First off, I know nothing about ancient coins. I stumbled upon some and have zero idea what I have or if they are even genuine. Wondering if I can get any pointers. Here's a photo of the lot and two up close. Thank you.
They're fine from what I can see - take them out of the flips for better photos. What you've got there are common Romans that were minted by the millions. The fabric and style look perfectly authentic from what I can see.
Thank you. The two close ups were out of the flips. This is just an area of numismatics that I have no knowledge in. The numbers on the top right of the information cards, is that the years the coin came from?
=> the number is associated with the years that the dude was in charge and cranking-out coins (either as Augustus and/or as Emperor) ..... ummm, that's what I've always assumed anyway
When you ask for help anywhere but certainly here, it is good to give potential helpers all the information you can. That would be the sharpest, best photos and anything pertinent about how you got the coins. For example here I see nothing suspicious except that you chose to provide fuzzy photos. The ID labels are quite complete and make me wonder if the reverse of the cards might even name the previous owner which could be a good hint as to whether the coins are good or not. I will point out that all of these are moderate to low end examples of common coins that are not often faked but there are fakes of everything so that in itself is not a certain point. From what I see through the glare I believe all the ID's are correct. More information will require selecting a coin of interest and providing a good (no plastic) image of both sides cropped to just the coin. Then you can ask specific questions about coins one at a time.
Yes, dates of rule are given in ancient coin attributions, although the last year of rule can generally be assumed to be the year of the emperor's death. An emperor retiring is a very rare occurrence in Roman history. To look at the first coin in more detail, the wiki article on Valens is pretty good. He was co-emperor in the East, along with his brother Valentinian I in the West. The Romans used many abbreviations in their legends. D N VALENS P F AVG expands to Dominus Noster Valens Pius Felix Augustus, or Our Lord Valens, Pious and Happy (or Lucky) Augustus. The reverse proclaims the glory of Rome: GLORIA ROMANORVM. The emperor is seen holding a banner with the chi-rho symbol on it, dragging a captive, suggesting that he is leading barbarians into the light of Christianity. (By this time, Christianity was the official religion of the empire.) The letters TESΓ stand for Thessalonica mint, 3rd workshop. The workshops, or subdivisions of the mint, were sometimes numbered by Greek letters. Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet, hence the third officina. Here's an example of one of mine, also from the Thessalonica mint, but TESB = 2nd officina...
I agree. This is exactly how I started collecting ancient coins - common, mid-grade, inexpensive types. No point in making costly mistakes when you're first starting out. There is an abundance of history and numismatics to be learned from the OP lot. A good choice in my opinion.
Since you have so much info on the card, I'll just make a few general comments. Claudius II and most of the rulers of his era issued a large number of different reverse types showing various gods or personifications of virtues like 'foresight'. I have several coins of Claudius II but not this one. Your other coins are a century later and from a period with a smaller number of reverse types per ruler but more collectible variations due to the increasing practice of using mintmarks giving the mint city and workshop number as John explained. A few coins of Claudius used mintmarks but more of them require separation by style or looking them up in a catalog that attributes them. The person who wrote your labels used a book by David Sear Roman Coins and their Values which is an older one volume edition. Sear has since come out with a 5 volume set with different numbers but many of us have one of his older books since they have a lot of good information for a very little money. I have the 1970 edition but there are older and newer ones out there. This link shows why this can be a confusing subject but Mr. Sear's books have been growing for many years and there are many used ones out there. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...=sear+roman+coins&sprefix=sear+roman+,aps,147 I do note that one $10 example is in German so read descriptions if you decide to buy one. You can get all the same information online but many of us like books.
One of the best, free online resources is composed by our own Doug Smith. Click on the link in his signature for lots of good reading.
