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CPK

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  • 2 weeks later...

This arrived today.

 

Cr445_3b_Obv.JPG.89e6fbd14854af4a7aba7099ef06958d.JPGCr445_3b_Rev.JPG.52af4dbb2d97bcb87d4b22130bf3e2c9.JPG

Gens: Cornelia
Moneyer: L. Lentulus
Coin: Silver Denarius
- Head of Jupiter right
L·LENTVLVS M͡A͡R COS - Artemis of Ephesus, facing
Mint: Apollonia Mordiaeum (49 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis: 3.88g / 19mm / 11h
References:
  • Sydenham 1031
  • Crawford 445/3b
  • BMCRR East 23
  • HCRI 6
Acquisition: CGB Online auction Live September 2022 #brm_747934 6-Sep-2022

ATB,
Aidan.

Edited by akeady
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Here is the one ancient coin I bought at the August Leu Numismatik auction, arrived in the mail yesterday. I had been looking for a decent Gordian III sestertius for a while, but had yet to find one that was simultaneously in nice enough condition for me to want it, and not so nice that it made me worry about tooling -- always a concern for me with ancient sestertii and other bronzes, since I don't trust myself to be able to detect it except in the most obvious cases.

Gordian III AE (Orichalcum) Sestertius, AD 238-239, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind, IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVUS / Rev. Pax standing front, head left, holding branch in her right hand and transverse scepter in her left, PAX AVGVSTI; S – C across fields.  30 mm., 18.37 g., 12 h. RIC IV 256a, Sear RCV III 8721, Cohen 176. Purchased from Leu Numismatik AG, Winterthur, Switzerland, Web Auction 22, 21 Aug. 2022, Lot 185, ex Collection of Dr. Max Blaschegg (1930-2021) (Austria & Switzerland) and that of his father, Dr. Karl Blaschegg (1892-1951) (Austria) (see https://coinsweekly.com/whoswho-sammler/blaschegg-dr-med-max-1930-2021/) (with collector’s ticket stating “von Vater,” so acquired before 1951). Leu description notes “light doubling on reverse.”

image.jpeg.a812ec285bacea9c5a57777ef8688dfa.jpeg

I particularly like the brownish-green patina, and don't think that the "light doubling on the reverse" is particularly noticeable.

I do admit that I'm always a bit wary of buying coins from collections partly formed in the German Reich (including Austria after the Anschluss) during the 1933-1945 period, particularly when, as here, the Coins Weekly article cited above (which I admit I didn't read until after the auction) specifically mentions Aryanized dealers (i.e., formerly Jewish-owned firms purchased in forced sales at severely discounted prices) among the sources of those collections -- in this case, the firm of O. Helbing in Munich. See my post at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/dr-busso-peus-nachfolger.395028/#post-8286381 for all the details I was able to find on the "purchase" by Karl Kreß in the late 1930s of the O. Helbing firm, owned at the time by Heinrich Hirsch, father of Gerhard Hirsch. I'm not entirely sure I would have bid on this coin had I read the Coins Weekly article and known that the Blascheggs were originally from Austria rather than Switzerland and that O. Helbing was one of their sources. But it's not as if I know for a fact that that Karl Blaschegg actually purchased this specific coin from O. Helbing after that firm's Aryanization, let alone that it came from the company's pre-acquisition inventory.  Nor do I know that Karl Blaschegg was himself a Nazi. The chances of all that seem rather remote, and certainly insufficient for me to regret the purchase.

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57 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

Here is the one ancient coin I bought at the August Leu Numismatik auction, arrived in the mail yesterday.

Why didn't I see him? Congratulations! A very beautiful bronze. Great. A magnificent sestertius, one can only congratulate you.

1 hour ago, DonnaML said:

Nor do I know that Karl Blaschegg was himself a Nazi.

Well, thank God many Germans were not Nazis at that time either.... My grandfather was also in the Wehrmacht, but deserted and fled. Especially since we ourselves have a Jewish part in the family and he had to fear for his life. But that's another (political) story and a minefield.

 

In any case - splendid specimen - which I would also have liked to take with my other Gordiani. I envy you the specimen. Positive envy. 

🥰

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image.png.40302dc5dddef66b9c5cc4ed6453ace6.png

Domitian, 81-96 AD, AR denarius (3.57g), Rome, 95-96 AD, RIC-788, Cohen-293, laureate head right, IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P XV // Minerva advancing right on top of rostral column, brandishing spear and holding shield, owl at her left foot, IMP XXII COS XVII CENS P P P, ex Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 4/A (1991), Lot 1791.

 

I was lucky tonight too - unexpectedly. Actually, I had submitted a pre-bid to hur - and didn't expect to get this lot. I was (positively) surprised - when I logged into my account.

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Here's my latest addition....

dQW5wt8SG6a39gDdL2cxbe4J6NYzEP.jpg.699647117b02cd9a83f815bf70d0720f.jpg

New addition...
Pontos, Neokaisareia. Septimius Severus. 193-211 AD. AE 29mm (14.60 gm). Dated CY 146 (209/10 AD). Obv.: laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: Cult image of uncertain deity on tall base within tetrastyle temple; pellet in pediment. RG 147 var. (rev. legend); SNG Hunterian 1154 (same obv. die); SNG von Aulock 100 (same obv. die). VF.

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I have this coin design on my watch list for quite some time. I was hoping to find one with lighter bronze color, ok details, and not expensive. Super-glad to see one on vcoins, which I instantly made purchase within a minute. 😀  

zzzAntoniaDup.jpg

ANTONIA AE orichalcum Dupondius.
Obv: ANTONIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right.
Rev: TICLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP S-C, Claudius, head draped and togate, standing left ,holding simpulum.
Cohen 6, RCV 1903
29mm, 13.1g
Incitatus Coins. Sept 2022. 

