Your avatar - what? and why?

[Kali]

Kali, a Hindu goddess, master of death, time and change.

[JeandAcre]

On 5/30/2022 at 8:56 AM, Agricantus said:

I wanted a name with an ancient sound to it, when I signed up on CT. Agricantus is a music band from Sicily, with a latin name. The MFB is also from Sicily, so this is the story behind my user name and avatar.

 

@Agricantus, kindly allow me to second @Alegandron.  Very, Very cool vid.  I never heard of the band, and know zero Italian, but the combination of the music and the video is moving all by itself.  It would be great to see an English translation of any of the lyrics.

[JeandAcre]

On 6/1/2022 at 8:09 PM, Octavius said:

 I have always been fascinated with Caligula since I first read Suetonius. Also, I got this coin from Tom Cederlind. He was a great guy who passed away way too soon.

 

@Octavius, that is a phenomenal sestertius; from here, it has all the bells and whistles of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, including that inimitable quasi-monumental lettering on the obverse.

I never did doodley with Judeo-Claudian.  But Tom was a great guy, and equally amazing (only especially later than my acquaintace with him) in what he got his hands on, and his erudition about all of it.  

...Um, I knew him mainly from the occasion, a little over forty years ago, when, as an undergrad Philosophy major, I sold my first collection to him so that I could put it down my lungs.  He was very generous, not only with what he paid, but for his kind observation about the relative range of the collection --such as it was.  At that point, I was transitioning from Roman imperial (predominantly the usual, 3rd-early 5th-century suspects) to Byzantine and all the western Medieval I could get my hands on.  (...Overwhelmingly via mail-order outfits on the East Coast.)  Thanks for reminding me of him ...along with that, ahem, interesting phase of my life.

Edited June 6, 2022 by JeandAcre

[cwart]

My avatar is my first ancient.  A follis of Constantine II.

[Numisnewbie]

On 6/2/2022 at 6:18 PM, Dafydd said:

In the 1980's I visited a man in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania and he was the secretary of a local historical society. I was there on business and had never heard of Wilkes Barre before I visited...

I live in central Pennsylvania, two hours from Wilkes-Barre (but I've never been there).

[JeandAcre]

I got into my new avatar and excessively silly former handle (+VGO.DVCKS) in another post somewhere, and figured posting about it here would be redundant.  But someone just emailed me today, asking whether jeandacre was the new handle, and suddenly it seemed relevant to repost it here.

That's the seal of Jean (after 1225-1296), called 'd'Acre' mainly to distinguish him from his dad, Jean de Brienne pere, sometime King of Acre and regent /de facto (if no less nominal) 'emperor' of Frankish Constantinople.  His mother was Berenguela de Castilla y León, daughter of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile.  As children, he and his siblings were sent to the court of Louis IX and Louis' mother, Blanche de Castille, to be 'nourished' while their dad was in Contantinople.

Blanche in particular took to the children, and they all wound up with lucrative marriages and royal appointments.  Jean was bouteiller of France.  Yes, it literally translates 'bottler' or 'butler,' but by this phase of the Capetian period, it was a significant administrative post. 

The seal is dated 1288.  The legend reads “S’ IOhIS : FILI: I: REGIS: IE[RVSALEMIS? BV]TICVLARII’ FRACIE”  (SIGILLVM IOhANNIS FILII IOhANNIS REGIS IERVSALEMIS BVTICVLARII FRANCIE; Seal of Jean, Son of Jean, King of Jerusalem; Bouteiller of France).

A cool thing about the coat of arms is that it's a common contemporaneous variant of the Hohenstaufen arms; the tinctures are the same, but the eagle has one head instead of two.  Friedrich II Staufen opened his 5th Crusade with the summary usurpation of the Kingdom of Acre from Jean pere.  Jean fils (born too late for his nickname to have been more than an honorific) adopted his own coat of arms (which have no resemblance to the lion of the Briennes), I think as a way of getting back at Friedrich, at least at the level of heraldry.  

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by JeandAcre

[NathanB]

Back in what seems a completely different life, I was teaching an academic writing class to a class of university students in east Asia. The textbook, which was chosen for me, had at the beginning of each chapter a picture of some sort of writing.  For the chapter on cause and effect essays, this was the image that graced that page:

It was love at first sight.  I had already been reading a massive amount of ancient Greek history, drama, and philosophy (all in translation), and had a deep appreciation for, and marvel of, so many of the literary productions of ancient Athens.

