Hello, I've been getting into ancient coins, primarily romans, for a little over a year now. My 7 year old daughter is fascinated by them and her enthusiasm has rubbed off on me. Now I'm not sure who likes them more! ;-) My typical evening is usually spent on here and other ancient coin forums reading and trying to to learn what I can. I know that there are some highly informative members here and I was hoping to get your opinion on this coin. We are looking at purchasing it online, my daughter really likes it but I am unsure of what it is and if it is genuine. We would appreciate any insight that you may have. Thanks, David
Welcome, archicard! The coin is Roman Republican, issued under moneyer M. Tullius. It is a denarius. Attribution per similar coins in Wildwinds: M Tullius Denarius. 119 BC. Helmeted head of Roma right, ROMA behind / Victory in quadriga right, wreath above, X below; M TVLLI in ex. Cr280/1, Syd 531, BMCRR (Italy) 502. Whether it is authentic or not is hard to say. Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in. I'm looking through fake databases right now and I have some concerns-- will report back soon.
I don't like it. Something about the style and fabric that just feels wrong. It may be the pic, but if all you have to go on is that pic, I'd continue looking.
The perfect roundness of the flan is concerning and as John pointed out, the general fabric of the coin and surfaces look suspicious for it being cast. I don't see a die match in known fakes (there are some struck fakes).
I think the surface condemns it as fake. The roughness is of an unusual quality and the reverse almost bows out, where bowing in slightly would be normal.
Thanks for the thorough and speedy replies. Something about this coin didn't feel right to me. I have been leaning toward it looking more cast than struck due to the surface and you confirmed my suspicions. The roundness of the flan is not something that I had considered, but now that it has been mentioned I can see what you are seeing. Thanks again everyone.
You have me curious. What makes a seven year old so fascinated with Ancient coins? I find it marvelous, but thinking of my sons and my grandchildren at that age, there is nothing about Ancient coins they would find interesting.
My daughter is 8, and she loves to see the different coins that I get. And she has her own collection. And of all things to request, she asked us to take her to see the Lincoln Memorial, so we did... If you're cut from a certain cloth, you're cut from a certain cloth from birth.
That's very cool, JA ... sadly, I can't have kids of my own (*sigh*) => but yah, that would be very cool (having kids that shared "my" interests) ..... *awkward* .... Ummm, maybe it's a good thing that I couldn't have my own kids, eh?!!
Oh sorry, archicard ... "Welcome, brother" yah, where there's smoke there could be fire, so I would pass on this particular example ... Man, you can't swing a dead griffin without hitting one of these RR types, so again, I would merely move-on to a better example from a more reliable source! Cheers
My daughter has been really interested in coins for about two years now. We are members of two local coin club and go to each of their meetings every month. We have been collecting just about every type of coin you can imagine. I think she is starting to "focus" on Lincoln cents, world coins, and ancients. I think her interest is driven by history. She is really into learning about the US presidents and Roman emperors. That's funny, we took her to the Lincoln Memorial, at her request, a couple of years ago too. This past summer we spent some time in the Bay Area and one of the things she really wanted to do there was attend a local coin club meeting in San Francisco. She had a blast and even won a Maria Theresa Thaller silver coin in their raffle.
