2024

Roman: 


Varus, of "Varus, give me back my legions!" fame under Augustus.
19 mm. 7.36 grams.
Struck at Antioch 5/4 BC (year 27) while he was legate (governor) there.
Zeus head right. No legend.
ANTIOXE EΠI OVAPOV   [His name ends the legend]
ZK in field
Tyche of Antioch seated right, holding palm, and with the river-god Orontes swimming right below.
RPC I 4252.



Hadrian, 117-138
21.5-20.3 mm. 6.66 grams.
Didrachm of Caesarea, Cappadocia
AΔPIANOC  CEBACTOC
YΠATOC  Γ  ΠATHPΠATP
                   3   Pater Patriae
Club
RPC III Caesarea, Cappadocia 3107, page 390.


 
 


Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius
19-17 mm. 3.07 grams.
FORTVNAE MVLIEBRI
In the dative, "to the fortune of women"
Fortuna seated left holding rudder and cornucopia
Denarius. 19-17 mm. 3.07 grams.
Faustina II (Faustina, Jr.) wife of Marcus Aurelius. 147-175, possibly late in that period.
Refers to that aspect of Fortuna particularly relevant to women. Why this should appear for Faustina II and not for other imperial women is not known.
RIC 683 "R". BMC Marcus 96. Sear II 5253.



Caracalla, 196-198-217
19 mm. 2.93 grams.
VICT PARTHICA
Very rare
RIC 315b. 
Sear II 6897, page 528.

My page:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Persian/Persia.html
 


Aurelian, 270-275
Denarius. 19-18 mm. 2.27 grams.
PROVIDEN AVG
RIC 689 "R" page 273
Sear III 116368


Constantius, 293-305-306
25.7-24.7 mm. 9.44 grams.
Follis stuck at Alexandria during the usurpation of
Domitius Domitianus.
The eagle at the feet of Genius is the distinguishing feature. 
RIC VI Alexandria  21a
Sear IV 14073

My pages:  http://augustuscoins.com/ed/usurpers/Usurpers.html
and
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/Diocletianfolles.html


Galerius, 293-305-311
24 mm. 3.74 grams. Antoninianus or aurelianus.
For Galerius, most types of ants are scarce and this one is rare.
ABVNDANT AVGG
Bastien VII 603 (only one piece) plate XLIII
RIC V.II Galerius 675 struck "295" page 304 "C" (which is wrong; it is very rare)
Sear IV 14287 page 275 "294"

My page: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/Constantius.html
 
 


Valens "AE3".
17.7-17.1 mm. 2.50 grams.
DN VALENS PER F AVG
SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE
ANTA  with
Φ  K
Θ
in the fields.
The reverse design is very common. The mint is very common. The letter combination in the field is common. The emperor is common. So, the coin is very common, right? 

Well, not so fast.
This obverse legend for Valens is in RIC only for gold and silver, never AE. That's one dimension of rarity--a not-in-RIC AE legend.  (It took a lot of looking in RIC to confirm that assertion.)
The reverse fieldmarks are in RIC only after the death of Valens. They begin with the next issue for which SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE has been discontinued except for one "r5" example for Gratian. (RIC IX Antioch 49). This coin is from that issue (which is not listed as having any Valens coins) of slightly smaller size AE3 coins, which are mostly CONCORDIA AVGGG coins which were not issued for Valens. It has the smaller size it should have to belong to that issue. 

If it took me almost an hour of looking to identify what I had, you can see why the seller didn't bother. 99 times out of 100 he would not have found anything special. I got lucky.


 
 
Byzantine:
 

Justin, 518-527
14 mm. 1.95 grams.
5 nummia. 1.95 grams. 
Sear 113
 



Justinian, 527-565
33-29.5 mm. 11.43 grams.
Antioch
Year 13, mintmark
ΘV with a bar above, abbreviating "Theopolis"
Sear 228. 

 


Heraclius (610-641) and son
27.4-26 mm. 8.90 grams.
Mintmark: SELISU, year GI = 7.
Seleucia in Isauria
Sear 844



 

 



Anastasius II, 713-715
21.6-21.0 mm. 3.44 grams.
Sear 1469. Constantinople. 
Very rare. Unusual with the name (1:00-3:00) legible

 


 

Leo III, 717-741 
Small at 19-18 mm and 3.01 grams.
Sear 1514 (small variety)


Constantine VII (913-959) in the name of 
Romanus I
and the sons Constantine and Stephan of Romanus,
and then Constantine VII.
Silver miliaresion. 23.7 mm. 2.49 grams.
Sear 1755

My page:  http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Byz/ConVII.html
 


Sear 1717 for Basil I, but Anokhin gives it to Basil II and Constantine VIII.
That would be Sear 1814A (my choice of a supplemental Sear number)
24 mm. 10.41 grams.
Cast, not struck.

My page: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Cherson/


Anonymous follis, Class H
Attributed to Michael VII, 1071-1078
 
 

Byzantine anonymous follis
Class I

My page: 
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ByzAnon/

 

Turkoman:

Turkoman.
Danishmendid.
Rare. Large. 30-29 mm. 9.00 grams.
Fakhr al-Din Qasim b. Dhu 'l-Qarnayn
1170-1172
SSS Danishmendid 5
Mitchiner 1011 (is worse)

My page:  http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Turkoman/Turkoman.html

 


Turkoman
Artuqid
S&S 7
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan
1148-1174
27-26 mm. 8.56 grams.

My page:  http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Turkoman/SS.html
 
 

Turkoman.
23-20 mm. 3.13 grms.
S&S 23. Rare
Artuqids of Khartpert
(which are all rare)
'Imad al-Din Abu Bakr
1185-1203
 
 


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