 9; KMW 125.

[Prieure de Sion]

 
Gordian III (238-244 AD). Æ 34mm provincial coin (sestertius size), Pisidia, Antioch mint. Material: AE. Weight: 25.66 g. Diameter: 34 mm. Ref.: SNG France 1223. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, r., seen from rear. IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG. Mars advancing r., holding spear and shield. CAES ANTIOCH COL, S R.

 

A beautiful large 34mm bronze of Gordianus found its way to me this week. I immediately registered it with the RPC: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/462399 

 

[seth77]

The last of the Homereion coinage of Smyrna, ca. 50BC:

At 17.20g this one is on the heaviest side.

Head of Apollo wearing laurel
[Δ]HMHTPIO[Σ] - IΠΓA monogram - [Σ]MYPNAIΩ[N]; Homer seated left, holding scroll, in a thinking position; star in left field
Milne Type J Period XVII 394

I have seen a lot of the earlier periods, but these last coins of autonomous Smyrna are rather scarce.

[CPK]

One of my latest, purchased to go along with a presentation I did this past week on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The coin carries a few connections: first, being from the time period when the Qumran community was flourishing and engaged in writing the scrolls; second, the coin's issuer, John Hyrcanus I, being the son of Simon Thassi, who has been identified by some as being the "Wicked Priest" referred to in some of the Qumran texts; and third, the coin's inscription being written in the same type of Paleo-Hebrew script that was used in many of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Ex Forum Ancient Coins.

Edited September 17, 2023 by CPK

[Roman Collector]

40 minutes ago, CPK said:

One of my latest, purchased to go along with a presentation I did this past week on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The coin carries a few connections: first, being from the time period when the Qumran community was flourishing and engaged in writing the scrolls; second, the coin's issuer, John Hyrcanus I, being the son of Simon Thassi, who has been identified by some as being the "Wicked Priest" referred to in some of the Qumran texts; and third, the coin's inscription being written in the same type of Paleo-Hebrew script that was used in many of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Ex Forum Ancient Coins.

That's an astonishingly clear inscription on that Hyrcanus prutah!! Mine is more typical.

 

[Roman Collector]

My latest is a secret -- you'll have to wait for Friday. 😉 But this coin arrived in the mail the day before. It's the Temple of DIVA FAVSTINA type of 153-154 CE. What makes it special is that its reverse inscription is PIETAS AVGVSTI, not PIETAS AVG. I consider them varieties of the same coin, not separate issues, though, because they were in production simultaneously and the inscriptions were up to the whim of the die engraver. The AVGVSTI variant is rarer, though, produced with only two different reverse dies (this one is Beckmann T-19). It has rough surfaces, but with only a dozen known specimens -- including seven museum specimens -- I couldn't be picky. Hammered for 45 GBP thanks to its condition.

The usual PIETAS AVG type:

[Amarmur]

I finally got a Marcus Aurelius Denarius! It's a really nice one too. This coin was minted in 166 AD to commemorate the victory of Parthian War.

[Phil Anthos]

You're right, really nice.  🙂

~ Peter 

[akeady]

I was away for a couple of weeks holidays and came back to 5 coins 🙂

Here's one of them: - Cr. 128/1, 3.83g, 19mm - Shield & carnyx denarius of ca. 206-200 BC.

Fairly worn, but a bargain at €44 from CGB - it was in one of their E-auctions as an example of Cr. 53/2.

ATB,
Aidan.

Edited September 19, 2023 by akeady
CGB, not CNG

[El Cazador]

30 minutes ago, akeady said:

I was away for a couple of weeks holidays and came back to 5 coins 🙂

Here's one of them: - Cr. 128/1, 3.83g, 19mm - Shield & carnyx denarius of ca. 206-200 BC.

Fairly worn, but a bargain at €44 from CGB - it was in one of their E-auctions as an example of Cr. 53/2.

ATB,
Aidan.

Nice, where did you go on Holiday?

Edited September 19, 2023 by El Cazador

[akeady]

18 minutes ago, El Cazador said:

Nice, where did you go on Holiday?

I took 3 weeks off as we finished a long-running project and I needed a break.   I had no idea what to do but finally decided to go to Spain and walk some of the Camino de Santiago.   I booked a flight to Madrid and back from Santiago and went the following morning.   One night in Madrid, AVE to León, a night there and 11 days walking.   A night in Santiago and met some friends there and then home.   It's the fourth time I've done a stint on the Camino, but the first since 2010 and the first on my own.   It went well enough, especially after I posted 4.5kg of dirty clothes and deadweight to Santiago and lightened my load a bit!

I'm on my 'phone and unable to resurrect a photo' of the 2010 Spanish €10 coin with the botafumeira from Santiago cathedral, but here's a photo' of the cathedral from last Tuesday (12th September).

ATB,

Aidan.

