Friday, January 26, 2007
Æ26, Dacia, Gallienus, Varbanov (2005) 89var (barbarous?)
IMP GALLIENVS AVG (S is retrograde) , Laureate head right | PROVIN]CIA D[????], Dacia standing left, holding standards, with eagle holding wreath and lion at their bases. AN VI[?] in exergue.
I suspect this is not an official mint product, with a rather wild style in the portrait, incorrect details in the legend, and, I think, clumsiness in the reverse figure, but I don't have sufficient documentation on the coins of Dacia to see if it's just a poorly executed example of an official coin.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Æ antoninianus, Gallienus, Antioch, Göbl 1655a
GALLIENVS AVG, Radiate draped cuirrased bust right | SOLI INVICTO, Radiate Sol standing facing, nude but for chlamys, head left, holding globe right and raising hand left. VIIC· in exergue.
There's nothing wrong with a patina, where the surface has combined with minerals in the earth the coin was in, preventing the formation of more harmful compounds, but it's no guarantee of beauty.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
AR denarius; Julia Domna, Rome, RIC 564
IVLIA AVGVSTA, Draped bust right | MATER DEVM, Cybele as Mother of the Gods, wearing turreted crown, seated left between two lions, with scepter in left and branch in right.
Julia Domna was the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus and mother of the emperors Caracalla and Geta.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Æ26, Viminacium in Moesia Superior, Gallienus, Sear GIC 4526
IMP C GALLIENVS AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right | P M S C_OL VIM, Moesia standing, head left, with bull right in left field and lion left in right field. AN [?] in exergue.
No need for great imagination here at Viminacium, the coins merely show Moesia, eponymous personification of the province, where Serbia and Bulgaria are now located.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Billon antonianus, Gallienus, Rome, Göbl 351a
GALLIENVS AVG, Radiate head right | PAX AVG, Pax standing left, raising branch in right hand and holding long transverse scepter in left.
Despite recent failures in that regard, my sole concern in choosing a coin to post is that it has not been posted here before. The possibility of writing an interesting paragraph or two about the coin is ignored, to the blog's detriment.
