5 new denarii - Ron C2's latest gallery coins

[Ron C2]

Snagged this rather nice Phillip I antoninianus.  Rather nice obverse portrait, well detailed for Phillip, with an artistically pleasing Victory reverse. 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174461

I also added a decent Laodicea mint denarius of Septimius, RIC 493.  Not the highest grade example, but still an attractive lightly toned coin that I was happy to acquire.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174462

Lastly, I added my first Ariobarzanes III drachm to my burgeoning collection of Cappadocian drachms.  At this rate, I'll soon have the largest Cappadocian kings gallery on forum - just you wait - lol.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174463

[Ron C2]

I added a couple new pickups from the recent CNG Triton XXV Auction. 

First is a nice condition, but relatively common denarius of Septimius Severus.  FVNDATOR PACIS - the founder of peace. 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174545

And the second is a rather well provenanced electrum aspron trachy of Isaac II Angelus, a scyphate coin from the late byzantine period.  I'm really happy with the results of my photography on this one and I hope you all like it. 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174546

[Ron C2]

I managed to significantly upgrade my rather shabby example of Septimius Severus's RIC 7 LEG III ITAL legionary denarius with this wonderful find patinated example from auction. 

Really great toning, and a masterfully executed obverse bust to boot - really happy with this piece.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174704

[Tracy Aiello]

Wonderful coin Ron. Great toning indeed. I bet it looks even better in hand.

Tracy

[Ron C2]

Thanks Tracy - most coins do look better in person, in my experience.  It's really hard to capture a nice high relief obverse in a 2D photo to the same extent you can appreciate such a coin in-hand

[quadrans]

Nice coin all around 

 Joe /Q.

[Ron C2]

Picked up this rather nice Septimius Severus Victory coin - AD 197-198. RIC 120c.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174785

As always, grateful for any thought or comments on the coins I'm adding to the gallery

[Ron C2]

Finally managed to add an example of an Ariobarzanes II drachm.  HGC lists this as an R2, and they aren't all that common to find.  Sadly the regnal year is off flan, but Ariobarzanes II only struck drachms in 2 back to back regnal years (57 or 56 BC), both of which are rare coins, and it's thought most of them were struck to pay the Roman Syrian proconsul Aulus Gabinius' troops to defeat his political opponents in Cappadocia. Not long afterwards, Ariobarzanes II was assassinated.

The coin is also super thick, coming in at around 2.5mm on the edge with a diameter of only 15.1mm, so I'm very lucky it's well centered. The moneyer could maybe have struck a second blow on this one (!). 

Let me know what you folks think of my latest unicorn?

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174877

[Jay GT4]

Great addition Ron.  Can you find a die match to get the year?

[Ron C2]

Great addition Ron.  Can you find a die match to get the year?

Good question - I haven't looked that hard yet.  Might be possible - not many of these out there.

There's an obverse die match on Wildwinds (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/cappadocia/kings/ariobarzanes_II/t.html) with a different reverse die and H exergue (regnal year 8 ), but there's no guarantee the obverse die didn't cross years.

[Steve Moulding]

Nice find, Ron. Thanks for sharing the story behind this issue...that's interesting!

[cicerokid]

Any reason why he was assassinated?

Ariobarzanes lll had a Star and crescent moon on his......

[Ron C2]

He was assassinated by Parthian sympathizers in his court that were upset with his close affiliation with Rome. Before their rift, he was allied to Pompey and Julius Caesar and used Pompey's legions to suppress internal revolts (hence the need to mint silver drachms similar in size and weight to denarii to pay those legions). 

After the assassination, Pompey installed his son, Ariobarzanes III and later Julius Ceasar protected Ariobarzanes III from his Parthian enemies.  Cassius Linginus later had Ariobarzanes III killed, and he was succeeded by his brother, Ariarathes X.

[Ron C2]

I just added a few more Cappadocian kingdom drachms to the gallery. It's interesting, but they tend to garner more interest here than when I post more gold solidii or severan denarii. 

