My Top 25 Coins (Maybe)

I always see something new here, this time the "anonymous pagan" coins.
The first thing I wondered...would coins be issued in Roman provinces without the emperor's bust?
Then again, I know very little about Roman provincials...but there's something different about the coins posted above. I like the "Guiness" patina too!

There was a monumental sculpture made by Eutychides of Sicyon in the latter part of the 4th century BC, for the founding of the city of Antioch, now lost to archaeology, but it survived long enough for the Romans to borrow the image and use it on these Pagan type coins.

Here is a picture of a Roman copy of that sculpture.



The inscription on the coins refers to the Genius of Antioch, but the sculpture is know as Tyche of Antioch.



"The Tyche of Palmyra shown here, made nearly 500 years after its Antioch ancestor, shows a local adaptation: Antioch's Orontes River is replaced by the spring that watered Palmyra's oasis".

I just thought this was interesting also.

#8 Septimius Severus AR denarius Alexandria mint INVICTO IMP reverse

Coin #8 is exceptional in that it is one of the ugliest, lowest grade coins I own. How did it rank so high? It is also the finest specimen (OK, only specimen) known. My #1 special interest in coins are the Eastern mint denarii of Septimius Severus. My collection is about 20% coins of this category. I do not have all the known types but neither does anyone else since there are several known by only one specimen. Will another be found tomorrow? I hope so, I'd like to upgrade.

The reverse shows a trophy of arms - a pile of captured items after a battle. It is one of the more common reverses used in the most common Eastern mint known as "Emesa" (the actual location is uncertain). This one, however has the obverse portrait style of Alexandria. All Alexandrian denarii are rare. This is a 'unique' survivor. Prior to his untimely death, Roger Bickford-Smith (the greatest expert on this period) told me that this was, of all my coins, the one he would most like to own. Not all of us are condition freaks. I must be one since I still have 7 more coins to go. Roger was a good friend and is missed.

For the record I will show below a standard and common (no more than scarce anyway) Emesa example of the type. The Alexandria coin would not have had COSII on the obverse but would have been similar otherwise. There is, by wild luck, a trace of the P at the end of the reverse legend of #8 proving that the legend was the short version INVICTO IMP rather than INVICTO IMP TROPHAEA as used at Emesa in its earliest period.





OK, I lied. The Emesa coin shown here is not the 'standard and common' version but has a minor variation that only a specialist in the series would care about. Did you notice it? Spelling errors on these Eastern denarii are not uncommon. For the most part they don't even add to the price but that is often because dealers price coins more on grade than on whether it reads INVLCTO or INVICTO. The die cutters almost certainly read no Latin and may have not been terribly strong in any language. An error on one die is no big deal. If you are to be a specialist in a narrow field like these denarii, you need to look at coins carefully and notice things like this. There are a thousand specialties available to collectors of ancient coins. "Eastern denarii of 193 to 196 AD" is mine. This is the first one I have shown in the 25 but there are more to come. I could have shown my top 25 Septimius coins but that would really have driven all of you away!

Nice coin dougsmit. One thing I like about ancients is most of the time I'm not too worried about higher grade coins. In fact I prefer coins with some green vertigres and encrustations. I'm not too worried about the grade. That's a great example especially considering the rarity. Great find.

Ugly coin - but I would love to own it. Thanks for the lesson.

I'm a big fan of the lizard-slayer coin!!

Nice coin and history.