Aurelian is just so Third Century .
Capital idea, as a focal point. Aurelian seems to have a sizable issuance in his name and that of the empress, Severina. Other names to look out for, on the Palmyrene front: Vabalathus and Zenobia. Vabalathus was son of Odenathus and Zenobia of Palmyra. Zenobia assumed the purple upon Odenathus' (rather suspicious) death, with Vabalathus as nominal king. One of the issues pairing Vabalathus with Aurelian would fit in nicely here. Zenobia is quite the rarity.
Even as a French speaker, I still find it tiring to read some of the numismatic works, such as RPC 7.1 (M. Spoerri Butcher). It's the wading through a multitude of languages (French, Latin, Greek...). Other writers are not a problem.
Learning 'numismatic' French will at least help you with some other works. I'm not interested in learning Bulgarian, so am hunting for Varbanov's English translation of his Greek Imperial Coins series.
Anaximander
Anaximander,
There is something about Aurelian's short reign that has drawn me to him historically so I thought that it would bring some sort of discipline to my collecting focus. I would probably bankrupt myself if I simply purchased whatever I found artistically beautiful. Of course I
still do
plenty of that; witness my Larissian coins.
Somewhere on my list of "to dos" is to
search out the sole coinage of
Vabalathus. Zenobia's coinage would be a wonderful addition but I fear that the
price would be out of my league.
By the way, I really like your
gallery and so I recommended it for
Gallery of the Year.
Tracy