Domitilla

Yesterday I received a package from a metal detectorist with some uncleaned's and a couple silvers described as "silvered and not solid silver". The picture showed what I thought to be a couple of Severan fourees and some regular uncleaned coins as you can see below.



Imagine my suprise when I get them home and discover that the coin on the left is definately not Severan but actually far earlier. It is actually a fouree with a Domitilla the Younger obverse and a reverse of Domitia.

I have never seen a coin of Domitilla before as the number of zeros on the end of the price tag makes the the few coin types known of her well out of my league. Anyway here is the obverse...

DIVA DOMITILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust right

and the reverse...

"PIETAS AVGUST"
Pietas seated left, holding scepter, a child before

Anyway even if it is an ancient fake this coin is still in pretty damn good condition with only a couple of minor breaks in the silver. It's definitely the closest I'll get to owning a denarius of either Domitia or Domitilla. Also it is pretty much unique afaik making it an excellent addition all round.

Loss of Coinarchives.com

This week collectors lost a very valuable free resource. For those of you who are unfamiliar, coinarchives.com was a repository of coins featured in most major numismatic auctions. With over 900,00 records, which included images and information as well as pricing, coin archives was a vital tool to a collector without access to reference catalogues. It also offered the major benefit of being up to date, allowing a user to study pricing trends and decide if a coin was worth purchasing rather than relying on a 20 year old publication.

coinarchives.com has now become a commercial venture meaning that it's massive content is now restricted to free users. Now free users can only search the last 6 months worth of data and it would appear that the admin don't feel the need to entice the masses to use their site. Instead of a reasonable $20-60 a year that most people would be happy to pay they opt for a massive $600 per year fee.

I mean clearly there is going to be more than 10 people out there who would pay $5 a month for every one who can afford $50 a month. So really this is just a sign that coinarchives.com would rather cater only for the larger dealers and auctioneers and not for the individual collector.

We can only hope they shall see the error of their ways and offer a more sensibly priced subscription in the near future.

Anyway back to a few coins. I've been sorting out the images for my new webshop, which should be online soon and I thought I'd share a few I particularly liked.

Maximianus Æ radiate fraction 295-299AD Cyzicus Mint

Obverse: IMP C MA MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, radiate draped bust right
Reverse: CONCORDIA MILITVM, emperor standing right receiving Victory on globe from Jupiter, Ke between.

RIC 15b, 20-21mm ,2.98g




Valentinian II 375-392 AD

Obverse: D N VALENTINI-ANVS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: VRBS ROMA, Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on a globe and a sceptre

RSC 76b. 0.84g 10mm

Heavily clipped but I really like the toning on the portrait.




Claudius II Gothicus Æ Antoninianus Antioch mint

Obverse: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse:FIDES AVG, Mercury standing left with purse & cauduceus, Z in ex.

RIC 207, 20-21mm, 4.12g,

As you can probably guess I'm a big fan of contrast. Hence yet another desert patina.

Finally before I go one that I just bought for my own personal collection....

Diocletian AE Follis. 295 AD Trier Mint

Obverse: IMP DIOCLETIANVS AVG, laureate head right
Reverse: GENIO POPVLI ROMANI, Genius standing left, holding patera & cornucopiae, A left TR in ex.

I don't often buy of this period for myself but the portrait style is definitely growing on me. Plus this coin has some degree of silvering whether it was once silvered or is billon I can't decide as it's almost 3am.

Anyway I have work tomorrow...