A Few Denarii - Please Tell Me Which Ones You Think Are Interesting, (If any)

[GERMANICVS]

I am going currently through some of my collection, classifying, and re-organising.

I would like to take advantage of the significant collective knowledge in the Forum and would really appreciate your opinions as to which one(s) of these denarii do you find more interesting because they are scarce, historically significant, or otherwise more valuable for whatever reason.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

   

 

Edited September 28 by GERMANICVS

[CPK]

Nice collection. I like the Vespasian SPQR type and the Divo Severo Pio type. Also the Galba - is that a quinarius?

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

The Albinus and Macrinus are nice too and a bit scarce. Definite keepers. As an aside comment, they are all collectible and any collector should be proud to have them in their collection. 

[Roman Collector]

They are all wonderful specimens and, as @Ancient Coin Hunter notes, "any collector should be proud to have them in their collection." As a specialized collector of Faustina I and II, however, I find the Faustina II with the CONCORDIA standing reverse type to be the most interesting. For a brief period from about May through the end of the summer 151 CE, the obverse inscription for Faustina II was changed from the dative case FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL to the nominative case FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL. It was again changed for a brief period to FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL from the end of summer 151 CE through about June 152. The CONCORDIA standing type was introduced about May 151 and continued for a short while during the FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL period but was replaced by the CONCORDIA seated type. I have previously written about these types and their dating here and elsewhere. 

It isn't that Concordia herself is all that interesting or unique; what I find fascinating is that through in-depth numismatic studies, we can date your coin to the late spring or summer of 151 with near certainty, even though the coin itself is undated. Moreover, your coin has a particularly pretty portrait of the young empress. She would have been about 21 years old at the time. 

Edited September 28 by Roman Collector
I have OCD

[Parthicus]

Lots of nice coins in that group, but I will stay on-brand and focus on one with a Parthian reference:

Lucius Verus, RIC (M.Aur.) 548.  Obverse: Head right laureate, legend L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX.  Reverse: Seated Parthian captive right with hands bound behind back, quiver, bow and weapons around, legend TR P VI IMP III COS II.  Issued December 165- summer 166.  The obverse legend and reverse type commemorate Lucius Verus' victories in Armenia and Parthia.  Well, to be fair it's the victories of his subordinate generals- Lucius himself stayed far behind the front lines, living in luxury at Antioch for most of the war and never personally seeing battle.  Lucius('s troops) forced Parthian troops out of Armenia and installed a pro-Roman client king, then went on to take territory in Media and Mesopotamia and sack the Parthian capital at Ctesiphon.  However, when Lucius's troops returned to Italy they brought with them a plague which ravaged the population.  A very historical type, RIC lists it as Common but I say it's uncommonly interesting.

[GERMANICVS]

1 hour ago, Parthicus said:

Lots of nice coins in that group, but I will stay on-brand and focus on one with a Parthian reference:

Lucius Verus, RIC (M.Aur.) 548.  Obverse: Head right laureate, legend L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX.  Reverse: Seated Parthian captive right with hands bound behind back, quiver, bow and weapons around, legend TR P VI IMP III COS II.  Issued December 165- summer 166.  The obverse legend and reverse type commemorate Lucius Verus' victories in Armenia and Parthia.  Well, to be fair it's the victories of his subordinate generals- Lucius himself stayed far behind the front lines, living in luxury at Antioch for most of the war and never personally seeing battle.  Lucius('s troops) forced Parthian troops out of Armenia and installed a pro-Roman client king, then went on to take territory in Media and Mesopotamia and sack the Parthian capital at Ctesiphon.  However, when Lucius's troops returned to Italy they brought with them a plague which ravaged the population.  A very historical type, RIC lists it as Common but I say it's uncommonly interesting.

Thank you for your comment. I agree, there is plenty of history behind that coin which is the reason I quite like that coin. 

(I just wish the reverse were in better shape. The obverse, however, shows a nice portrait of Verus in fairly high relief).   

Edited September 28 by GERMANICVS

[GERMANICVS]

3 hours ago, CPK said:

Nice collection. I like the Vespasian SPQR type and the Divo Severo Pio type. Also the Galba - is that a quinarius?

