I bought these one year at Torex, a coin show that happens in Toronto three or four times a year. I can't always splurge like this, but there were too many goodies to pass them all up.

The first is a shilling from 1636 to 1638, minted by king Charles I. Charles was the first English king executed legally, and the last who had to be executed at all. I suppose he served a useful purpose by providing an example to later monarchs then. The shilling is about the size of a Loonie or U.S. half dollar, but thin as a dime. I was able to afford it because it was fairly worn, as you see. I don't recall the price -- perhaps $60, perhaps $90.

The second coin is by the Roman emperor Theodosius I. He was the last emperor to rule over both the Eastern and Western halves of the empire. His sons split it up again, and ne'er the twain would meet again. Within 80 years of Theodosius's death, the Western empire would fall and the Dark Ages begin. This bronze coin is usually called an AE 2. AE is from the Latin word for bronze, and 2 denotes a certain size, no more. We don't have a friggin' clue what the Romans actually called this or any other bronze coin of the 4th. century. They had fallen out of the habit of writing down anything but pointless digressions about the nature of God. The inscription reads "D N THEODOSIUS P F AUG", meaning Domini Nobilis (Lord and Master), Pius Felix (dutiful and happy), Augustus (emperor). You can see that the technique has grown pretty crude by the standards of the early empire. Coins of this era and type and condition are rather common, and cost me all of ten bucks.

Valerian. This is a rather poor sort of coin we call an antoninianus. It was a nickname given by Romans in contempt of its low value. The official name might have been the Double Denarius. When it was first struck by Caracalla fifty years earlier (whose personal name was Antoninus), it was supposedlyworth two denarii, but the weight of silver in it was only half again the weight of a denarius. So the mint was "spending" only one denarius worth of silver and expecting two denarii worth of value for it. Hence the derision. Inflation rampaged through the third century unhindered, and gradually the low silver value of the antoninianus fell lower and lower, until by mid century it was only a bronze coin with a thin wash of silver that wore off almost immediately. You rararely find one of these that has much or any of its original silver appearance left. This particular coin is not quite at the low point. Rather than "washed" with silver, it has a small silver content throughout. But not much, hence the dull grey appearance. It cost a fairly reasonable $25. The inscription around the edge is basically Valerian's name, plus the titles Imperator and Augustus, but I don't happen to recall what all the initials stand for. Valerian was remembered only for one thing -- the worst luck of any Roman Emperor. It was his luck to be captured while fighting the Persians in what is Iraq today. Most likely he was kept a prisoner for life, but there was a story that after he died the Persian ruler had him skinned, and the hide stuffed with straw to be exhibited in the throne room. I could name another ruler I'd like to see this happen to, but I shall remain discrete.

This fine denarius by Tiberius is a pretty fair portrait. Tiberius wasn't very experimental with his coinage, and mostly contined the designs of his adopted father Augustus with little change. He even continued to strike the likeness of Augustus on some bronze coinage. One unusual aspect of this denarius is that it wasn't struck in Rome, the main mint, but in Lugdunum in England. Silver by Tiberius is not exactly uncommon, but neither is it cheap. I paid 175 smackers for this.

The final coin is a 1/2 drachm struck arouind 360 to 330 BC by the small city-state Sicyon, in the NE corner of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula. Sicyon was usually under the military influence of Sparta, being only about fifty miles away. Given the reputation of the Spartans, it seems ironic that the symbol on the face of this coin should be a dove. But I'm not sure what it meant to the Greeks -- perhaps not peace. Given the current hot market for Greek coins, I was quite surprised to buy this for a very reasonable $35. It is a rather small coin though, a little smaller than a dime and about the same weight.