Coin Talk

The Coinage Reform of Anastasius

Just about all of us late roman bronze collectors have accumulated or handled late 4th and 5th century Roman bronze coins known as AE 4’s or a nummus. While it is difficult to quantify the purchasing power of the nummus, it is clear that the relationship between the nummus and the other coin that was minted in quantity, the gold solidus, is difficult to establish by the end of the 5th century. The latter Roman rulers up until the time of Romulus Augustus, the last emperor in the west, as well as the eastern emperors, struck these often miniscule coins. And the tradition was maintained by Odoacer, the Germanic chieftain who deposed Romulus.

Meanwhile, the minting of the solidus in sufficient quantities to finance the economy in the east continued, whilst the silver coinage represented by the siliqua basically disappeared.

In 494 Anastasius reformed the coinage [1], issuing a much wider range of bronze coins, which had previously...

I recently stumbled across this coin quite by accident, courtesy of Mr. Google. As soon as I saw the fantastic portrait I knew I had to 'add to basket'.



Vespasian
Æ Sestertius, 24.02g
Rome mint, 71 AD
Obv: IMP CAES VESPAS AVG P M TR P P P COS III; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.
Rev: SALVS AVGVSTA; S C in exergue; Salus std. l. with patera and sceptre
RIC 245 (C2). BMC 574. BNC 533.
Acquired from Golden Rule Enterprises Coins, February 2020.

A fairly common sestertius Salus type from the great bronze issue of 71. According to Mattingly in BMCRE II this Salus type may perhaps represents 'the salvation conferred by the imperial system', presumably after the upheavals of the Civil War. Salus here symbolises the health and welfare of the Roman state, not the person of the emperor himself.

The die engraves working on Vespasian's early bronze issues were an extremely talented bunch. They were likely the same engravers that had produced many of...

For those who collect and study the numismatic or financial history of the Roman Empire in its Third Century crisis, it can sometimes be bewildering to us just what was going on. Well, it might have been just as mystifying to the Roman man in the street then as it is to us today. Originally the Roman state was put in good order by Augustus with a good gold and silver coinage of consistent weight and fineness. Even the token Aes coinage was of good weight and inspiring image. Nero's fiddling with the weight and purity of the aureus and denarius did not cause undue alarm and prices remained fairly constant. Through most of the Second century AD, even though the Good emperors gradually reduced the fineness of the silver denarius, prices remained fairly constant or rose slowly enough that few seemed alarmed. By the Severan Era of the early Third Century the debasement of the silver in coins was sufficient for us to notice it and the increase in the salary given to Roman troops may have...

Mn. Fonteius
Obverse: MN FONTEI C•F, laureate head of Apollo (?) right
Reverse: Cupid (?) on goat right; above, piles; in exurgue, thyrsus; surrounded by laurel wreath and dots
Crawford 353/1c, 20mm, 3.85g, minted at Rome in 85 BC

I’d had my eye on one of these for a while, and when I finally saw one in good condition at the right price, I pulled the trigger. Feel free to share your own examples of this coin or other goat coins, as well as your thoughts on their symbolism.

When I actually started researching the coin, always one of my favorite things about buying a new coin, I discovered that there was quite a bit of debate over what it actually depicts, and what the significance of it might be. The discussion below is more to organize my research than anything else, but I thought I’d go ahead and share it as well.
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The winged child atop a goat on the reverse is identified as everything from a symbol of Vejovis, young...

About time I shared a little more history:




The centennial of the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine was celebrated on July 2 thru August 5, 1923, at Los Angeles, California. The motion-picture industry was the force behind the celebration as an historical revue and motion-picture exposition commemorating events in our national history were shown, and the proceeds from the sale of half-dollars contributed toward financing this project.

enunciation: To state or set forth precisely or systematically: enunciate a doctrine.