Today's additions:

-An early Ariobarzanes I drachm, 3rd regnal year, but first year he struck drachms.  Early youthful portrait.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174895

-A mid-reign Ariobarzanes I drachm, 22nd regnal year. Definitely looking older.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174894

-Compare to a late reign Ariobarzanes I drachm I already posted some time back. Regnal year 33 - really old and balding. Love how these portraits were photo-realistic, unlike the idealized portraits of so many other emperors and kings of the Hellenistic and early Roman period.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=173376

And lastly, an Ariobarzanes III drachm, complete with star and crescent - just for cicerokid (odd coincidence I just bought one of these!!).  There are only two main types of Ariobarzanes III drachms, and I've now posted examples of both.  There are some sub-types with slight monogram variations I don't have yet.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174896

Not sure how it happened, but somehow I think I have posted the largest Cappadocian drachm gallery on forum.  It's not my prime area of collecting interest, but I may almost be a cappadicoan drachm specialist now?!? Weird how that just sorta happens.

[Jay GT4]

Nice Ron, now you have to publish your findings 

[Ron C2]

I think I have a little more to learn before I could add to simonetta, morkholm and Hoover.  Though there is room for an updated reference system with the detail of simonetta, the corrections of morkholm and the legibility of hoover - all in one reference.

[Mark Fox]

Not sure how it happened, but somehow I think I have posted the largest Cappadocian drachm gallery on forum.  It's not my prime area of collecting interest, but I may almost be a cappadicoan drachm specialist now?!? Weird how that just sorta happens.

Dear Ron, Jay, and Board,

The same basic thing happened to me with the Bithynian Kingdom.  Sometimes it is the coins that pick the collectors! 

And as for learning more before tackling a writing project, that has really never stopped me if I am truly interested in the topic.  The first article I won an award for was on a topic I knew next to nothing about before the research phase rolled along.  As the old(?) saying goes, "if you want to learn something, teach it."


Best regards,

Mark Fox
Michigan 

P.S.:  I probably should note here that I am somewhat into the bronzes of the Cappadocian Kings, although my collection is not exactly worth talking about yet, size-wise.

[Ron C2]

Point taken Mark, maybe it's something I can start picking away at.  I doubt I could add a ton to the scholarly work done, but I could certainly consolidate it into a single useful reference reflecting latest numismatic thinking - it's not really been looked at holistically since 1977 and is a bit dated.

I would be really weird though if others started citing some new numbering system of mine as a reference.

[Ron C2]

Added another early Septimius Severus denarius, this one an example of RIC 78. 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174960

As well as another Cappadocian Drachm, this time a king I haven't had before, Ariarathes VI.  This one is a pretty nice example with an rare (R2) reverse where Athena is not Nikepheros, but rather holds a palm and wreath.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174961

[Ron C2]

Picked up this great toned denarius of Septimius Severus from Forum - thanks Joe!

Interestingly, this is listed in RIC, likely wrongly, as a Common denarius, yet there were no examples of this Cohen number (321) in the Reka Devnia hoard, meaning it's definitely not a common coin.  A quick internet search turned up not many examples as well.  Oh well - RIC can't always be right.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175017

[Tracy Aiello]

Ron,

A beautiful catch indeed.

Tracy

[quadrans]

Great piece, I agree,   

 Joe

[Ron C2]

Just posted a decent billon Antoninianus of Claudius II Gothicus as I put up more of the my third century crisis coins. Hope you like it.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175023

[Ron C2]

I was VERY fortunate to pick up this coin last month, and it only arrived to me from the Netherlands today.  This is a rare example of RIC 231.  RIC lists it as "scarce" but only cites one known example in a private collection.  5 examples are in a single museum from the RD hoard, and BMCRE doesn't catalogue this variant - they have a note on page 357 of BMCRE V mentioning that a single known example was in the G. R. Arnold collection.

While I did pay a premium price for it, the dealer had mis-identified it as a scarce (but more common) RIC 238.  Same reverse motif, but TR P XVIII vice the rarer TR P XVII. I think this made it affordable enough to acquire.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175166

I'm really quite pleased with this one, and I hope you all are too! Let me know what you think.

[Ron C2]

I've added a couple Septimius Denarii from the Ken Bresset collection recently.  These two have provenance back to 1977. 

The first one is an upgrade of my example of RIC 64:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175197

Here's the coin I already had, and I think the new one is a bit of an upgrade:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=168101

And the second one is a scarce and well-toned example of RIC 335 - VICTORIAE BRIT.  This one was minted near the end of Septimius' life, likely in his final weeks or months.  It's actually the first one I had ever seen for sale, though not "rare" exactly, there were very few in the RD hoard and the coin was not made long. 

In general, I find the Septimius coins with a Britanicus honorific are harder to come by, I think there are many UK collectors that seek these out, so market availability is often not the best.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175196

Happy to hear people's opinions on these new additions.