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Ben's Last 20 Posts
| Unidentified Heirloom First Time Posting.
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
 Posted 12/29/2019 4:23 pm
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| I agree, it looks like a tetradrachm from Ptolemaic Egypt; discerning the ruler is difficult as they all read the same (PTOLEMAIOY BASILEOS = King Ptolemy), but there might be a year mark somewhere around the Eagle that could help, if you can get a clear picture. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Very Worn But Identifiable?
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 11/09/2019 5:50 pm
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The design is a campgate, commonly described as the entrance to a roman camp or town/city, and they were issued for a long time by a lot of emperors. However, the towers flanking the gate tell us it is a later example, and the surviving letters indicate that the legend is SPES ROMANORVM (Hope of the Romans). The star between the towers confirms this. This type was issued by the usurper Magnus Maximus and his son Flavius Victor. Magnus Maximus, while a scarce ruler, is leagues more common than his son, so it is almost certainly one of his.
Magnus Maximus is a rare ruler; he usurped Britain and Gaul from Gratian (who he killed) and successfully negotiated to become the official emperor of the Western Empire, ruling Britain, Gaul, Hispania and Roman North Africa. He pushed his luck, attacking his co-emperor Valentinian II and forcing him from Mediolanum (Milan, sometime capital of the Western Empire), who promptly ran to Theodosius (Emperor of the Eastern Empire) who dispatched the army of the East to depose him. He surrendered and was put to the sword in 388; this marks the end of true imperial presence in Britain and Northern Gaul. The empire would formally abandon Britain in 410. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Roman Fibula Circa 3RD Century Ad
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 11/08/2019 5:26 pm
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Excellent condition. All the fibulae I have came alongside UK dug uncleaned coins and all have at least the pin missing. Whatever the alloy the spring and pin were made of, it isn't very resilient; all of mine had extensive bronze disease throughout the remains of the spring - worth keeping an eye on that green spot!
Something that bugs me about displays is that you can only see one side of the coin. Where possible, I think it is good to have a second coin to show the obverse, even where they don't necessarily match. For example, a rare sestertius reverse alongside the obverse of a common issue of the same ruler. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Quadrans - Anonymous 81-161 Ad (Mars And Cuirass)?
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 11/03/2019 3:17 pm
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| These little quadrans are deceptively rare and this is quite a neat one. Being anonymous, they don't know who issued them and give them a wide period (this one apparently Domitian to Antoninus), but some of the well preserved ones look very much like Commodus who had a very high opinion of himself and I could definitely see pretending to be Mars on coins. I'm sure the authors of RIC have based their dating on something a bit firmer than look-a-likes, though. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Ae23 - Claudius 41-54 Ad (Macedonia - Shield)?
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 11/03/2019 2:55 pm
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| Very neat! The Macedonian shield design is one that Alexander the Great issued in huge numbers (and would continue being issued bearing his name for centuries). For Alexander, the legend (featuring on the obverse, a macedonian helmet) was B - A (King Alexander), while this coin substitutes KLAVDIOS KAESAR (Claudius Caesar) and SEBASTOS MACEDONION (loosely translating to 'King of Macedonia'. It is a blatant attempt to try to compare Claudius to Alexander and let the citizens know that Rome has arrived and is in control now, while maintaining the old iconography that citizens of the provinces were used to. The Greeks under the empire strove hard to maintain their cultural identity, but the old greek designs on the coins would be almost entirely supplanted by Roman ones eventually. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Please Help With Unknown Coin ID And Information
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 10/21/2019 5:40 pm
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The legend VOT / XX / MVLT / XXX wasn't issued by Constantine II. I think, by the length of the legend and the style, this must be Constans. Luckily, we can also tell the mint without the mint mark - this legend break ([DN CONST] AN[S PF AVG]) was only issued from Alexandria. That makes the mint mark SMAL(officina mark) - the last character records which workshop of the Alexandria mint produced the coin, but I don't think that letter is readable - I'd guess 'gamma', but I don't know if that officina issued this type.
The strike was a little lopsided (hence the flattened wreath on the righthand side) and the obverse die seems to have been worn, hence the high relief letters but comparatively low relief bust. Like the other coin, the patina has been totally stripped off, removing some of the detail, but the type remains clear. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Please Help With Roman Coin ID And Information
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 10/21/2019 5:37 pm
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It reads FEL TEMP REPARATIO (translates to something like 'Happy times are back') and shows a barbarian being speared by a roman soldier. The barbarian often has distinguishing features (phrygian cap for a phrygian, beard and braids for a Gaul etc), but this one is plain. The strike was fairly good, giving definition to the high points, but it looks like the obverse die was damaged or filled (1 o'clock). The torn up edges show that they used a lot of force.
Unfortunately, it has been heavily overcleaned, which has removed a lot of fine details and completely stripped the patina. Coins with such overcleaning are commonly considered low grade, even though this one has little porosity and fairly good detail. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Need Help Identifying Group Of Roman/Greek Ancients
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 10/18/2019 2:28 pm
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I suspect the whole top row are fake - could you get some better pictures of them? There's one that reads FLAVIA DOMITILLA AVG, but she only has a very rare posthumous coin and the style on yours is much too late to be her. I also don't know of any coin with the tree reverse.
The far left coin in the second from top row also worries me - it looks like its claiming to be Antinous and Hadrian. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| A Couple Of Metal Detecting Finds!
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 10/13/2019 1:45 pm
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| YOu're right, the RIC number has the SC in Ex, but reverse from this mint have it across the field on other issues with different obverse legends. I think this may be the variant Sear is referring to as Sear 1968 (var), even though all the pictures are SC in ex. It seems Wildwinds calls that RIC 597 but the description text is not different to RIC 596; could someone with the physical book give it a check? |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| Unlisted AR Denarius Of Septimius Severus Victor
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 09/27/2019 1:09 pm
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I do mean Emesa mint - the Pescennius Niger reverse is close in design, but the obverse legend on here matches Septimius Severus at Emesa - IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS...
The coinage of the two are very similar because Pescennius Niger only controlled the East and Septimius Severus set about issuing his own coinage throughout the region when he showed up to fight. A lot of the coinage from Emesa reference Victory and Mars, perhaps a statement from Severus, having won the war. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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| (Im)possibile Coin Roman?
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Ben
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Posted 09/27/2019 12:54 pm
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Mistakes are made often when learning! The issue here was the use of lemon - citric acid never has a place when cleaning bronze. For silver, it is often useful, but for bronze, as you have found, it does more damage than good every time.
But, the good news is that there is further learning to be had - perhaps break out a bamboo skewer or a toothpick and try carefully working down the darker green around the rider. |
| | Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins |
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