Aside from the history, and even the mythology (Athens and olives), the design was just so simple, and yet so absolutely beautiful, that I knew I had to own one.  That was back in about 2005 or 2006.  It wasn't until about 2018 that I decided to go for it.  I sold most of my collection of Canadian coins, many of my books and bought my pearl of great price:

My Athenian tetradrachm was, for monetary reasons, the only ancient coin I would own for many, many months, and is the only one far outside of my typical price range (about $40-$100 USD).  The above reverse image was the merchant's, and it's a great image of a coin I love (although it does tend to impart a gold-ish hue in places that are more silver-coloured in real life).

My collection, and my knowledge, have grown very much since that first purchase, but this coin is one that I will treasure always.

[Tejas]

 

In the middle ages, people also used avatars, but called them "coats of arms". I use my family's coat of arms as avatar.

I just migrated here from CT after finding out that many other regular forum members have made that move. 

I collect Roman coins (Empire, with emphasis on 3rd and 4th century)

Coins of the Germanic kingdoms (Ostrogoths, Vandals, Visigoths and the like)

Coins of medieval Russia (1000 - 1600)

Coins of the Teutonic Order of Knights (13th to early 16th century)

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Tejas

[Agricantus]

@Alegandron @JeandAcre

The song Amatevi is in Sicilian language. I speak 'standard' Italian that one hears on cable news. I started with the lyrics that I found online and used a dictionary of Sicilian and a couple of sites about grammar. 

 

Chiancinu l'occhi mei P'un s'asciucari
  Crying my eyes out until dry

Amuri cca t'haju lassari M'accumpagnu p'a via
  Love (plural, like amores) that have to leave you (one/me), accompany me on the road

Chi me suspiri U cielu supra a mia M'aiuta a chianciri
  With my sighs, the sky above helps me with crying

Luci cu suli – ca luna A notti s'appoja 
  Light with sun, that supports the moon at night

Jornu chi fuji
  Day (daytime) that is running away

Disiu ri paci 
  Desire of peace

scantu ri guerra
  Fear of war

Ciatu – paroli
  Breathing - words

L'acqua s'asciuca 
  The water is drying

u siccu si vagna
  The dry one is bathing (getting wet) - I guess the last 2 verses are telling about a change of order where dry becomes wet and vice versa

 

[NathanB]

@sand, this thread will be woefully lacking without a bit from you! You have perhaps my favourite avatar ever.

[sand]

38 minutes ago, NathanB said:

@sand, this thread will be woefully lacking without a bit from you! You have perhaps my favourite avatar ever.

Thanks @NathanB

I remember, your nice words, about my avatar, on the other coin forum.

You're the only person, who has ever mentioned, my avatar.

I drew my avatar.

I've never explained my avatar.

I like, to let people, view my avatar, and see, what they may see.

[Spaniard]

Nice!...I see sand dunes and a full moon integrated within a "yin yang".

Cool painting

[Orange Julius]

12 hours ago, Tejas said:

 

In the middle ages, people also used avatars, but called them "coats of arms". I use my family's coat of arms as avatar.

I just migrated here from CT after finding out that many other regular forum members have made that move. 

I collect Roman coins (Empire, with emphasis on 3rd and 4th century)

Coins of the Germanic kingdoms (Ostrogoths, Vandals, Visigoths and the like)

Coins of medieval Russia (1000 - 1600)

Coins of the Teutonic Order of Knights (13th to early 16th century)

 

 

 

Welcome Tejas! Good to see you here. I always enjoy your posts as my interests seem to be similar to yours… but you have nicer coins! 

[NathanB]

3 hours ago, sand said:

Thanks @NathanB

I remember, your nice words, about my avatar, on the other coin forum.

You're the only person, who has ever mentioned, my avatar.

I drew my avatar.

I've never explained my avatar.

I like, to let people, view my avatar, and see, what they may see.

I always see a full moon in the sky over sand dunes, and somehow I'm there.  And it's so tranquil. It's an incredibly beautiful scene. Well done!

