Otho tetradrachm

Well I was planning on taking my time, and wait for the right coin and right price. It hadn't even been 2 weeks since I got #10 of my 12 Caesars when this popped up. It's the most I've paid for a coin and had to tighten my belt a bit, but got a great price I think. In hand it has a nice dark tone and it's very smooth; quite different than my Nero tet. It belonged to John Casey, whom I was unaware of until the purchase. He wrote several books on ancient coins and archaeology as well as some related articles. I'd be curious to see if anyone here has anything by Casey and can give an opinion on his work, and maybe let me know if my coin was ever featured in any


Otho Billon Tetradrachm of Alexandria . YEAR 1
C. 69 AD
13.44g
25mm
obv. Otho laureate head right, LA before / rev. bust of Alexandria right in elephant skin headdress. RPC 5358. Dattari 324
Grey tone with good metal and detail. SCARCE
Ex John Casey Collection


Please feel free to share you coins of Otho as well ^_^

 

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That's a very nice Otho randygeki, looks like good silver content and now you have 11 Caesars. I have two Alexandrian Otho both not as good as yours as one has no legend and the other one's a bit rough under the portraits.

 

Nice, well centered coin with nice portraits of Otho and Alexandria.
Congratulations, Randy, I think you chose well.

 

Nice Otho, Randy. I like the reverse as well and it does look like very good metal for an Alexandrian tet. Congrats on 10 out of 12!


OTHO
AR Denarius. 3.19g, 17.6mm. Rome mint, 15 Jan to mid-April AD 69. RIC I (second edition) Otho 8 (R2); Sear 2161. O: IMP M OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P, bare head right. R: SECVRITAS P R, Securitas, draped, standing left, holding wreath in right hand and sceptre in left.
Notes: Same reverse die as S141 (Bologna museum) from Jyrki Muono's die study of Otho denarii, with an obverse die unknown to him but close to that of the Bologna coin and in his opinion "undoubtedly cut by the same engraver".

 

Thanks! Those are bout nice tets.

 

Thanks! Actually this is 11/12 10 was Galba. Great denarius!

 

nice! all nice othos peeps. unfortunately i have none to share as of now.

 

Wow, geki => you're on fire!! (congrats on that eye-pleasing Otho addition)

 

A great acquisition @randygeki with great eye appeal to it. I would have jumped on it too.

BTW, does LA on obverse mean it might have been struck at the Los Angeles mint ?
Just kiddin' of course but I found that funny to imagine

My killer "wig" Otho denarius


ROMAN EMPIRE, OTHO, Denarius RIC 8 minted in Rome in 69 AD
IMP M OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P, Bare head of Otho right
SECURITAS PR, Securitas standing left
3.50 gr
Ref : RIC # 8, RCV # 2162, Cohen #17

Q

 

Thanks all

haha my first thought, but now that you pointed that out as well, thats all Im going to think of when I see it now lol.

A very awesome denarius too!

 

Oh, sorry ! Hope it won't bother you

Q

 

Great coin, Randy! One of these days I hope to get one too

 

My Otho:

Otho. AD 69. Denarius. 9 March - mid April 69.
Obv: IMP OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P Bare head of Otho to right.
Rev: PONT MAX Ceres standing left, holding two ears of grain in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left.
RIC 20.



A sobering view of Emperor Otho...


'' In the emperor Otho, as in his successor Vitellius, one can find little to admire. As a youth Otho was a lush, and he achieved the high office that only through bribery and treachery. Indeed, there had been many ‘firsts’ of late: Claudius achieved his office through open support of the praetorian, Galba was the first non-Julio-Claudian emperor and the first one hailed outside of Rome, and now Otho was the first to openly attain his office through the murder of his predecessor. (Even if we believe Caligula suffocated Tiberius, or that Nero had a hand in Claudius’ death, these were achieved behind closed doors.) Otho had been governor of Lusitania (Portugal) when the Spanish governor Galba was hailed Imperator, so it was natural that Otho – long since tired of his cultural isolation – would join Galba on his trek to Rome. Therefore Otho had two great hopes: to exact revenge on Nero (who sent him to Lusitania to keep him far from his former companion Poppaea) and to be adopted as son and successor of the 70-year-old Galba. When neither of these goals came to fruition, Otho went heavily into debt in order to bribe the praetorian guardsmen to murder Galba, under whom they were suffering. After Galba had been brutally murdered in public view, the terrified senate hailed Otho emperor. Few in Rome would have wanted to be emperor since the German governor Vitellius was leading his army toward Italy at a rapid pace. Otho’s reign was as brief, chaotic and desperate as it was degrading. It culminated in a battle in the north of Italy at which as many as 40,000 Roman soldiers died. Having lost the battle to Vitellius’ army, and no doubt disheartened at the carnage, Otho committed suicide some two days later.''

Ok....

But you have to admit, the man knew how to do his hair!

 

Great silver Othos all !!! I collect bronze portraits only so this was the best I could find (too bad the first half of the legend is missing):



IMP M OTHO CAE AVG / S C
As (?), Antiochia, February-April 69
24 mm / 9,28g
RPC I, 4319, McAlee 323 (c)

 

Thanks Great coins Eduard and JG

TIF, it took me 10 years to get around to it

 

That's a really nice OP tet. Here is a Nero Alexandria tet

 

Nice Otho coins all.

Here is mine.

 

Well done Randy! That's one sweet looking coin

 

Congrats Randy!!! That's a terrific example !

Well, there are so many terrific posts, both Provincial and Imperial...and I still only have my sole worn denarius---a scarcer left-facing portrait and pricier than I had intended to go.

 

I have John Casey's "Understanding Ancient Coins, An introduction for Archaeologists and Historians". It is to go with my Licinius, if I ever get rid of the coin, the book will probably travel with it.