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I bought a few coins from Xenopus and that sent me down a very deep and very dark hole. Here are some of the things I've acquired since then (sorry for the lovely phone pictures, I'm still figuring out the best way to photograph coins). A silver tetradrachm of Lysimachos, from about 296 to 282 BC. The obverse is a deified Alexander the Great with horns of Ammon, and the reverse shows Athena along with the inscription "Basileus Lysimachos" (King Lysimachos). Lysimachos was one of Alexander the Great's bodyguards who became king of Thrace after Alexander died. The thing underlining his name is apparently a penis.  A silver denarius from Mark Antony's military mint, struck in 32 BC, just months before his war with Octavian. The obverse is a galley with banners, and the reverse is an aquila (a legion eagle) surrounded by legion standards. The inscription on the reverse is LEG V, for the Fifth Legion, and the obverse is a long series of abbreviations that read, "Antony the Augur, of the Triumvirate for the Restoration of the Republic." Antony, the Triumvirate, and the Republic would all be dead within a couple of years.  A bronze follis of Justinian the Great, struck in 546 or 547 AD. The obverse is the man himself carrying an orb topped with a cross, wearing armor, and holding a shield decorated with a man on horseback. The inscription reads "Our Lord Justinianus, Father of his Country, Emperor" and the reverse reads ANNO XX (twentieth year of his reign) KVZ (struck in Cyzicus) M (worth 40 nummus). Sesquiculus fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Sep 14, 2015 |
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Sep 13, 2015 06:15
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Got a few more ancients in this week: My most expensive coin purchase to date, a silver tetradrachm of Athens struck around 454-404 BC. Athena on the obverse and an owl, olive branch, and crescent moon on the reverse. The inscription on the reverse is Alpha Theta Epsilon – the first three letters of “Athens.”  A Roman Republic denarius, struck in 42 BC. The reverse depicts the shrine of the great goddess of the sewers, Venus Cloacina, with an inscription of the name of the moneyer Lucius Mussidius Longus. The obverse is the goddess Concordia.  A massive bronze drachm of Ptolemy III - grandson of Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, and Great-great-great-great grandfather to Cleopatra. Struck in 246 to 222 BC. Zeus Ammon on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse, with a chi-rho monogram between the eagle’s legs. The inscription is ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ, "Of the King Ptolemy." Seriously the thing is like the size and thickness of an Oreo.
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Sep 18, 2015 15:42
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And a couple not as ancient: A silver ducat of Mircea the Elder, voivode of Wallachia, 1386-1418 AD. Mircea had a son named Vlad Dracul (the Dragon), and a grandson named Vlad Tepes, better known as Dracula (Son of the Dragon). The obverse is a coat of arms and the reverse is an eagle standing on a helmet.  A silver Ichibu Gin of the Ansei Era, about 1859-1868 AD. Tokugawa shogunate.
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Sep 19, 2015 01:08
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DominusDeus posted:That microstamp security feature, tho... That's pretty cool. How did you manage to get a picture of that? I got in quite a few new denarii. New to my collection, anyway:  A pretty standard Republic silver denarius - this one was struck by Spurius Afranius in about 150 BC. I like this one mostly for the detail on the horses and the ROMA in the exergue.  A silver denarius from the military mint of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, struck during his civil war with Gaius Marius around 82 BC. I bought it mostly for the SVLLA in the exergue because Sulla is awesome.  A silver denarius of Emperor Titus, struck in 80 AD. The reverse is a thunderbolt on a draped throne or altar - it's one of the "supplicatio" reverses that was struck after the Vesuvius eruption. And one Greek coin:  A silver hemidrachm from Akragas, Sicily, struck in about 410 BC. The obverse is an eagle eating a hare, and the reverse is a crab with a sea serpent below. Finally, a friend found these two in his garage of all places:  A Third Reich silver 5 reichsmark coin from 1936 AD.  An Australian silver florin from 1943 AD. Sesquiculus fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Oct 10, 2015 |
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Oct 10, 2015 04:08
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DominusDeus posted:I need dis. Plus that piece of Japanese silver. Can probably afford neither. They didn't set me back as much as you might think - I picked up the hemidrachm for $170 and the ichibu for $35. I was particularly happy with the hemidrachm because every other example I could find went for double that or more.
