Gumrum

Thanks for the recommendation @Spargrodan, I've actually reached out to Rob off of the back of @CassiusMarcus' suggestion! Thanks again to both of you!

A lovely display! If you don't mind me asking, where did your source the drawer itself from? I'm looking for something similar to better house my own RIC collection... I'd love to know where yours is from! Thanks in advance!

Wow, an impressive collection of silver you have here! I’m particularly fond of the Valerian, Gallienus and Volusian! I’ve personally chosen not to collect usurpers or separatists, purely due to their scarcity… However, I do commend those who take on the challenge, such as yourself! Speaking of rarities, I occasionally make the stake of watching auctions for some of the rarer silver pieces, Caligula, Gordian II, etc and it does fill me with a bit of dread knowing I’ll be forking out serious money to complete my collection… Oh well, it’ll be a while until then anyway! Thanks again for sharing!

Wow, thanks for the correction and that’s great information to have! I’ll make sure to update my records to reflect all this new, correct info! Thanks again!

Hello all! I just wanted to share my latest pick ups for my ever-growing collection of silver pieces, with the ultimate goal of securing an example for every Roman Emperor from Augustus to Diocletian. Our first pick is probably my favourite, everyone's favourite disappointing Emperor, Commodus! Denarius of Emperor Commodus, from the mint of Rome, c. 184 CE, RIC III Commodus 95 Obv: Head of Commodus, Laureate, right | COMM ANT AVG P BRIT Commodus Antoninus Pius Britannicus [Commodus Antoninus, emperor, the pious, conqueror of the Britons] Rev: Annona, draped, standing left, holding statuette in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand; to left and right, modius and prow | ANN P M TR P VIIII IMP VII COS III P P Annona. Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate Nona, Imperator Septimum, Consul Tertium, Pater Patriae [Annona. High priest, holder of tribunician power for the ninth time, supreme commander (Imperator) for the seventh time, consul for the third time, father of the nation] The reverse of this coin is nothing special, but I think the amazingly fine and detailed portrait more than makes up for that! Next, we have a lesser-known 3rd Century Emperor, Probus Antoninianus of Emperor Probus, from the mint of Lugdunum, c. 276 - 282 CE, RIC V Probus 79 Obv: Bust of Probus, radiate, cuirassed, right | IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Probus Augustus. [Supreme commander (Imperator), Caesar Marcus Aurelius Probus, emperor] Rev: Fides, draped, standing left, holding ensign in each hand | FIDES MILITVM Fides Militum [Loyalty of the soldiers] I'm a sucker for detailed examples of 3rd Century antoninianii and so, when I saw this example of Probus, I knew it'd fit right in alongside my example of Gallienus. I also found the reverse of this coin rather ironic, so that's also a plus! Finally, we have an example of one Severus Alexander Denarius of Emperor Severus Alexander, from the mint of Rome, c. 231 - 235, RIC IV Severus Alexander 246c Obv: IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG | Imperator Alexander Pius Augustus [Supreme commander (Imperator) Aemilianus, the pious, emperor] Rev: MARS VLTOR | Mars Ultor [Mars, the avenger] Admittedly, this particular piece isn't quite at the quality I look for when it comes to the coins that comprise my collection... However, something about the level of detail on the portrait convinced me to pick it up (its reasonable price helped too...!) Well, that's 10 coins in total in my collection now, bringing me that much closer to completing my full collection... I still dread the day when I have to buy Claudius, Caligula, Gordian I & II, etc... Well, I guess I can keep myself occupied with these cheaper coins for now!

Nice example! I really like the spear-wielding portrait, I’ll likely get one someday as he’s easily one of my favourite emperors. I know @Leo has a really nice example of a similar Gallienus, his example was what drove me to look for a Colonia mint example…! Thanks for sharing!

Some really nice coins, thanks for sharing! It never crossed my mind that Otho had coins from outside of Rome itself. Also, being from a shipwreck is a fascinating additional bit of back story for that piece!