“To Produce Historical Exposition

One Hundredth Anniversary of Monroe Doctrine to be Commemorated

Plans for the First Annual American Revue and Motion-Picture Industrial Exposition, under the auspices of the Motion-Picture Producers’ Association of Los Angeles, are rapidly nearing perfection.

In brief, it is the intention of the...

It's been nearly two days since I last posted a Parthian coin, so enjoy this:


Parthian Kingdom. Mithradatkart mint. Mithradates III (Sellwood, Shore) aka Mithradates IV (Assar) (c. 57-54 BC). AE tetrachalkous (3.20 g, 17 mm). Obverse: Diademed bust of king left. Reverse: Pegasos flying right, 8-line Greek legend around, Mithradatkart mintmark under front of Pegasos. Sellwood 41.18-19v. (different mintmark). This coin: Pars Coins Auction 4 (December 23, 2019), lot 85.

(Note: Historical background section below contains reused text from a previous post. What do you expect from a sequel?)

Mithradates III (renumbered Mithradates IV in recent work) and Orodes II were two sons of the Parthian king Phraates III. In 57 BC, they teamed up to assassinate their father and take over the throne. The assassination part worked, but unsurprisingly the two brothers soon quarreled, and Mithradates was forced to flee to Roman Syria. (Mithradates was said to...

Hey guys, I've been on these forums (mostly in the periphery) since late 2018 and I just need to share some gratitude to all members (especially @Valentinian - see more below). Full stop, four years ago I was in an American prison due to a substance abuse crime that I committed trying to get one more. I served 14 months at age 32 and I just celebrated my 4 years clean on 2/8/20. Part of my recovery has been learning about coins/history, while buying and selling some (to make my collection bigger). I have learned a lot in the past few years and I just want to thank you guys for helping me in my recovery and helping me with a hobby that keeps me grounded and out of trouble.

Also, something happened this week that I am really taken aback about and I just wanted to share it with you all. I want to give a huge shout out to CT member @Valentinian. About a week ago I got a message asking me for my postal address as he wanted to send me a...

In 1784, after the Americans and the British signed the Treaty of Paris, which won our independence, Augustin Dupré designed and executed a medal in honor of Benjamin Franklin. Next to George Washington, Franklin was the most important player in the American Revolution. He was able to convince the French to aid us which made a great deal of the difference.

The most important military action the French contributed to our cause was the blockade by the French Navy which kept the British Navy from relieving Cornwallis. Cornwallis had not choice to surrender, and that marked the last major engagement of the war.

Here is the medal that Dupré designed for Franklin in 1784.



The obverse features a portrait of Franklin based upon the bust made by Houdon in 1778. It is surrounded by the words, Benj. Franklin Natus Boston, XVII Jan. MDCCVI. (Benjamin Franklin born in Boston January 17, 1706.

The reverse features a winged genius...

Finishing up posts on Series-E Japanese banknotes, including the 1000 Yen Banknote, the 2000 Yen Banknote (actually in Series-D) and the 5000 Yen Banknote, here is the largest current circulating banknote in Japan, the 10000 Yen note. Worth $91.07 US at this very moment, this bill has all of the security features of the 5000 Yen note.



日本銀行券 (Nipponginkōken) - Bank of Japan banknote
壱万円 (ichi man'en) - 10000 Yen (using the fancier "壱" Kanji instead of "一万円")
日本銀行 (Nipponginkō) - Bank of Japan...

Not all of the recent fakes and slabs are as easy as these to spot. It does make one wonder what they are thinking when they chose a TPG cert to duplicate.




I advise folks when considering a purchase of a "certified" example to always check the on-line cert as a point of reference. Many of the fakes use a correct and active cert number, but that is the 1st check, does the number actually exist?


From there it is helpful if there is an image of the coin, preferably in the slab for better comparison. If no image on the cert look-up itself there are at times a link to a recent auction where images can be found.


Also, the noted latest auction appearances in this cert are an indicator something is terribly wrong!


And then there are the slabs themselves- several of the top TPGs have good images of genuine...