Ok guys, back again with one more ID question. Roman Republican, winged head of Rome facing right. A pair of horses on the reverse, with text below. 3.74g, 16mm in diameter. Bad pictures attached. Thanks in advance!
I don't have those Roman Republic denarii, nor do I know much about them yet but this may help you figure out the moneyer on the reverse of the coin as a starting point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyer
Roman Republic Appius Claudius Pulcher, T. Manlius Mancinus and Q. Urbinus Denarius 111-110 B.C. Obverse: Helmeted head of Roma to right Reverse: Victory driving triga right, holding reins. AP. CL. T MANL Q VR in exergue. Ref: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s0176.html That lead horse has true grit.
We do charge and we are not cheap. You will be expected to study up and help us with questions we ask in the future. There is too much of this ancient mystery for just one to handle alone and we appreciate the help of people on this list whom we have helped before.
One interesting feature your your Republican coin is the triga (with three horses). Many have a quadriga (four horses) or a biga (two horses) but not many have three.
When I was trying (in vain) to pin this down, that was exactly the problem I was having. It seemed like most types had four horses, and the rest had only two. And Doug, I would love to be of some help to the community, but believe me - ancients are not my forte. Honestly, I don't know how you guys do it. It's pretty amazing that you can attribute all of this stuff.
Doug is very knowledgeable and I don't mean to minimize what he knows, but honestly, once you start attributing Ancients it becomes easier as time goes by. It doesn't take long before you've seen enough of them to identify a coins origin and then attributing is just a few steps away. Really, it's not that hard. But I will admit that for me there are some that take some searching.
I think I agree with Bing's take on this. The first hundred coins you try to ID will be a lot harder than the 100,000th. I have not been counting but I suspect I have looked at something in that range over the years. That would be small compared to some of the big dealers who handle thousands every week. I do believe that I am as likely to recognize a hundred dead Romans from their portraits than I could call by name 100 random people I worked with before I retired. After a while these people become friends. This is a hobby for a lifetime.
Yep, was hard for me too at first but I am definitely getting better at attributing coins. When I discovered that many dealers make mistakes on coins really amazed me at first.
Wow, sweet pickup .... Hmmm, I must admit that I really like the lead-horse lookin' back (the coin is very cool ... Yup, this is definitely a "chariot-type" RR that I would accept into the inner-circle (thanks for posting)