[robinjojo]

I chose this owl's obverse as my avatar for this forum because it gives me a feeling of peace during a difficult period.  The obverse conveys a feeling of assurance as well as beauty, qualities that I think we can all appreciate in these challenging times.

[Etcherdude]

I do love owls @robinjojo and yours is a beauty.

[Ryro]

If wanted a mean looking Caracalla forever. I was thrilled to nab this beauty a few months ago... but might love the reverse more than the obverse that I bought it for!

(Picture taken right after Caracalla sneezed)

[akeady]

I use my initial plus surname as my name here and in other places - the first email address I had was akeady@somethingorother.ie, so I've stuck with akeady.   As there aren't too many of us, there usually aren't any other akeadys.

The avatar is a pic I took of an Augustus denarius - it looks vaguely like a stylised me when I was younger, which is probably its relationship to how Augustus looked too.

ATB,

Aidan.

[John Conduitt]

Mine is a Saxon coin that copies a Roman coin. It represents the cross-over between the two cultures, and so my collection too.

Anglo-Saxon Pale Gold Phase ‘Two Emperors’ Thrymsa, 645-670

Kent. Pale gold, 13mm, 1.19g. Diademed, draped bust right, pseudo legend. Two emperors facing, enfolded in Victory’s wings (SCBC 767).

[Egry]

On 6/7/2022 at 6:47 AM, sand said:

Thanks @NathanB

I remember, your nice words, about my avatar, on the other coin forum.

You're the only person, who has ever mentioned, my avatar.

I drew my avatar.

I've never explained my avatar.

I like, to let people, view my avatar, and see, what they may see.

At first all I saw was a Yin Yang, what are they talking about. Then I looked closer, it is not a Yin Yang. It now looks like a straight on of an Orca to me. Are you a psychologist by trade?

[Egry]

On 5/27/2022 at 9:07 PM, maridvnvm said:

I have been asked once already on this forum and to what/who is on my avatar. I thought it would be interesting to find out what your avatar is and why you chose it.

I primarily collect the early issues of the Eastern mint denarii of Septimius Severus. I sit in the shadows of the acknowledged experts in this field (Curtis Clay, Doug Smith and Barry Murphy) but have been passionate about this coinage for the past 20 or so years and am focussing my collection in on the bits that interest me and areas where I might want to do some amateur research in this generally under-studied area.

My avatar is a very primitive attempt at colourising the bust from one of my denarii that I did over 15 years ago. I have been using it as an avatar ever since.

The original image of the complete coin:-

The obverse coin cropped and colourised bust:-

The coin was then cropped to just the bust ready for re-sizing as an avatar:-

What is your avatar? Why did you choose it?

I really like your avatar. Without colour I would have thought how realistic the portriat was, but with colour you can see how caricature like it is, the eyes and nose seem a bit too large.

[Prieure de Sion]

Mine is a obverse from one of my coin... I am not a creative person 🤭

[thenickelguy]

Today I will be Divo Claudius II

Finding out my recent post of Claudius II turned out to be a posthumous mule.

I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Edited June 17, 2022 by thenickelguy

[Orange Julius]

1 hour ago, thenickelguy said:

Today I will be Divo Claudius II

Finding out my recent post of Claudius II turned out to be a posthumous mule.

I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Oh man…. Devo Claudio with that pic would be such a great avatar and user name!  

[dougsmit]

10 hours ago, akeady said:

I use my initial plus surname as my name here and in other places - the first email address I had was akeady@somethingorother.ie, so I've stuck with akeady.   As there aren't too many of us, there usually aren't any other akeadys.

I appreciate the minority who use their name but understand some reasons not to do so.  When I got my first email address, the provider only allowed 8 letters and dougsmith got chopped of its last letter.  Later on, when they changed that rule, another Doug Smith got there first and took the h.  During the heyday of my web pages, he regretted that because people kept sending him coin questions meant for me. 

If your name is relatively common, it can be fun to Google yourself and see how many villains use your name.  Doug Smith number one today is a retire hockey player most noted for having excessive penalty minutes.  I'm amazed that, today, I am half way down on page six of 80 million hits.   I know there are not THAT many of  us.  I have only personally known two others.  I should be glad my parents selected a relatively uncommon first name.  John Smith returns 1.7 billion results.