recently added

[casata137ec]

Just added 13 more to my gallery. There was no rhyme nor reason for the additions, they were just next in line for attribution!  included in the selection are:
1 little coin from Athens with a nice bust of Athena
1 little incuse w/lion
1 nifty nab from an uncleaned lot
1 Gordian III that may not be pretty, but if you saw what it came from you would be as happy as I was with it! lol
1 Diocletian tet from Alexandria
1 Maximianus Herculius tet from Alexandria
2 Constantine I, one of which is a Divus Constantius I and the other is a pretty votive altar
3 Elagabalus bronze, one of which is a pretty Antioch SC, another is a tet from Antioch and the third is a little semi attributed coin from Philidelphia
1 little Leo I w/legible legend
and a Seleucid that had been giving me fits for ages now, but I think I have it attributed correctly now (had to go old school and just simply page through BMC: The Seleucid Kings of Syria until I found a match)

Enjoy, more to come,
Chris

PS I try to attribute these myself and when I cannot do it on my own I'll post here for ID help. Generally I spend about an hour per coin on the average and try to find more than one reference, sometimes this hour takes weeks or months, somtimes the "hour" takes 15 minutes. The point is, I, like most others here do their best and spend a ton of time trying to make sure that the coin posted is correctly attributed. All we ask is a little "confirmation" that our efforts are not for nothing. They may not be the best coins in the gallery, but we do appreciate a little post here and there saying nothing more than "thanks for the effort"!  Now to get down from my high horse...

C.

[mdelvalle]

I congratulate you friend, beautiful provincial coins, good additions.

Saludos
Mario

[casata137ec]

Just added 5 more to the Roman - misc. section, which leads me to think that I need to reorganize my gallery in a better manner! Ah well...there is always tomorrow .

Tonights entries are:
1 close to white metal princ perp of Constantine I
1 nifty fel temp of Constantius II
1 BI ant of Gallienus (I had worked on this one forever reducing crusties, but I left his "moustache" and "eyebrow" in place...they werent budging anyway...lol)
1 Maximian votive from Carthage
and 1 Claudius II that I had a heck of a time IDing...no real reason that it was hard other than the fact that I couldnt figure out it was Claudius II!

anyway...enjoy!

Chris

[mdelvalle]

Nice additions Chris.
Saludos

[Dino]

Nice stuff Chris.

[casata137ec]

Thanks Mario and Dino...I am finally to the point that I had to get started on ID'ing and cataloging or else the pile was gonna stay just that...a pile! And speaking of which...I have 6 more to knock off the top! They are:

1 nice VBRS ROMA from Cyzicus
1 Domitian as caesar from Antioch (pretty nice...he is all crabby looking, not the best photo, still much better looking in hand!)
1 silvered ant of Probus featureing Sol in a quad
1 really pretty punic with tanit/horse palm reverse I rescued from a junk box
1 Philip I and Otacilia Severa from Mesambria w/ hermes reverse (I really like the rev on this one for some reason...maybe it's his huge belly button!)
and 1 autonomous from Syracuse during Roman rule (Persephone/Demeter)

Enjoy, more to come.

Chris

[mdelvalle]

Hi Chris, Very nice the punic coin. Congratulations.

[casata137ec]

Thanks Mario! I always wanted one and it just fell in my lap!

OK...I knocked off the next 9 in line for photo/attrib...there are some pretty ones...and some not so pretty...there should be a little somthing for everyone!

1 trihemi from Thasos (satyr/amorpha)
1 Victorinus ant
1 bigger licinius I follis
1 nifty little nab
1 votive of Jovian
1 votive of Constantine II (big sideburns! lol)
1 worn/bent caracalla from Serdica featuring an elephant
1 elagabalus den (beautiful shiny coin...hard to photo)...this will be my third "propoganda" issue...I would like to eventually get the whole series
and 1 elagabalus from Sebaste featuring the "Rape of Pesephone"

Enjoy,
Chris

PS Due to the number of different rulers I ahve been adding recently, I will be changing the layout of my gallery...probably this weekend. I will most likely go with the RIC order of things, but if anyone has any better suggestions I am all ears!

C.

[casata137ec]

For todays additions, we have a couple of Constantine Era and three late Roman. I do enjoy the fact that they squished as much as they could on the later flans and still got full legends! Included today are:
1 Constans votive from heraclea (pretty red desert patina)
1 Constantine I with captives (not the best conservation on the obverse, but it was one of my earliest cleaning projects...)
1 Honorius from Nicomedia (victory crowning)
1 Magnus Maximus from Lyons (the only of his I have!)
and 1 Valentinian I (emperor dragging captive...this is one of the squishy, busy flans that I like so much...they had a lot going on on them!)

I might stick with late Roman for a while until I get sick of trying to differentiate between mintmarks...

Chris

PS I have re-ordered my gallery and taken out a few catagories (and added a few for that matter). Instead of a hodge-podge of stuff like Roman-misc. etc., I have put them in RIC order. This way I can see what era's I am lacking in. (most of them to tell you the truth! I am pretty well represented in Severans though! lol) Any suggestions or corrections are always appreciated.