Yes, that is a quinarius. A bt rough, but otherwise OK. 

[Orange Julius]

I love CONSECRATIO coins and any coin with something on the reverse that is not a “human representation of god/figure____ holding ____.” Anything featuring an animal, chair, building, standards… is a keeper and interesting to me.

Edited September 28 by Orange Julius

[The_Collector]

I think your denarii of Titus as emperor are by far my favorite especially the one with Venus on the reverse. They are all in great shape with full legends and really good centering for most of them. You should really be proud to own such nice coins!

[Octavius]

Really like that LEG IX denarius of M. Antonius.

[El Cazador]

15 hours ago, GERMANICVS said:

I am going currently through some of my collection, classifying, and re-organising.

I would like to take advantage of the significant collective knowledge in the Forum and would really appreciate your opinions as to which one(s) of these denarii do you find more interesting because they are scarce, historically significant, or otherwise more valuable for whatever reason.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

   

3 coins of Titus in terms of quality are in my wheelhouse 

Edited September 29 by El Cazador

[Limes]

Very nice group of coins. 

20 hours ago, GERMANICVS said:

I would like to take advantage of the significant collective knowledge in the Forum and would really appreciate your opinions as to which one(s) of these denarii do you find more interesting because they are scarce, historically significant, or otherwise more valuable for whatever reason.

Here's a few that might be interesting for the abovementioned reasons:

- Legionary denarii of Mark Antony are in demand and have certaintly value

- Issues of Galba and Vitellius are scarcer. The quinarius is an interesting issue, maybe even a bit more scarce. Same goes for Vitllius, with the Victor seated reverse. 

- Your Flavian denarii have eye appeal and interesting reverses. Especially the Venus reverse is appealing, and can fetch high prices in auction. Overall, I believe Titus is a bit more scarce then, say, Vespasian, although I'm not a Flavian expert. And I see you have 5 denraii of Titus, which is a good score.

- Issues with architecture on the reverse, or capture-reverses are generally more in the demand, such as your issues of Antonius Pius, and Lucius Verus

- I like your coin of Commodus. Its appealing with an interesting reverse showing Apollo. Good quality issues of Commodus are somewhat harder to find

- Coins of Clodius Albinus are scarces, especially issues of him as Augustus

- Your consecratio issue of Septimius looks really nice

I'm not all that knowledgable when it comes to rarity in terms of an extra 'I' added to COS, or legend variants. It takes a bit more research to take that into account when you want to get a good profile of your collection. 

[Sulla80]

 

A fun pile of denarii @GERMANICVS, this thread will perhaps illustrate the many different reasons someone would pick a coin.  Here are three that I would pick - I like the unusual Commodus reverse: Apollo Moneta from 190 CE.

Commodus. AD 177-192. AR Denarius, Rome mint. Struck AD 190. Laureate head right / Apollo standing right, legs crossed, hand on head and leaning on column. RIC III 205;

 

I like the reverse on this coin: issued in Rome in AD 204, commemorating an imperial donation by Septimius Severus to Carthage at the time of the Ludi Saeculares.

https://www.sullacoins.com/post/ludi-saeculares

Septimius Severus, 193-211. Denarius, Rome, 203. SEVERVS PIVS AVG Laureate head of Septimius Severus to right. Rev. INDVLGENTIA AVGG / IN CARTH Dea Caelestis, holding thunderbolt in her right hand and scepter in her left, seated facing, head turned to right, on lion leaping to right; to left, rock from which water flows. RIC 266.

 

This one from the time of Trajan's column is also appealing to me:

Denarius circa 113-114, AR  IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P Laureate bust r., with drapery on l. shoulder. Rev. S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI Three legionary standards. RIC 294.

Edited September 29 by Sulla80

[Al Kowsky]

On 9/28/2024 at 8:56 AM, GERMANICVS said:

I am going currently through some of my collection, classifying, and re-organising.

I would like to take advantage of the significant collective knowledge in the Forum and would really appreciate your opinions as to which one(s) of these denarii do you find more interesting because they are scarce, historically significant, or otherwise more valuable for whatever reason.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

   

 

That's a handsome group of coins 🤩!