Edited by happy_collector
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Here comes a "serrated" sestertius:

Sestertius of Claudius (41 - 54) minted in Rome

AV: TI  CLAVDIVS  CAESAR  AVG  P M  TR P  IMP  P P - Laureate head of Claudius right

RV: EX S C / P P / OB CIVES / SERVATOS - legend within oak wreath

diameter: 35 - 36,5 mm weight: 26,04 g die axis: 6 h

RIC2 112

IMG_0488a Kopie.jpg

IMG_0488b Kopie.jpg

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Very interesting Sestertius.

1. Like the combination with porträt and text other side.
2. Typical Claudius head... great style!
3. Nice toning patina.
4. And what is that? A sestertius like an Serratus Denarius? 

Is there any information on why a bronze has such notches? In the end, a bored soldier sat there in his spare time in the camp and made the notches himself. And used the Sestertius as his talisman. Or what other story might lie behind this?

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56 minutes ago, septim said:

Here comes a "serrated" sestertius:

Sestertius of Claudius (41 - 54) minted in Rome

AV: TI  CLAVDIVS  CAESAR  AVG  P M  TR P  IMP  P P - Laureate head of Claudius right

RV: EX S C / P P / OB CIVES / SERVATOS - legend within oak wreath

diameter: 35 - 36,5 mm weight: 26,04 g die axis: 6 h

RIC2 112

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces246997.html 

Interesting interpretations can be read about it.

Some experts suspect a so-called "trench art". Soldiers in wars, when bored, created "art objects" out of various objects (weapons, ammunition, coins, etc.). In the case of coins, among other things, as a personal good luck charm or as a piece of jewellery to be attached to the equipment. So it could be that a legionnaire reworked this coin as a talisman or to attach to his equipment in his free time.

Now it gets quite interesting. Some experts even see the possibility that such coins are so-called tokens for ancient vending machines (Google: "Ancient vending machine")! Just like you have special tokens for a car wash today - coins were processed accordingly. These processed coins were given to people in exchange for money and they could then buy something from the vending machines.

https://incrediville.medium.com/did-you-know-vending-machines-existed-in-ancient-greece-2000-years-ago-a5e0cb60e5d3 

 

 

Edited by Prieure de Sion
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Interesting interpretations. For a "vending machine" I would however expect the coin to be more precisely and more regularly serrated. 
An other interpretation could be that it was transformed into a coin/commercial weight. Unfortunately there is no marking to support that theory.

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48 minutes ago, septim said:

Interesting interpretations. For a "vending machine" I would however expect the coin to be more precisely and more regularly serrated. 
An other interpretation could be that it was transformed into a coin/commercial weight. Unfortunately there is no marking to support that theory.

That's the great thing - I think - about our hobby. That you can also let your imagination run wild as to which paths and hands the coin has taken and for what purpose.

Either way, you have bought a very interesting piece.

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Usually I end up bidding on a few at Frank S. Robinson's auction and don't win anything.  This time I got lucky with a couple of wins:

First my siglos, 4.79 g 12X14 mm, Frank says Persia 450-330 BC  King running R with spear and bow...any other info on this or the other coins is appreciated. The other - an Egypt Tet Aurelian and Vabalathus 10.33 g 20X24 mm

 

I'm not an experienced ancients collector so any information anyone can share is appreciated.
 

siglos front.jpg

siglos back.jpg

tet back.jpg

tet front.jpg

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This one arrived yesterday from Ibercoin. There's not enough to say about it to make a Faustina Friday installment. It was issued in the aureus, denarius, and middle-bronze denominations, but not the sestertius.

In Beckmann's die-linkage study of the aurei, the reverse type was used both with the DIVA AVG FAVSTINA obverse legend and the DIVA FAVSTINA legend that came into use at the time of Faustina the Younger's marriage to Marcus Aurelius in AD 145. But this reverse type makes for a very long chain and consists of dozens of dies and was in use for a couple of years, apparently.

It's not at all rare; I just didn't yet have an example in my own collection.

1592295663_FaustinaSrAVGVSTASCCeresshorttorchscepterMB.jpg.de3ca0aa850f8eabd737451892b05a75.jpg
Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman Æ as, 11.48 g, 26.6 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 145-147.
Obv: DIVA FAV-STINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AVGV-STA S C, Ceres standing left, holding short torch and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1173(a); BMCRE 1572-74; Cohen --; Strack 1282; RCV --.

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Picked this one up recently, mislabeled as a Germanicus. The reverse is in rough shape, but the portrait is quite nice.

caligula_as.jpg.8d6ada06820a756a93b843a7df893c73.jpg

 

Also this one. Incredible amount of detail for such a tiny speck of metal! I really like it.

kyzikos.jpg.028d99cbb7450eb0393cd6fa4fc83b9a.jpg

 

Edited by CPK
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image.png.913ea36ca0025ad661a1c591d33b1ab9.png

Silver Denarius of Vespasianus

 

image.png.a7d5288ed4ad4ab825db0e7dcdda2241.png

Silver Denarius of Titus

 

And at last, shoot this two Flavian Coins from Raffaele Negrini. Always the same with me. I often buy coins because I just find them pretty. I usually have no idea what I'm buying in detail - and only look up unknown coins later. So I don't even know what I've bought here. 😄 

I liked the Vespasian because of the fleshy face - and the Titus... that's a "funny" portrait, I think.

 

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