Ancient: Tetricus I

excelsior coins on ebayuk has been selling some real beauties recently at £8 each....from a hoard found in the eastern part of the UK as I understand...I have seen them in hand and you wont find much better.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I just won a victorinus, wasnt what I wanted to the coin I really wanted but it went for moon money, its still an emperor I need.

 

I like your Tetricus I Mat. Nice detail, good reverse and legible legends. Sadly my Tetricus I and II are a bit rough and more typical of what's out there I think. Their distinguishing feature is a rather crude reverse and worn or clipped away legends. In fact these two are so rough my attribution on them is a SWAG at best.

Tetricus I; 270-273 AD
Bronze; AE Antoninianus
OBV: IMP C TETRICVS P F AVG, radiate draped bust right
REV: PAX AVG, Pax standing left holding wreath and scepter
(RIC VI 100)

Tetricus II; 251-253 AD
Bronze; AE Antonianus, Trier
OBV: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REV: SPES PVBLICA, Spes walking left holding flower in right and raising skirt with left hand,
(RIC VI 272)

 

I think your attributions are good......

 

Barbaric, or just corroded?? its difficult with these to know where bad strike/flans becomes unofficial....although I suppose they were all unnofficial as far as Rome was concerned.

 

YOC brings up a point that has interested me for years and for which I see no answer. We have no records that state what were the 'official' mints at any point in Roman history. We have several periods where branch mints operated. Were these fully sanctioned by Rome or just tolerated? One such time was under Claudius I where we see Spanish style asses now being considered to be a branch mint product rather than fully unofficial as they were a few decades ago. Drawing the line is harder when the 'official' coins were from a usurper (Magnentius, Carausius, all the Gallics etc. etc.). We really need to be careful making assumptions and drawing lines in the sand that could be shown wrong if we only had documents from the time that explained everything.

 

My Tetricus II
Tetricus II Antoninianus, struck 273/274 AD
Obv: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate and draped bust right.
Rev: PIETAS AVGVSTOR, Sacrificial implements, spinkler, simpulum, jug and lituus.

 

Another Tetricus II, die clash on reverse.

 

Tetricus II spes Publica? rev.......or Augg?
Tetricus II Antoninianus, struck 272/273 AD at mint I.
Obv: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate and draped bust right.
Rev: SPES PVBLICA?, Spes walking left, holding flower in right hand and raising skirt with left hand.
traces of silvering still present on obverse....

 

Nice ones YOC, I like the die clash.

 

Thanks Mat..I love Gallics , but Tetricus II is my least favourite portrait...I prefer the beards. they all look like JA and DS

 

I looked all over for "excelsior coins" on ebay uk but could not find the shop. I found Excelsior Coins but no ancients based in the US. I doubt that's the shop. Could you give me the link to the shop, thanks YOC.

 

Its a UK seller on ebayuk. excelsiorcoins
just type in tetricus on ebayuk and look for the multiple listings.....
v nice Tet I there for £12, coin 8 in the picture of 8 coins, Hilaritas reverse, full legends. hmmmmm
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXCEPTION...=UK_Coins_Ancient_RL&var=&hash=item1e883b6761

 

Thanks again! For whatever strange reason the coins were not showing up when I searched ebay.co.uk. Nor when I was looking for the shop.

 

Tetricus I Æ Antoninianus. 271-274 AD, 2.1g, 19mm

OBV: IMP C TETRICVS P F AVG, Radiate draped bust right.

REV: PAX AVG, Pax standing left holding wreath and scepter.

REF: RIC 100, Cohen 95.

 

Tetricus II AE Antoninianus. 3.1g, 20.35mm

OBV: CP ESV TETRICVS CAES, Radiate, draped bust right.

REV: SPES AVGG, Spes advancing left holding flower and raising robe.

REF: RIC 271

These two Tetricus and Tetricus II coins I purchased from Bing (among many others) when I first started collecting ancients about 2 years ago.

 

Nice OP Tetricus I coin. Finding decent coins of both can be a challenge. I like both of mine even though they are not high grade but they have full legends and no cracks that I can see.