Those two coins here are not mine, but try to take a hard look at the grafitto: Look at the "EV" on the obverse right to Anastasius: Look at the "III X" on the reverse at the bottom: Is it possible to know wheather they are ancient or modern grafitto? Thanks
Most of the graffiti on ancient gold coins are actually of ancient origin. They usually also have a specific meaning - even if many of them are unknown. There are also scientific studies on this. https://www.materiale-textkulturen.de/teilprojekt.php?tp=A11&up=
I don’t think there’s any scientific way to determine whether a graffito is ancient or modern? But in most cases, on an ancient gold coin, I would tend to suspect it is legitimately ancient. After all, who in modern times would deliberately scratch an ancient gold coin and reduce its value, right? Unless the graffiti said something like “Kilroy was here”, or “The Beatles are Fab”, of course…
Oh, thank you so much for the replies. It makes completly sense. I'm also suspecting that the "E" at Anastasius might be a greek epsilon due to what appear to be a "curve" line. Like this 5 nummi which also has epsilon on the reverse:
I think the EV is ancient - it also looks like an older Epsilon. I'll have a look through my literature at the weekend - I think I once saved a PDF publication. I hope I remember me correctly
I would think that it’s on the modern side as in the mid to late 1800’s, when gold circulated, carving one’s initials into a coin was normal. It was also a way to give them to your girlfriend. I do not know of any way to tell the difference.
I did have a US gold dollar love token (and another one on a Seated dime) that had “LM” engraved on the coin!
That could be- I had a 1714 British Guinea of Queen Anne once, which had an initial carved below the bust. But I still don’t think there were a whole lot of Roman solidi circulating in commerce in the 18th or 19th centuries. Even back then, such ancients likely got a little more respect than the gold that was circulating at the time. So it’s not impossible that the graffiti was done in a more modern era (in the last 200-300 years or so), but I do think it’s unlikely. I think the idea that this graffiti is ancient is a fairly safe assumption.
No expert on ancient gold, but I do know a little about ancient Greek script. It is possible the inscription is not EV but epsilon upsilon. We think of an upsilon as more like a Y, with a longer stem, but handwriting varies with the centuries, and at times the stem is short. Compare it with the U in ANASTASIUS just above it, which is Latin but may have influenced the Greek. If this is the case, it could possibly be EU, which is Greek for "good" (used as a prefix in many English words--eulogy, euphemism, etc). Might it then be a merchant's mark who has weighed and tested the gold and found it acceptable?
