Author Topic: The best mail is coin mail !  (Read 932 times)

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Offline Heliodromus

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The best mail is coin mail !
« on: February 03, 2021, 11:50:41 AM »
Just received this one today. Despite covid just took 7 days regular mail from France.

I always enjoy when sellers put nice stamps on packages. I've kept many of them, despite not being stamp collector.

I'm very fond of these Arelate Vrbs Roma's - slowly working towards the full set of issues.

Offline Victor

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2021, 12:10:23 PM »

For some reason, shipments from France generally arrive much quicker than from other countries. I just got one from France yesterday that took 9 days.

I have only kept one envelope because of stamps. I posted it before, this guy used a lot of old stamps to mail me a coin. The 1 cent green stamp to the far left is from 1924. The 3 cents stamps are from the 1950's and the 13 cent stamps are from the 70's, many are bicentennial issues.

I also like the Arles issues, but prefer the Constantinopolis coins.


Offline Heliodromus

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2021, 01:00:51 PM »
That's a beginner stamp collection ! Nice to have the historical stamps on there.

Offline Victor

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2021, 03:18:54 PM »

I forgot that I had this Constantinopolis on the way with the pine tree like your VRBS ROMA


Offline Heliodromus

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2021, 04:10:20 PM »
Nice!

Its a funny symbol. I guess it just comes down to individual engravers, but some (with distinct branches) do look fairly tree-like, then there's ours which look more like half a leaf hovering over a tennis-ball (or maybe a roman meatball). You'd have thought the engraver would have a straight punch that'd look more trunk-like than a dot/ball, but nooo ...

Here's another one I just got - still sitting on my desk, with the branch symbol which also shows a lot of variation. On the Gloria Exercitvs the vertical palm branch fits the available space nicely, then on the Vrbs Roma and Constantinoplis normally we either get the angled palm branch or the non-palm "triple branch" that the greater amount of space allows (interesting that the brief seems to have been for any old branch - palm or whatever). I bought this particular specimen because it's amusing that the engraver stubbornly went with a vertical palm branch despite the easier-to-fit angled choice!

Offline Victor

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2021, 04:47:14 PM »
the non-palm "triple branch"

I've always assumed that the triple branch was supposed to be a palm frond


Offline Heliodromus

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2021, 04:52:19 PM »
Ah, yes, I think you're right! That'd make more sense.

Maybe there's an over-achieving engraver who put a whole palm tree on it ? :D

Offline Victor

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Re: The best mail is coin mail !
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2021, 05:01:40 PM »

I have actually wondered if they may have been portraying the whole tree, since often there is a circular portion at the end of the branch.