Roman Republican Denarius Love Token - c. 1800?

A while back on eBay I picked up a Roman Republic denarius of L. Antestius Gragulus. The seller thought it was a fake and so had it priced at $4.99 "Buy It Now." The photos made it look like a Lincoln penny - very coppery, but otherwise I thought it looked pretty good in regards to workmanship, etc.. In hand, it looks silver, with a mellow old cabinet toning (my photos also make it look coppery-er than it is). There is the hole, and the engraving, so it is very damaged, but the weight is 3-4 grams (my scale is horrible). I think it's real (but willing to be corrected).

The reason I am sharing this is the "C S" engraving in the obverse field. This looks very much like love tokens I've seen from the late-18th and early-19th centuries. In addition to the RR, I have included a Queen Anne crown of 1707 with a similar style engraving from 1804.

Any thoughts? Other examples of ancient coins like this?




Roman Republic Denarius
L. Antestius Gragulus
(136 B.C.)
Helmeted head of Roma rt;
monogram XVI below chin,
behind, GRAG / Jupiter in
quadriga left w. thunderbolt;
below, L·ANTES; ROMA in
exergue. Antestia 9; BMC
4029; Syd. 451; Craw. 238/1

 

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Very cool, I have a couple love tokens made on US coins but none on an ancient.

 

Cool coin! I like the "old" engraving on an ancient coin. I have several wedding medals from the 19th century. The engraving looks a lot like yours.
I would vote - really an ancient coin.

 

purdy kool koins

 

Very interesting. I've not collected modern coins in several decades, but I did know of engravings like these. Makes for a nice conversation piece (and, of course, the price was just right). Congrats.

 

I'd buy that for 5 bucks for sure! Interesting coin.

 

Judging from the position of the hole, it seems that the reverse was meant to be displayed.

 

What a cool find!!

 

Cool

 

Mike, does it look more like this in hand ?

 

I'm jaded and hard to impress and I like to come up with my own way of saying something... but this time, all I can do is parrot the rest of the thread and squawk: Cool!

 

Yes, that is a better color match - did you adjust it? My photography/computer skills are pretty basic. Nice work!

 

Thank you so much - everyone - for the enthusiastic replies.

lordmarcovan, I haven't tired of it yet, but I will let you know when that happens. I really enjoyed going through your love token posts - that is quite a collection. I've always found "altered" coins to be quite interesting myself and whenever one comes my way, cheap, I generally go for it. I have quite a few brooches, ex-brooches, holed, etc. but few actual outright love tokens. Here is a weird one I've had for years - as a love token, it makes no sense to me - on the reverse of a very smoothed 1807 Spanish Colonial 8 reales (Mexico, I presume):




As for ancient love tokens, I've never seen one either - though there is a really interesting forvum moonmoth site on holed ancients (you've all probably seen this):

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/holed_coins.html

I have a lot of holed coins in my collection, but not many ancients. Holing an ancient in modern times (even 1800) strikes me as being tricky what with the metal sometimes becoming brittle, crystalizing, etc. It seems to me they'd probably break more often than not.

Anyways, thank you all for such enthusiastic responses.

 

At that price, I would've gone after it as well---It's cool and it sure seems ancient to me.

 

Thank you for the speculation on that oddball 8 reales love token. Your thoughts on the mother's token might be on the right track - maybe it is a grandmother's token? The birthdates could be from different kids. Although the 23 years doesn't really fit in...

I put the "portrait" side of that love token as a thumbnail in my original post. Here it is (note the crude CAD engraved lightly on the neck):




I love your holey coins hat and vest - I sometimes wear some of my coin brooches, although I was humiliated at a bar once wearing a cut-out Panama Balboa on my coat lapel. Amy, a friend of mine with a sarcastic streak said to me: "Whoa! The Sheriff's in town!" Er, yeah, it does kinda look like a Sheriff's badge, or a Texas Ranger's badge made out of an old cutout Mexican 5 pesos... I just kept drinking beer - that usually takes the sting out of barside comments from tall blondes, at least to some extent.

Nowadays I only wear coin pins if they are half-dollar size or smaller. I don't ever want to be mistaken for law enforcement again.

 

Great piece, and a sharp eye. Attached is a coin I've had for a bit. I keep it in my chop marked and engraved pieces. An inscription of love for a man's niece on the reverse of a Peru 8 Real, cm for the Phillipines, inscribed in German. What a trail of use.