Septimius Severus Denarius

Very nice coin--great details!

Great portrait and I love it when you can still see the feathers in Victory's wings. :)

Southsav. Yes the coin is silver. If you are interested in ancients keep coming back to this forum. You can learn a lot right here! There are many poeple here that have been very helpful to me. I learn something new with most every thread.

And of course use other resourses! I have been doing this ancient thing for a little over a year and relize that I know enough to know that I really don't know as much as I should.

My Two Cents of wisdom as a neophite collector is:
Buy from a trusted source
Post your potential coin of interest here
Check out http://www.wildwinds.com; http://www.vcoins.com; & google others
Enjoy the beauty and the history of this amazing hobby
Share your coins on this forum so we all can learn:)

This is a nice example of a mid-late period Laodicea denarius. After Septimius had dealt with the silver wars and Parthian problems of his early reign, he closed the Eastern mints and struck only at Rome. Laodicea was the last to go. This one still carries the COS II date and there were coins with COS III which he assumed in 202 AD. 198-201 is a safe date for this one but specialists may narrow it down a bit from style.

JW is right that I specialized in Septimius but most of my coins are from the 193-196 AD period when the wars and branch mints were in full swing. When you pick a specialty you can narrow it down however you like and for some reason I always liked the early Septimius and Domna coins most of all.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...severus.html

Great-loooking coin Just curious, how much did you pay?

"As to how much I paid. I made this purchase from coin shop in phoenix, az. IMHO coin shop prices can be bit steeper than deals on-line. I have been shopping locally for couple of reasons. One, because I feel the shops offer me protection against fake coins. Two, because the shops offer me that in hand experience that on-line does not give. Three because the shop owners (one in particular) have educated me on coin collecting. Having said all that. Not sure you needed these details?"

If you missed the above when TJ posted it, read it now. If you live where there is a local shop that carries ancients, be glad. If you have a shop owner that knows more about the coins than you do, be happy and appreciative when they share. If your shop owner knows less than you do and acts like they might appreciate your help, be helpful. The only lose-lose situation here is when you have a shop owned by a person who thinks they know it all and that all ancients, however unattractive (or fake!) are worth big prices. From them buy only things they failed to recognize and never return. In all other cases you should develop a relationship with the dealer, encourage him to try to interest other collectors so he recognizes that carrying even more and better ancients is good for his business.

I buy most coins by mail but I really enjoy the opportunity to buy in person at coin shows and, rarely where I am located, at brick and mortar stores. Occasionally you may pay just a little more for the privilege of seeing the coin, taking about the coin and feeling secure about whether the coin will actually arrive rather than being eaten by the postal monster. Try to remember that often it was money well spent. Sometimes the amount extra you pay is the sales tax.

I see this as a nice specimen of a coin worth owning. I own one of these almost but not quite as nice that was $22 in 1987. I have a bit nicer example of the variation with the IMP VIIII obverse and same reverse that was $75 in 1994. Give the time factor, I don't think you did all that poorly.