The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Share Posted August 5 (edited) Hello guys, I am a new member thanks to a friend introducing me to this site. I am trying to complete a collection of antoninianus from legitimate Augustus and Caesar issues. Here are some of my highlights in the collection. Edited August 5 by The Ant Man 7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Caracalla Macrinus Diadumenian Elagabalus Balninus Pupienus Gordian III Philip I Philip II Trajan Decius Herennius Etrucus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus Volusian Aemilian Valerian Valerian II Saloninus Gallienus Claudius II Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Tacitus Florian Probus Carus Numerian Carinus Diocletian Maximian Herculius Constantius I Galerius Out of the list the bolded ones are the ones I am missing. Saloninus should be easy, Pupienus I need to save. Diadumenian will be a pain as he is hard to find in general as well as being pricy. But compare to similar popular types to collect this is far more within my capabilities. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tejas Posted August 5 · Member Share Posted August 5 Hi and welcome to the forum. This is a very nice collection. Often it makes sense to post just one or two coins at a time in order to spark a discussion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 ohhh got it. Lemme fix this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Aemillian Antoninianus 253 CE Rome Mint RIC IV Aemillian I 22mm 3.97 grams Probably in terms of condition one of my best coins in my collection. Exceptional dark toning with a very well struck reverse which is uncommon with a well centred flan. 23 2 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Diocletian Antoninianus Siscia Mint, 289-290 CE. RIC V Diocletian 263 23mm, 5.05 grams. For a antoninianus around the end of their mintage, this is a surprisngly well made coin. Exceptional silvering and a large and heavy flan. 23 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor Ancient Coin Hunter Posted August 5 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 5 Nice Aemilian. I do not have that emperor yet. If so it will most likely be a sestertius. He was a short lived ruler after Gallus before being defeated by Valerian. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor LONGINUS Posted August 5 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 5 Welcome to the forum, Those are some superb antoniniani. Thank you for posting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heliodromus Posted August 5 · Member Share Posted August 5 Hi Ant Man, nice and less common collection focus! Are you not tempted to collect by reverse type as well as by emperor? My collection essentially starts where yours leaves off, with the coinage reform of Diocletian and introduction of the nummus, although my real focus is Constantine I from a few years later. I do still have a few ants myself, and this Rome Annona (RIC V.2 156) is probably my favorite. The singular AVG vs AVGG indicates a date at the beginning of Diocletian's reign before he appointed Maximianus as co-ruler. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteB Posted August 5 · Member Share Posted August 5 (edited) See my Pupienus, coin #92, at this link: http://www.akropoliscoins.com/Page4a.html VideoR92.mp4 Edited August 7 by PeteB 7 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 16 minutes ago, PeteB said: See my Pupienus, coin #92, at this link: http://www.akropoliscoins.com/Page4a.html VideoR92.mp4 Nice Pupienus unfortunately it is sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Since the first two coins I posted are so well received, here are some more antoninianus in my collection. Caracalla, Rome Mint, 216 CE 23mm, 5.34 grams. This is the second year the coinage type was issued. This coin is well preserved and I really like that it is well struck and most details are remaining. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Also something that is comparable to my Aemilian antoninianus condition wise. Rome Mint, 217 CE I suspect this is probably some of the first antoninianus minted by Macrinus, due to the message on the reverse FIDES MILITVM could be a reference to the usurptation of Caracalla. As well his later coins shows him with a longer beard. 12 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 5 hours ago, Heliodromus said: Hi Ant Man, nice and less common collection focus! Are you not tempted to collect by reverse type as well as by emperor? Maybe not reverse type, but maybe the Augusta issue or the Secular games wouldn't be a bad idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor Ancient Coin Hunter Posted August 5 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 5 4 minutes ago, The Ant Man said: Also something that is comparable to my Aemilian antoninianus condition wise. Rome Mint, 217 CE I suspect this is probably some of the first antoninianus minted by Macrinus, due to the message on the reverse FIDES MILITVM could be a reference to the usurptation of Caracalla. As well his later coins shows him with a longer beard. My guess on that one is that the celators did not have a bust of Macrinus to work with so they extrapolated from Caracalla. Kind of reminds me of the early Maximinus coins that bore a resemblance to Severus Alexander.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 2 minutes ago, Ancient Coin Hunter said: My guess on that one is that the celators did not have a bust of Macrinus to work with so they extrapolated from Caracalla. Kind of reminds me of the early Maximinus coins that bore a resemblance to Severus Alexander.... You know, now that you mentioned it Macrinus bust does bear a resemblence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Here is an interesting Antoninianus. Trajan Decius. Rome Mint, 249-251 CE Obverse legend: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG Reverse legend: GENIVS EXERC ILLVRICIANI Trebonianus Gallus Mediolanum Mint, 251-253 CE Obverse legend: IMP C C VIB TREB GALLVS AVG Reverse legend: PAX AFTERNA 22mm, 3.22 grams. What is interesting about these two coins that they share in common is that they are underweight compared to antoninianus of that time period (3.47 & 3.22 grams instead of 3.7-4 grams). However, I did ask a shop to do a XRF test and their silver purity was at a surprising 50%. I did some further research and apparently during that time some antoninianus were minted via striking over old Severan era denarii in order to save time and money. But stopped due to the silver value over time going above the face value. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor Ancient Coin Hunter Posted August 5 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 5 The problem with a lot of ants is low weight. Like 1.5x the weight of the denarius but tariffed at 2. The taxpayer was at a loss. Similarly Carcalla's extension of Roman citizenship likely increased the tax rolls, rather than being a humanitarian gesture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 6 hours ago, Heliodromus said: Hi Ant Man, nice and less common collection focus! Are you not tempted to collect by reverse type as well as by emperor? My collection essentially starts where yours leaves off, with the coinage reform of Diocletian and introduction of the nummus, although my real focus is Constantine I from a few years later. I do still have a few ants myself, and this Rome Annona (RIC V.2 156) is probably my favorite. The singular AVG vs AVGG indicates a date at the beginning of Diocletian's reign before he appointed Maximianus as co-ruler. That is so interesting. Thank you for telling me this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 47 minutes ago, Ancient Coin Hunter said: The problem with a lot of ants is low weight. Like 1.5x the weight of the denarius but tariffed at 2. The taxpayer was at a loss. Similarly Carcalla's extension of Roman citizenship likely increased the tax rolls, rather than being a humanitarian gesture. The low weight of antoninianus is definitely the biggest problem at the start of the denomination. The Trajan Decius and Trebonianus Gallus ants the reason I speculated that they were overstruck denarii from the Severans is because their low weight but exceptionally high purity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ant Man Posted August 5 · Member Author Share Posted August 5 Also to whoever originally posted the Diocletian secret message. I could't find the message anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octavius Posted August 5 · Supporter Share Posted August 5 Great and interesting coins! It's wonderful to have you here - Keep posting! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted August 5 · Supporter Share Posted August 5 What happened to the post from @Victor_Clark ? I was interested in the secret message on the Siscia issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ominus1 Posted August 5 · Supporter Share Posted August 5 10 hours ago, Heliodromus said: Are you not tempted to collect by reverse type as well as by emperor? 2 treats.jfif 10 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heliodromus Posted August 6 · Member Share Posted August 6 That's cheating, but nice coins all the same! 🙂 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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