[El Cazador]

32 minutes ago, akeady said:

I took 3 weeks off as we finished a long-running project and I needed a break.   I had no idea what to do but finally decided to go to Spain and walk some of the Camino de Santiago.   I booked a flight to Madrid and back from Santiago and went the following morning.   One night in Madrid, AVE to León, a night there and 11 days walking.   A night in Santiago and met some friends there and then home.   It's the fourth time I've done a stint on the Camino, but the first since 2010 and the first on my own.   It went well enough, especially after I posted 4.5kg of dirty clothes and deadweight to Santiago and lightened my load a bit!

I'm on my 'phone and unable to resurrect a photo' of the 2010 Spanish €10 coin with the botafumeira from Santiago cathedral, but here's a photo' of the cathedral from last Tuesday (12th September).

ATB,

Aidan.

Wow, beautiful - Espana is such a beautiful and diverse country, well done!

[robinjojo]

During the course of viewing and bidding in the Roma E-Sale 112, this lot came up and on the spur of moment I submitted a bid, somewhat high given the coin's condition, but in the end I acquired a broad flan type late Alexander III (posthumous) tetradrachm.

The coin has been cleaned, has areas of horn silver and some minor corrosion here and there.  But, overall it is a decent example of what I call a "pizza pan" size flan tetradrachm.  I did a little additional cleaning to remove or mitigate some dark patches, so here is the coin now.  Over time it will tone down.

Alexander III, Aiolis, Myrina, AR tetradrachm, circa 188-170 BC.

Price 1662.

37mm; 16.00 grams

[Victrix]

ARCHBISHOPS OF YORK, WIGMUND (837-49), STYCA, COENRÆD, VIGMVND AROUND CROSS, REV. COENRED AROUND CROSS

[robinjojo]

Here are two more pickups from the Roma E-Sale 112, lots 473 and 474:

Northwest Arabia, Lihyan Kingdom.  2 AE owls, 2nd-1st centuries BC. 

Huth 40 = Huth, Athenian, fig. 5, e.

13.45 grams (left); 12.45 grams (right).

The reverse on the right coin is almost complete.

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by robinjojo

[Dafydd]

I was inspired several years ago by Michael Harlan's excellent books on Republican Moneyers to collect them.

A coin that has eluded me for reasons of condition and cost is the cover coin of his title covering 81 BCE to 64 BCE so I was really pleased to find this one on MA Coins that I thought was a reasonable example with a reasonable price. In fact the dealer accepted an offer as I thought the carriage was excessive.

A. Postumius A.f. Sp.n. Albinus. 81 BC. AR Denarius (3.88 gr). Rome mint.

Draped bust of Diana right wearing hair in knot earring and necklace bow and quiver over shoulder bucranium above / Togate figure standing left on rock holding aspergillum over head of ox standing right lighted altar between them. Crawford 372/1 Sydenham 745 Postumia 7.

 

Condition: VF Dark toned.

 

Ex. Leu Numismatics

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

The numismatic part of my birthday presents amounted to a Nero Alexandrian tetradrachm, Alexandria reverse.  The pickings were a bit slim at the local coin store.  I appreciate the thought and I had a wonderful time with family.  We also picked up mead at a local grocery store, famous for its exotic selection of groceries.  I'm also trying pho, which I've never had before, for lunch.

Anyway, I like Alexandrian Neros, but one wonders why they slabbed a fairly low-grade coin?  It has an NGC slab, F grade, Nero and Alexandria's printed on the label, and that's it, no weight, no info,no nothing.  The raw coins they have come mostly from a well-known dealer.  Those are usually my favorites.

Edit: screenshots from the NGC verify: 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Nerosmyfavorite68

[Phil Anthos]

When is your birthday?

~ Peter 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Yesterday.

[CPK]

Happy birthday! Great coin. Ancients don't need a high grade to be appealing! The fabric appears to be a lot nicer than what you often see on these issues.

[akeady]

On 9/14/2023 at 3:03 PM, Victrix said:

The Triumvirs. Mark Antony and Octavian. Spring-early summer 41 BC. AR Denarius  Ephesus mint; M. Barbatius Pollio, quaestor pro praetore. Bare head of Mark Antony right; M • ANT • I(MP) • (AV)G • III • VIR • R • P • C • M BARBAT • Q • P around / Bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard; CAESAR • IMP • PONT • III • VIR • R • P • C • around

Managed to get this very cheap for 350 , while the Octavian part is quite worn. I like the fact that it's a scarcer die and the multiple cuts all over the coin shows it travelled plenty. 

Actually, that's a much scarcer coin than the BARBAT you mention - it's Cr. 517/8 and the obverse legend is:
M·ANT·IM͡P·A͡VG·III·VIR·R·P·C·L·GELL·Q·P

CRRO link

ATB,
Aidan.