Coin Talk

United States large cents have been prime collectors’ items for more than 150 years. Ironically the coins were not popular when they were issued for general circulation. Many people found them to be too heavy and cumbersome, but when the mint announced that they would be replaced by the smaller copper-nickel cents in 1857, collector interest bloomed. Since then large cents have been called “the bellwethers of the numismatics,” which has encouraged many collectors and numismatists to write a number of significant books and countless articles about the “big pennies.”

The authorization for the large cent was part of the Coinage Act of 1792 which many collectors call “Act One.” In that legislation the large cent was defined as a pure copper coin that weighed 11 pennyweights that was worth 1/100 of a dollar. Preparations for opening the first mint, which was to be located in the national capital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began in the late summer of 1792. In the fall the mint...

to complement the recent post of jamesicus on Romans who campaigned in Britain, some info about what might otherwise seem to be a series of common and uninteresting coinage.



There is a fairly common coin from the FEL TEMP series with a galley reverse. RIC VIII mentions that this type might allude to a visit that Constans made to Britain. RIC gives the Konrad Kraft article "Die Taten der Kaiser Constans und Constantius II" as a reference. Though RIC usually gives the date of issue as A.D. 348- 350, Kraft argues for an earlier issue probably around 344; which would be closer to the expedition.

The reason that this issue seems to allude to a visit to Britain is because there are several ancient sources that reference this trip to Britain. The real significance though, according to the sources, was that it was made in the winter...a very dangerous time to make this crossing. Libanius has more about the weather which I did not include (I got tired of...

Dear Friends of Nikopolis ad Istrum!

Today I have won on Ebay a coin from Nikopolis with a new legend of Caecilius Servilianus. This is the occasion for this article

Nikopolis ad Istrum is special for several reasons. Firstly, it is the provincial mint in the Roman Empire with the most issued types. Why this is so is still unanswered today. In our monograph Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov, The Coinage of Nicopolis ad Istrum, 2020, there are already 2676 different types, but this list will certainly have to be extended further.

And then in Nikopolis was the governor Caecilius Servilianus, for whom I have found up to now (2020) 42(!) different name legends. Such a large number of name legends do not exist anywhere else in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately I cannot give a reason for this. The longest name form found so far is KAIKIΛEI CEPBIΛEIANOV, the shortest KAI CEPBIΛ and KAIK CEPBI! Here is the coin with the longest name legend::

The Coin::
Commodus, AD 177-192
AE 29, 11.97g,...

This is a rather long-winded article about buying a new coin. Hopefully it will be worth both writing and reading it. It is about:

I, as in me, a coin collecting nuffsaid from Norway.

Claudius, Emperor of Rome 41-54 AD.

A collection of silver coins from the first 12 Caesars, which this coin from Claudius completes.

Confusion over identifying the correct place where this coin was minted, and an examination of dies.

This is the coin in question:



The very reputable auction house described it as follows:

Denarius 44, AR 19 mm, 3.74 g. [TI] CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P [IIII] Laureate head r. Rev. PACI – [AVGVST]AE Pax-Nemesis, winged, advancing r., holding with l. hand winged caduceus pointing down at snake and holding out fold of drapery below chin with r. C 56. BMC 27. RIC 28. CBN 42.
Old cabinet tone, a small scratch on obverse field, otherwise very fine

Ex Künker 35, 1997, 296 and Hirsch Nachf. 197, 1997,...

If one were to ask the average person to name a dangerous enemy of Rome, the most dangerous enemy Rome ever had, the answer might be in the form of a people or a nation, the Gauls, the Carthaginians, the Parthians or most likely, the Germanic barbarians. Perhaps the name of an individual might be offered, Brennus, Pyrrhus, certainly Hannibal, Arminius, any of several Sappors of Persia, maybe Attila. I would offer this person though, a king difficult to describe or fathom, but one who in his day must have been terrifying to Romans who found themselves in his clutches, namely Mithradates (sometimes spelled with an "I" as Mithridates) Eupator or Mithradates VI, King of Pontus, and for while a lot more than that.

Mithradates Vi was born ca, 132 BC, the son of a Pontic monarch who had any number of children not born of his wife. As such, the young Mithradates had plenty of competition for the throne which meant a good deal of avoiding his murderous relatives (including his mother)...