C.   

[casata137ec]

Evening all...added a few more tonight:

1 Augustus re-photo (much better than the scan I had posted) from Thrace
1 nice Constans radiate phoenix on globe type fel temp
2 Constantius II horseman fel temps from Sicia on those nice little flans with everything all squished up on them (check them out, you will see what I mean)
1 VBRS ROMA, also from Sicia
1 nifty little Markianopolis civic issue featuring a nice bust of Tyche and Hercules shoving his arm down the Nemean Lion's throat! (it's kind of a funny reverse)
1 little Theodocius I Victory dragging
and 2 Septimius Severus, both worn...one is an early sestercius of his and the other is a largish bronze from Nicaea with a nice reverse (I like the stylized lettering on the rev and Demeter is very pleasing...at least to my eye!)

Enjoy,
Chris

[casata137ec]

Slowly I plod along...I figure by this rate, I should be up to date in a year or two...come to think of it, me getting all up to date with attribution could have been what the Mayan calander was suggesting! lol Anyway, today I ahve added:

1 Maximinus II Daia "persecution" coin
1 provincial Lucius Verus
1 Constantius II GLORIA EXERCITVS with nifty headgear
1 nice little claudius II
1 little Arcadius on horseback
1 Trebonius Gallus from Antioch
and 1 Vabalathus & Aurelian which some ass clown purposfully cut on both sides

Enjoy,
Chris

[mdelvalle]

Friend, you are almost adding 10 new coins every 2 days. 
I congratulate you, to this step you will duplicate your gallery in very little time.

Saludos
Mario

[casata137ec]

Mario, my man, I have a literal pile...a 16cm x 16cm x 3.5cm plastic container packed full of coins I haven't even photographed yet! Then I have another layer or two on TOP of the container that I am close to photographing...and that is sitting on another that is chocked full of my "next for attribution" coins, that means I have them in order of them being photographed...and so on and so on...I am actually ok with the fact that I am too broke to buy anything at the moment, because I am finding coins daily in my own pile that I don't remember buying! lol It's just a matter of motivation for me...I am trying to ID and photograph and catalog  2 or 3 coins a night...this takes me usually around 1-2 hours to get to the point that I am confident with the attributions and have taken decent photo's and have them personally cataloged. Any more than that I find myself getting frustrated...any less I get bored and a couple of months goes by between attributions.

Chris

[casata137ec]

It has been a week since I ahve added any, so I figured it was about time! Today's variety hits from 1st-4th century with a few imitatives thrown in for flavor. They include:
1 Constantine I soldier and standards
1 Constantine II (same as above)
1 Constans (same as above) - all three are various flavors of rare per RIC with the Constans being an R5 (insert grain of salt here! )
1 As of Vespasian with a great bust...I ahd tons of trouble trying to ID this one due to the fact that I thought there was suppose to be a reverse legend that had worn off...as it turns out SC is all we get! lol
1 ugly dup of Antoninus Pius
1 Marc Antony legionary denarius (Leg III)
1 mangled flan ant of Tetricus I
and 3 barbarous imitatives of Tetricus I

I think I may start swinging back to provincials pretty soon as I just stumbled upon a baggie of Comodus that I had stashed away...

Enjoy,
Chris
 

[Johnny]

it's been a while since I checked out your collection, will have to come back when I have  more time so I can look in more details

great collection.

[casata137ec]

Hey Johnny! Good to see you brother! They not letting up on you yet?!?

Well, as usual, I am falling out of my attrib/photo craze. I still have a ton to photo/id, but life is stepping back in, so I am slowing down again. Today I have posted 5 "new" ones.
1 Constantine I follis w/jupiter rev 1 Licinius I, also with Jupiter rev (both the Con I and the Lic are pretty nice actually)
1 holed Probus, Virtus/Mars rev 1 pretty nice Nero tet from Alexandria, Hera rev (ex A. Reich collection)
and 1 nifty Cistaphoric Tet from Pergamon (I have always wanted one of these, the ob is partially off flan, but it is pretty nice none the less)

Enjoy,
Chris

[casata137ec]

I have been getting lazy as of late, so I knuckled down and have 10 more for your viewing pleasure. This entry is all over the place. Included are:

1 Gordian III drachm which would have been spectacular had it not been clipped...
1 Julian II fel temp (not the best, but I had no eamples of him in my gallery)
1 Constantine II Glor Ex
1 Valens with a portait that grabbed me
1 nifty castulo sphinx that had a nice case of BD but turned out pretty nice
1 little arcadius
1 Ptolomaic bronze with a nice (to my eyes) bust of Zeus
1 VIC AVG from Phillipi (this one did not photograph well...but it is not bad)
1 copper from Ceylon (Buvanaka Bahu (one “massa”), 1273-1284 AD)
and 1 Divus Vespasian with Capricorns on the rev (I would not have normally bought this coin due to the price...but in this case the cost was well within my range and...well...let's just say that I got lucky!  )

Enjoy,
Chris

[mdelvalle]

Hola Chris, very nice additions to your gallery, Congratulations.
The Divus Vespasian denarius is an enviable piece.

