A Few Coins From And A Few Questions About Viminacium

Roman Provincial coins seem fairly interesting to me and I may start collecting some, sometime in the future. I'm sure once I end up finding most common emperors, the rest will be very expensive. My very first ancient coin is a Roman Provincial. It's during the time of Augustus.

RPC 1651

Cohor Prae Phil

Finally getting around to taking some pictures. Here are a couple of mine.

Gordian III: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, PMS COL VIM, AN III. sestertius, AMNG# 83.





Trajan Decivs: IMP TRIANVS DECIVS AVG, PMS COL VIM, AN XII, Pick# 132

Won this at a recent European auction. I have a chance to obtain a similar coin a similar Gordian-like portrait, but in the name of Philip. worth the invstment?

I can see the resemblance. Is it worth the investment? Only you can answer that. Personally, I love these coins from Viminacium with the symbols of the two legions stationed there. Yours is a very nice example. One of my first coins I ever cleaned was a Gordian AE25 from Viminacium:

Thanks for the 'welcome' - I'm a veteran collector and restore coins as well.

As for the investment question, it would be an extremely low one. I paid a ridiculous 32 Euro for the Gordie, and the Philip coin cost would be the same. The auction house director confirmed this early this AM. The prices on these two coins are serendipitous finds, particularly when you see the low grade coins of this type selling for > $100 USD on VCoins (I won't bother to get into the ebay examples).

My collecting focus is on the Flavian emperors, BTW, not these curious but interesting coins from Viminacium. Will need to explore this huge site some more.

As far as I know, there is no one here who has this focus. I love the coins of the Flavans. I'll be looking forward to seeing your coins.

The prices you quoted for the Gordian and the Philip seem very reasonable to me considering the quality of the coins you posted.

Thanks to you two for the input. I used to spend a lot of money on uncleaned lots when I was a new collector. That experience taught me what a waste of money that generally was. Now I search for 'problem coins' to selectively work on. Today is not the 'good old days' when a collector could hope to receive decent material in lots, that flowed like water from Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet block.Those days are gone for good....

I'm currently assembling a Powerpoint program for a presentation I will be making at our ancient coin club meeting next month. Seems I've gained a reputation for restoration techniques.

Here is a reduced size image of one slide to be shown-interestingly a year 5 Gordian 'dupondius'. I use strictly use mechanical methods for restoration - stripping coins removes the patina and leaves a worthless hunk of metal.

Sediments on uncleaned coins in any metal (except gold and electrum - these are not effected much by ground chemicals) are as varied as the regions of the Roman Empire itself. Each presents its own challenges, depending on where the buried coin was found. My favorite place to obtain as found or lightly field brushed coins, is the UAE and the Levant. Takes a while to arrive. And you have to know your seller. If you have coin images that you wish to share, please do so. I'd be happy to offer any advise. The attached coin came from Dubai.....rare.