The past year or so I've had a special interest in coinage surrounding the Punic wars. And with war comes coins that were struck while a foreign power conquered and occupied their enemies' cities and lands. I thought it would be interesting (I've been wanting to do this thread since early April) to walk through some of the coin examples I have when an invading force (in my case, Punic or Roman) overtakes a city and sets up a mint and begins striking and circulating coins.

In 237 BC, in the wake of the 1st Punic War, Hamilcar Barca sought to expand his family's fortune and expand control in the name of Carthage by traveling with his army to the Iberian peninsula, set up base in Gades, and began overtaking Iberian tribes working northward. Hamilcar's son, Hannibal, at just 9 or 10 years old begged to join his father on this campaign. Story has it that before allowing young Hannibal to join him, Hamilcar held his son over a sacrificial chamber with fire burning beneath...

Back in 2010, Italy the State Department to restrict importation of ancient coins from Italy. It's time to renew the agreement with Italy. It's time to make your opinions heard. The last agreement didn't cover Roman Republican and Imperial coins. What Italy wants this time is secret.

The Cultural Property Advisory Committee meets in July. You have a chance to submit comments to the Committee via regulations.gov. The deadline for comments is July 8.

Further information about the July 22, 2020 Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) meeting and how to comment before the July 8, 2020 deadline can be found here: https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...property-advisory-committee-notice-of-meeting The Federal Register notice also has a green "submit a formal comment button" which should allow you to comment directly.

The cumulative impact of import restrictions has been very problematical for collectors since outside of some...

In 414-415 the Visigoths based in Septimania and Aquitaine propped Priscus Attalus in his second usurpation and a local Gallic mint, located probably at Narbonne, started minting imitative siliquae in his name. By 415 though, under the pressure from general Constantius, the Visigoths abandoned him and he was captured by Honorius loyalists and taken to Ravenna. Afterwards, the mint in Septimania -- both Narbonne and Toulouse had been under the control of Athaulf, the King of the Visigoths, since at least 413 -- began issuing in the name of Honorius. The new coinage was the same style of imitative siliqua, of the same overall quality and design. These new siliquae minted in the name of Honorius are part of the "Gaul series" (RIC X p. 451) which means they must be connected with those minted for Attalus and are part of a cohesive coinage. The exergue of pseudo-Ravenna might have originated in 410 with Alaric's invasion of Italy (cf. DOC p. 223) and was used from...

Portrait Coins depicting Caesars and Augusti who campaigned in Britain.

* All images formatted by @furryfrog02


Four Augusti died in Britain:

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS - at Eboracum (York), AD 211, while campaigning in the north.

CARAUSIUS - in southern Britain, AD 293, assassinated by his Chief Minister, Allectus.

ALLECTUS - in southern Britain, AD 296, killed in battle with the invading force of Constantius.

CONSTANTIUS (Chlorus) - at Eboracum (York), AD 306, while campaigning in the north.


Julius Caesar:

In 55 BC Julius Caesar became the first Roman Imperator to set foot in Britain. He fought skirmishes with local Chieftains in the south east of the country eventually departing Britain later that year to resume his campaign in Gaul. He returned in early 54 BC and successfully subjugated the Britannic forces only to abandon the campaign later in the year.


Denarius, Crawford,...

Poliorketes is an often forgotten historical figure. Most historians would regard him as a boring historical figure, but by the end of reading this you will start to love him a bit more. He was a historical badass and his coinage reflects those accomplishments. Poliorketes was the second ruler of the Antigonid dynasty. The Antigonid dynasty was a dynasty full of Hellenistic kings who ruled an area of Macedon, after Alexander the Great, from 294-168 BC. The group that split up Alexander’s kingdom were called Diadochi (Διάδοχοι). The Antigonid was one of the four dynasties fought for by other Διάδοχοι that descended from Alexander’s conquered land.

The whole dynasty originates from one of Alexander’s best generals, Antigonus I Monophthalmus. Antigonus attempted to re-claim parts of Asia Minor and Syria. He was defeated by Demitrios I in the battle of Ipsus. The first true ruler of this dynasty was Demitrios I Poliorketes. He won the war against Antigonus and became the leader of...