Today's coins of interest are from Probus, a soldier emperor, who rose up from the ranks and served four emperors before being proclaimed...

It seems that the uptick in interest in Rome is having an effect on the popularity of my musings on what has, up until now, felt like an...

An usual location for a Roman Provincial coin of Hadrian is as good a reason as any to add it to a collection. I didn't recognize...

Germanicus had a complicated royal family tree: he was the son of general Nero Claudius Drusus who was the son of Livia Drusilla and...

​In the US, the third Sunday in June is reserved to celebrate fathers. While several internet sites mention the necktie as tie most...

A detail from The Battle at the Milvian Bridge, 1666, an etching by Gérard Audran (1640-1703) after a painting by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690). The unfinished painting by Le Brun, was meant to prove he had surpassed the famous version designed by Raphael for the Vatican in the early 16th century. In the painting, Constantine charges across a bridge (today Ponte Milvio) toward Maxentius who falls into the Tiber. (image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons ) Today's follis of Co

Maximinus II is known in coin auctions as Daia, this name perhaps a misspelling from the writing of Lacantius, that is challenged by...

A brief note today on a small coin from Hadrian, contrasted here with a large sestertius from Rome. The smaller coin is an uncertain...

Ruins of Nicopolis ad Istrum - public domain image via wikimedia commons. Novius Rufus was a legate (hypateon) or praeses (hegemon) of...

The arrival of an Alexandrian Tetradrachm of Commodus led to a deep dive into the life of Commodus and his coins. Commodus was the son of...

I was immediately taken with this early portrait of Faustina II on my latest coin of interest. The details of both jeweled hair on the ...

August Signs I picked up this little coin mostly for the well executed scorpion. It is a little bronze weighing, 2.88mg and 13mm in...

I am not expecting that most collectors look at this coin and say "Wow, that's a beautiful coin", I myself didn't have that reaction. I do see an intriguing coin and this is about a nice you can find in a 3rd century, billion (silver alloy, BI) stater from the Bosporus. The mystery of this coin is what attracted me. Bosporus Kingdom Some quick notes about the region over time. David McDonald's 2005 book on "History and Coinage of the Kingdom of Bosporos" from CNG is an excell

Today's coin is a fairly scarce issue from AD 353 which comes with interesting history of the years after Constantine the Great's death...

Perhaps it is not surprising in these notes pages that Lais of Corinth attracted my interest because of the reverse of an ancient coin....

According to this US Inflation Calculator , which must be good because it was ranked highest by Google, if I purchased a coin in 1978 for...

The featured coin today is a tetradrachm of Nero from Antioch. It is dated by both the regnal Year of Nero (RY 8) and by a Caesarean Era...

While one can spend thousands of dollars on a popular, beautiful ancient coin, you can also get an interesting coin for under $5. LRB is...

In the COVID-19 pandemic world, it is a bit too easy to imagine the plagues of ancient Rome. Plagues are often referenced in ancient literature and we can see calls to the gods for deliverance in ancient coins. When plague threatened Rome, the state turned to Apollo, and today's coins tell that story. The Emperor Trebonianus Gallus was Emperor from June 251-August 253, during a time when Rome was enduring a pandemic. "Pandemic" is a 17th century term from Greek: pan (all) de

J. M. W. Turner, Dido Building Carthage, oil on canvas, 1815, Public Domain image. It seems clear that Augustus was good at marketing:...