A Rare Titus Caesar Quinarius and Vintage Optics

I was very happy to receive a very scarce quinarius this past week.



Titus as Caesar
AR Quinarius
Rome mint, 73 AD
RIC V532 (R3), BMC -, RSC -
Obv: T CAES IMP VESP P TR P CENS; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: VICTORIA AVGVST; Victory adv. r., with wreath and palm

This is an extremely rare quinarius struck for Titus Caesar in 73, the year of his joint censorship with Vespasian. What makes this coin notable is the spelling of 'AVGVST' in the reverse legend. The more common quinarii from the issue spell it 'AVGVSTI', although they too are rare. Apparently this is the second known specimen, the other is cited in the new RIC II and is held by the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome.

For a quinarius, this is in fairly good condition. Well centred with an agreeable portrait.

I also received this vintage Bausch and Lomb magnifying glass just in time to try it out on my new tiny treasure before it goes to the safe deposit box.



I'm not sure how old the magnifier is, but judging from the look of the box I'm guessing it dates to the 1940's. Amazingly, it's in perfect condition with not one scratch on the lens and looks like new. I don't think the piece has ever been used over the intervening 70 years. If anyone has more information on it please let me know. The lens measures 3 1/4" and has a magnification of 2x or 3x.

It seems like I've really gone old school recently - what with putting my coins in paper envelopes and now viewing them through vintage optics.

Feel free to post your quinarii, Titus coins, or vintage optics.

 

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Two fantastic acquisitions David. This exceedingly rare quinarius will be another milestone in your collection (I'm afraid your field is full of milestones, though...), and the magnifier will give you somewhat of a Sherlock Holmes look, won't it ?

Q

 

Wow, beautiful Quinarius... I dabble in capturing them, but not to the scale of finding 1 of 2! Congratulations... very very nice!

Great job on the Magnifier. They come in handy as your eyes age... Maybe that will pulled from the Safety Deposit box sooner than you expect. The new magnifiers just aren't as cool as this one... All in original packaging... 2 Touchdowns in 2 minutes!

 

Oh, I plan on using the magnifier for my everyday coining. It has better optics than any comparable one made today, IMHO. It has probably gotten more use in the last 2 days than in the last 70 years!

 

Wonderful post @vespasian70 !!

If coins of Titus are scarce, I can only guess how 'rare' that quinarius must be...and it's in terrific condition as well. I still have an old but not vintage fold in type optic I use when I'm going through my collection 'in hand'.

No Imperial quinarii in my collection, but here's a budget provincial of Titus and the Judea capta reverse.

 

Well... I had to do it. Walked Raleigh Show and saw the Titus with Sow and piglets. Not the best condition, and you see just the snout of the 3rd piglet. But, I loved a prior thread... and had to capture it.


Roman Imperial
Titus as Caesar
AR Denarius
Rome mint, 78 CE 2.9g, 19mm
Laureate hd r
Sow walking left w/ piglets (snout only of last piglet...)
RIC (Vespasian) 220

I worked for a veterinarian and farmers growing up... worked with a lot of sows with piglets... you are putting your life in the SOW's hands when you step into their pen.

 

A truly rare and amazing coin, and a beautiful vintage magnifying glass. It looks very refined.

I'm still using my "old" coin loop with X5 magnification (made in China) that I purchased in 1997 when I started collecting coins. I could probably use an upgrade to something more fancy, but I'm in no rush to change what's worked for me for 19 years.

 

Prior to acquiring the vintage B&L I primarily used a smaller inexpensive 2" magnifying glass and 10X loupe for everyday use. For wide views of multiple coins I have a 1.75X 4" magnifying glass, rarely used to be honest. If I need to get up close and personal with a coin I have a 45X magnifier with an LED light.

What prompted my search for a vintage magnifying glass was the first episode of 'Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome'. There was Mary sitting in the BM with the assistant director discussing RR coinage. In front of them was a tray of coins and a large neat looking magnifying glass. I thought 'now that's a pretty classy thing to view coins with'. So, the search was on. The first acceptable vintage B&L I considered was over $200 in an upscale antique dealer's webstore, I passed. Luckily I found the one I purchased quite by chance on eBay, box included for less than $50 (and it's snazzier looking than the BM one!). I think it will encourage me to 'look' at my coins more, which isn't a bad thing.

 

Heres a nice one.

 

ZH99, Roman Empire, Titus (79-81 AD) AR Denarius (3.34g) Rome, 79 AD, Obv.: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head of Titus right. Rev.: TR P VIIII IMP XV COS VII P P, garlanded quadriga left, with grain ears in car. RIC 18, Rare, Fine Patina! Good VF

 

Fantastic acquisition David. Here is my favourite Titus.

 

My only two Titus so far, a denarius and an as


ROMAN EMPIRE, TITUS Denarius RIC 26a
Rome mint, AD 80
IMP TITUS CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM, Laureate bust of Titus right
TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP, Dolphin entwined around anchor
3.56 gr
Ref : RIC # 26a, RCV # 2517, Cohen # 309



Titus as ceasar, As struck AD 77
T CAES IMP AVG F TR P COS VI CENSOR, Laureate head of Titus right
VICTORIA NAVALIS, Victory standing right, on a prow of galley. S C in field
10.14 gr
Ref : Cohen #390, RCV #2485 var

Q

 

Some time ago, I was able to pry this out of @Mat 's paws...

Roman Imperial
Titus as Augustus 79-81 CE
AR Denarius
Ceres seated with Corn ears, poppy, and holding torch

Uh-ohhhh... My Titus Denarius in the above post is as he was Caesar... looks like I am getting all Numismatic-like in the Imperials...

 

Congrats V70 ... man, I love the magnifying glass (it's very retro)

=> we must have somewhat similar tastes in old antique things, eh?



cheers

 

Nice acquisition David.

 

I grew up with parents who went 'antiquing' almost every weekend. As a teen, I hated it! When I got older I realised how much fun it could be.

Oh, and this little baby arrives tomorrow. 'Antiquing' online can be quite enjoyable and educational.



As a fan of 50's and 60's kitsch, I couldn't resist.

 

Well, the Seerite arrived this morning, and I got to say it is utter rubbish. It has a very poor quality lens compared with the B&L, or anything else I use for that matter. The piece itself is in mint shape, so I cannot fault the ravages of time for how crap it is. Oh well, I only paid $10 total for it, so can't complain I guess.

I'll nick name it blindrite.

 

Whenever I see "rite" within the brand, to me it is usually is their 2nd or 3rd String quality, especially in a "Good-Better-Best" approach to market segmentation. But, you have a nice piece of legacy there!

 

I guess I bought it for nostalgia reasons more than for anything else. I used to see these kind of magnifying glasses laying around my grandparents home. My earliest memories of doing anything with one was burning ants on a sidewalk when I was a kid.

I wasn't planning on doing any serious coining with the 'blindrite', but it's still quite shocking to me how poorly made it is. But what can I expect from a product marketed to people 60 years ago too cheap to buy reading glasses.