My first Ancient

I received this from hotwheelsearl for my B-day and I have no clue what I have but I absolutely love it. I told him that I would do a write up but don't know where to start, that's where you the mighty ancients experts come in . Just need some info and direction to carry on my research . Thank You .

 

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Wow ! Truly the best B-day ever . TY to you and Hotwheels !!

 

Glad you finally got it. It’s a rather sharp Gallienus bronze antoninianus, or radiate.

the deity in the reverse is holding scales and a cornucopia.

sorry then flan is too small for a full legend in the reverse.

I know attribution... will post the answer here tomorrow

 

Ok Thank You !!! I absolutely love it . When's your Bday ? I'll have to send you something too . If your like my Bro' in law , you probably have everything I have so I'll have to get creative I guess .

 

Hey, that's really cool of him! Shoutout to hotwheelsearl for opening a new lane for OP. Interestingly, my first ancient coin was also a Roman piece minted under Gallienus! I bought mine at my first coinshow when I was probably about 13 or 14.

Roman Empire
Gallienus | 265-267 CE
BI Antoninianus
Rome Mint​

 

Congrats on your first old coin! It looks a bit like this one:

Gallienus. A.D. 253-268. BI antoninianus (24.4 mm, 3.18 g, 12 h). Antioch mint, struck A.D. 262-264. GALLIENVS P F AVG, radiate and draped bust right / AEQVITAS AVG, Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopia. Göbl 1610b ; RIC 626; RSC 28c. aVF, fully silvered.
Agora Auctions
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3070850
I found this coin by searching for Gallienus bronze antoninianus scale cornucopia on acsearch.info.

I like coins with scales. At least two dieties hold them: Aequitas and Moneta. You can read AEQVITAS on your coin. Note the Romans used V for U. My coin of Diocletian with Moneta and a scale.

 

yeah it does , but there are little difference on the deity side ( reverse? ). Does this make a difference?

 

Aaaaaw, @TuckHard, you reminded me of my first ancient, a Victorinus. I was six; we were visiting my smart uncle, who loaned me the $6.50 or so (right, Really steep for those days, but who knew?). Dang, I wish I still had it.

 

@SensibleSal66, Just did a quick look at Wildwinds, doing a Ctrl-F for "Moneta" from the page for Gallienus. By simple elimination, it looks as if yours is definitely Aequitas. ...Another cool thing about ancient (and medieval) coins is that, since the engraving, along with the minting, was all by hand, there are endless little variations on the same designs. As such, some are more important, numismatically, some are less so.

 

Very nice @hotwheelsearl and @lordmarcovan .

 

equitas is the Latin concept of justice, equality, conformity, symmetry, or fairness. It is the origin of the English word "equity". In ancient Rome, it could refer to either the legal concept of equity, or fairness between individuals.

 

This is all I have so far. At least I started my research . Got to start somewhere I guess. Now I got the ancient "bug "

 

very nice coin and very nice of ol' Earl..and a thumbs up for melord too...! ...i reckon we owe @Ryro a shoutout for sending me Julia/Venus and starting this trend of goodness....today i'm 62..boo hoo boo hoo?!?(naw, happy to be here, happy to be alive!)....

 

August 29 for me

 

Nice coin and I am glad that you got it. Hopefully you will stock with ancients.

 

Very nice indeed.

 

Notice how the reverse legend ends in -TAVG... can AEQVITAS fit fully?

still the right deity, but that spelling should narrow it down considerably

 

You're well on your way, @SensibleSal66, especially with your research into the context. Congratulations on that front, too! One cool thing about your coin is that, between Aequitas and Moneta, Aequitas is the more comprehensive, effectively subsuming the connotations of Moneta.
(...I can't not be reminded of the places in the Tanakh (/Old Testament), where false weights are excoriated (esp. Proverbs 11:1 and 20:23). Right, in terms of historical and cultural context, that's a leap, if not a dive. But the Biblical connotations are no less emphatically about commercial dealings, whether or not coins were even involved. It's that cool that the Romans got the concept, at the level of basic ethics.)

 

Whoah, @ominus1, you're beating me by three years, as of the next birthday. ...Right, you kind of have to say, 'Welp, this is what you get for living this long.'
And, Congratulations! At least for living this long....