Santa arrived a wee bit early at Flavian Fanatic headquarters this year and left behind a fairly scarce Domitian quinarius. Domitian AR Quinarius, 1.52g Rome mint, 81- early 82 AD RIC 118 (C). BMC 57. RSC 625. Obv: IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG PM; Head of Domitian, laureate, r. Rev: VICTORIA AVGVST (anti-clockwwise, outwardly, from high l.); Victory std. l., with wreath and palm Acquired from Dmitry Markov, December 2017. This undated quinarius is part of Domitian's first issue of quinarii coined very early in the reign. The style and silver fineness of 80% indicate it was struck before the great coinage reform of 82 when the silver fineness was increased to 99%. This is probably the most common variant of the type from the issue, 'common' being a relative term here! During the Flavian era quinarii compared to denarii were struck rather infrequently. Darkly toned and in fine early style. Punch-mark(?) in obverse field. Feel free to post your quinarii (or any other coins you think relevant).
Well done @David Atherton ! I have been looking at Domitian Quinarii as I grow my Quinarii Grooup. I really love that denomination. NICE coin! Flavian Quinarius: I have Daddy... RI Vespasian 69-79 CE AR Quinarius VICTORIA AVGVST Victory std L Rare
That it was of lower grade silver is probably the only reason it escaped the melting pot and remained in circulation long after the almost pure silver coins were yanked out of circulation later in the Second Century.
I dont own a Quinarius (yet) , your coin looks awsome. Here's my Domitian / Victory at the other end of the spectrum, a big Sestertius:
It has a few minor issues, but yes, overall this is a good example with nice eye appeal. The style and toning attracted me to the piece.
After getting a few quinarii I decided to learn about them. The results are on my web page: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/quinarius/ Here is one: Domitian. 15 mm. CAESAR DIVI F DOMITIANVS COS VII counterclockwise from 5:00 VICTORIA AVGVST counterclockwisse from 11:30 Victory seated left holding wreath and palm. Sear 2646. RIC 53 (under Titus) "AD 80 and later". "DIVI" was after the deification of this father, Vespasian. BMC (Titus) 104A. RIC 52. King, Domitian Caesar 10.
That is a very nice Domitian Caesar quinarius. It is most difficult to come across them in such good shape! Your page is an awesome resource on this peculiar denomination.
Nice coin David. You sure don't see those every day. I'm no expert but it looks like the condition is quite nice for such a small coin. I would think they saw more circulation than other precious metal coins. I don't think the average plebian had many larger denomination coins in their purse.
You're right, it's in pretty decent shape for this denomination. I'm not sure how much these small pieces circulated because their monetary function during imperial times is a mystery.
I would imagine that the AE coins were the ones used in daily life by the average Roman. Heck, even an As probably had decent buying power in the early empire. I'm going to have to do some more learning on the economics of the time. The silver was still pretty high quality at this time compared to later times was it not?
Yes, it was very fine compared to what would follow in the Second and Third centuries! The silver fineness under Vespasian, Titus, and early Domitian (81-82) was the same as that under Nero after his coinage reform, roughly 80%. Domitian again reformed the coinage in 82 and increased the silver fineness to 99%. A second Domitianic reform occurred in 85, resulting in a slight decrease to 90%, still higher than what had come before. It remained at that level until Trajan's reforms early in his reign (99/100) when it was reduced back to 80%. After that, it is a slow and steady decline downward. The above is a very simplistic picture leaving out some minor fluctuations, but you should get the general idea.