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Oct 11, 2015 01:16
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Couple of new coins: A silver stater from Pamphylia, Aspendos, struck in 330-250 BC. The obverse is two wrestlers grappling with a KY monogram between them. The reverse is a slinger in throwing stance with triskeles above a club of Hercules on the right.  A gold Nibu Kin from the Meiji era, from about 1868 AD. I've also started putting the nicer coins in my collection into an imgur album.
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Oct 20, 2015 03:03
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SeaWolf posted:Claudius denarius Very nice. I really need a Claudius. Got a few new coins recently:   A silver twelfth stater of King Croesus of Lydia, the proverbial "as rich as Croesus." One of the very first coins and really, really tiny.  A Corinthian silver stater, struck in about 345-307 BC. Athena on the obverse and a pegasus on the reverse.  A silver drachm of Alexander the Great, struck in about 319-310 BC. Herakles in lion skin headdress on the obverse and Zeus on the reverse.  A Celtic imitation of the Alexander the Great coin above, struck in about 310-275 BC. The design has been heavily modified to suit Celtic tastes.  A bronze As from the Republic of Rome, struck in 169-158 BC. Janus on the obverse and a star over a ship's prow on the reverse. Worth one-tenth of a denarius (the word denarius means "contains ten"), both sides are marked with a 1 and you can see the X on the Republic denarius I posted earlier.
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Feb 20, 2016 23:58
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:I took each picture with the camera at the same distance from the camera and the same zoom so the relative size of each coin is correct. That is a really cool picture. I'll have to do that if I ever get a halfway decent camera setup. Got a couple of new things:  A silver tetradrachm of Seleukos I Nikator (founder of the Seleucid Empire) in the name and type of Alexander III, struck in about 300 BC. Herakles in lion skin headdress on the obverse and Zeus on the reverse.  A silver tetradrachm of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, struck in Antioch in 6 AD. Augustus on the obverse and the goddess Fortuna sitting on a mountain as Orontes the river god swims by on the reverse. This is one of the types of coins that could have made up Judas Iscariot's thirty pieces of silver. And just for fun:  A silver daler of New Dale, commemorating the defeat of the dragon Smaug. DominusDeus posted:I have some hyperinflation money coming in from a couple different countries, so that'll be my next update. Have a couple of these myself:   A one hundred trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe and a five hundred billion dinar bill from Yugoslavia.
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Apr 18, 2016 03:11
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A few new things: A silver tetradrachm from Gela in Sicily, struck in about 420 BC. Obverse is the god of the Gela river as a man-headed bull running past a tiny heron, and the reverse is a quadriga with a wreath above. The reverse is in terrible shape which is the only reason this was remotely affordable.  A bronze Tetrachalkon from Pantikapaion in the Cimmerian Bosporos, struck in about 310 BC. Pan on the obverse and a griffin on the reverse.  I don't usually collect US coins, but a friend offered me this one. A copper Andrew Jackson "Hard Times" token, struck in 1834 AD. Used as unofficial private currency after President Jackson abolished the national bank. The obverse is Jackson popping out of a chest holding a sword and money bag with the inscription "I Take the Responsibility." The reverse is a donkey labeled "LLD" (a reference to Jackson's honorary degree) and the inscription "The Constitution As I Understand It."
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May 26, 2016 19:09
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Got it from a friend so I'm not sure what it's worth, but it looks like there are a few examples listed on ebay in the $20 to $60 range.
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May 27, 2016 19:14
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ChocNitty posted:I see you got quite a few choice pieces within just a few months and havent posted in a while. Are you still actively expanding your collection? Or did you get burned out on it, or just taking a break? Worse, I got a mortgage. I do have a few new pieces but between the move and my computer dying I haven't been able to update. I'm also getting pretty close to completing my collection - I started with a list of things I wanted and I'm only about a dozen coins short. The ones that are left are mostly big ticket items (a shekel of Tyre, a Tribute Penny, that kind of thing) so I'll have to pace myself.
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Jul 20, 2017 14:43
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