Saludos
Mario

[casata137ec]

Thanks, Mario...I loved it from the minute I spied it! lol I have 5 more to add this weekend and then I am taking a break (until I take more photos!). They are:

1 Severus Alexander (Markianopolis, featuring Hestia)
1 Elagabalus/Julia Maesa (also Markianopolis...coiled serpent)
1 SALVS REIPVBLICAE of Theodocius I
1 nice Maximianus follis featuring a really nice temple (Roma in temple)
and 1 worn Ptolemaic of Ptolemy III (Berenike, his wife on ob, eagle rev)

Enjoy,
Chris

[casata137ec]

Well, it's been over a month since I added any, so I figured I better! I have been stuck on a bucketload of late roman imitatives and it has been driving me nuts! I decided to take a break and just do some that I can ID! lol This is a mixed bag ranging from a fat tetradrachm of Vespasian (check out the pic below, I could not resist! The coin against it is an As of Augustus, just for perspective) to a few junk box finds...this pretty much spans the whole of the empire! Without further ado, I have added:

1 votive of Julian II with a nice bust...he looks like he is smiling!
1 Orichalcum semis of Hadrian (junk box find)
1 denarius of Elagabalus (uncleaned purchase)
1 provincial with a youthful Caracalla
1 worn As of Augustus (Divvs/ Livia rev, another junk box find)
1 Ant of Valerian I (Orient rev...I always get a kick out of these, considering his fate! another junk box find)
1 provincial of Valerian I with a huge head and Ask/Hyg rev 1 SALVS REIPVBLICAE of Valentinian II
1 RESTITVTOR REIP of Valentinian I
and 1 fat Syrian tet of Vespasian (see below...I love the way a tetradrachm feels in hand! I imagine a sack full would be pretty unwieldly to carry around though!)

Enjoy...I imagine that the next installment will be all imitatives and a fouree...we shall see.

Chris

[mihali84]

Great additions to your collection Chris, i share your love for the way tetradrachms feel in hand, so much that i am thinking of selling all my bronzes to afford more Tets!

[casata137ec]

Great additions to your collection Chris, i share your love for the way tetradrachms feel in hand, so much that i am thinking of selling all my bronzes to afford more Tets!

Funny enough, the only bronze that I have ever sold went to buy a new tet! lol I understand!

Todays additions are all ancient counterfeits. There is a Cappadocian fouree, some fouree denarii...a fouree ant...and a few barbarous bronze. Enjoy. The next installment should be heavy on Flavians.

Chris

[Jay GT4]

Heavy on Flavian's you say?  Can't wait!

[casata137ec]

Morning all. With the holidays coming up, I figured I'd better add a few before I get caught up in the festivities. As promised I am pretty heavy on Flavians (enjoy Jay ). Included in this entry is:

1 bigger Julian II (bull/stars reverse)
1 worn pseudo-autonomous from Tripolis
1 of the most jacked up overstrikes I have ever seen (looks like a horse or a centaur falling headfirst from the sky between two soldiers who normally surround a standard or two)
1 nice large Philip I from Antioch (stadards reverse, but nice...I am still not certain I hve it attribbed correctly, I could not find the rev legend to match my coin)
1 "nice" fouree of Domitian (Salus rev)
1 bronze Domitian Judea Capta issue (victory/trophy)
1 Vespasian den w/ Jupiter rev 1 worn but decent Vespasian den w/ bound Judea rev and 1 nice Alexandrian tet of Vespasian w/ Eirene rev
Enjoy!

(I have an uncleaned Dup of Titus and a Nero era "Star of Bethlehem" coin on the way, so I may make a few spot entries, but this will probably be my last big entry for the year)

Chris

[casata137ec]

Well...it has been a while, and I only have 6 new ones photo'd and id'd, but I figured it was time to get off my backside and post them.
This is an interesting mix of fun coins, I hope you enjoy!

Included in this entry are:

1 autonomous from antioch during the reign of Nero depicting the "star of bethlehem" reverse (I have always wanted one, but due to popularity they have been out of my price range...I got this one from the FORVM catalog relativly cheap!)
1 worn autonomous from Melita (Malta) that may very well be the rarest coin I now own.
1 nice big one of Constantius I from carthage featuring the female personification of Carthage holding fruit
1 medieval of John II of Aragon (it had been sitting in my favorite junk box forever and I finally had to get it just to figure out who/what it was!)
1 republican den of Mn Fonteius featuring cupid riding a goat
and 1 Valerian II ant featuring the baby Jupiter...also riding a goat....but side saddle...
(you can thank Moonmoth for my sudden interest in deities riding animals that usually are not ridden! lol)

Work has been killing me lately, but with the holidays winding down and all, I should be back at it in full swing soon.

Enjoy,
Chris