Sorry, I may have confused you! I meant these coins are nice, non-worn examples of coins I usually only find in a worn state…!

Hello all, I've recently acquired two examples of coins that (in my experience) are rarely found in anything other than either heavily worn, or otherwise less than pretty condition. First up, we have a antoninianus of a 3rd Century emperor we're all familiar with, Gallienus Antoninianus of Emperor Gallienus, from the mint of Lugdunum, c. 258-259 CE, RIC V Gallienus (joint reign) 18f Obv: Bust of Gallienus, radiate, cuirassed, right | GALLIENVS P F AVG Gallienus Pius Felix Augustus. [Gallienus, the pious and happy emperor] Rev: Trophy between two captives | GERMANICVS MAX V Germanicus Maximus Quintum. [Great conqueror of the Germans for the fifth time] Gallienus is a personal favourite emperor of mine and so, it was my mission to find an example of his coinage that featured as nice a portrait as possible. The reverse was always secondary, given that 3rd Century coings are infamous for poor reverses. However, I think this example is nice enough, all things considered! Next up, is another coincidentally 'neck-bearded', Nero Denarius of Emperor Nero, from the mint of Rome, c. 64-65 CE, RIC I (second edition) Nero 55 Obv: Head of Nero, laureate, right, with beard | NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS Nero Caesar Augustus. [Nero, Caesar and emperor] Rev: Roma, helmeted and draped, seated left on cuirass, holding Victory in right hand and parazonium in left| ROMA, Roma [Rome] I often found denarius examples of Nero to be either pretty badly worn or with incomplete or hard to disern legends... So, when this piece came to my attention, I knew it was the example of Nero I was looking for! As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, or otherwise see your examples of nice examples of usually worn coins! All the best, - Gumrum

Thanks! Yes, I am a little obsessive when it comes to perfection! I've also always followed the addage that it's better to buy the best you can afford, rather than settle for something beneath your standards that you'll only want to replace later... Although, I fully appreciate that most start out like yourself and I dare say I'd have done the same a few years ago when my budget would have been significantly less forgiving...! Still, I appreciate your comment and I hope to have some more nice examples to share with everyone soon!

Thank you very much, I try and ensure everything I buy is as good an example as possible... However, I may need to relax my standards somewhat when it comes to the 3rd century antoniniani of Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus, etc...! Yes, that's the plan! I aim to complete a collection of denarii/antoniniani for every 'Emperor' from Julius Caesar - Diocletian (ending at Diocletian to A. avoid the less visually interesting [to me] later Roman coins and B. avoid trying to find examples of the latter Western Roman Emperors who have very few existant coins to buy) I'm fully aware of how big of a task the full set will be, I'm already thinking of ways to justify to my wife why coins of Caligula, Claudius, Gordian I & II, Didius Julianus, etc cost so much! Still, there's plenty of time and like you say, there are a lot of coins to be had for my collection before we start talking silly money... I'm actually eyeing up nice examples of Nero and Vespasian, which I'll share should I make them mine! Thanks again for your comment!

Thank you very much for sharing! I was actually looking for the OCRE website, having found it a while ago and been unable to find it again since! Yes, Domitian is perhaps one of my favourite emperors and so, I made sure a denarius of his was the first coin I purchased. Thanks for the resources as well, that's very much appreciated!

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the opportunity to see some of your fine pieces too! The provincial coins are definitely interesting and are, from what I understand, usually a more economical way of building up your collection! That Geta piece is fascinating... How strange it is to consider that there were once likely to have been hundreds, if not thousands of examples of that coin, but now there's only one known and you own that piece! I think that's one of the standout attributes of this hobby, the ability to possess something so old and so rare... It's the opportunity to be the custodian of history that makes collecting so fun! Thanks again for sharing!

Thanks for sharing! I'm hoping to aquire a nice Vespasian like yours of my own to finish my Flavian dynasty! Thanks for sharing the digitally coloured examples, it's certainly an interesting perspective to have on what are otherwise monotone pieces of metal!

A lovely example, with an equally lovely reverse too! Thanks for sharing!