I finally got a denarius! :)

Nice tetradrachm!

Hmm now that you mention it I'm not sure if the silver in my denarius is shabby or not. I know overtime denarii were debased from nearly pure silver to less than 5% silver.

 

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The silver content in Hadrian's time was still high in Rome, give or take 87%. The decline you refer to came later.

Here's a table.

The Reduction Of Silver Content In The Roman Denarius | piso project (wordpress.com)

 

Beautiful coin! I love the centering and detail on the obverse.

 

LOL it's funny you said that because I was just looking through my book "Coinage in the Roman Economy" by Harl.

Thanks for the info!

 

Hadrian Ar Denarius 135 AD Obv Head right
bare headed Rv. River god Nilus reclining right
RIC 310 RIC II/3 1544 3.19 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen I guess one of my favorite series of coins is the "travel series" minted by Hadrian. This coin is rather unique to the series as it depicts a river god. Hadrian appears to be very fond of Egypt. Not only is the personification of the province depicted on the coins but the river Nile as well as the city of Alexandria. Though this level of interest might seem odd to us, it may make more sense back then. As I recall the term to describe the region was Alexandria and Egypt suggesting that the city was considered a separate entity.

 

Very nice!

When you consider the fact that Egypt was the personal property of the Emperor it makes sense why Hadrian was fond of Egypt. My guess is that it was a total power trip to own a prosperous country like Egypt as an individual.

Unlike Rome which was not the personal property of the Emperor and belonged to the people.

 

I have this denarius from the first year of Hadrian's reign:

What I find most interesting about this piece is the references in the legend to Trajan, Hadrian's predecessor and adoptive father. Note that the obverse legend ends "DIVI TRA" (the Divine Trajan) and the reverse starts out "PARTH F" (Son of Parthicus [Trajan was awarded the title of Parthicus after his victories in the Parthian Wars]). There were rumors that Trajan hadn't actually named Hadrian as his successor prior to his death. This coin is part of Hadrian's campaign to convince the public that he truly was the rightful heir of Trajan.

 

Since I finally bought myself a camera and trying to understand how it works (indoor phone pics never worked for me) I can present my Hadrian Denarius.
I like this coin very much, the reverse shows good traces of mint luster.

 

A funny thing about successors.

Edward Gibbon noticed that among the “Five Good Emperors” - none of them were born “in the purple”.

None of them were born destined to become the Emperor.

All of them were adopted later in their lives.

Yet in general they all did a pretty good or even great job.

Then Marcus Aurelius decides his son Commodus will be “born in the purple” and succeed him as Emperor. Failing to recognize all of his flaws and profligacies that made him unsuitable for Emperorship.

Suddenly the Roman Empire began going downhill.

It really proves that merit and ability should chosen over ancestry and Royal blood rights.

 

Style is a matter of taste. I like the Alexandrian style.


In all series, there are better dies and lesser dies. New collectors fresh from modern coins often ignore this. Some of us would rather have a VF from good dies with smooth surfaces to a polished EF cut by a beginner on Friday afternoon. It is good they made so many of these things. We each can have what we prefer.

Hadrian (and all of the five except for Nerva) was in power for many years so we get different 'looks' from different periods. There are also many, many reverse types for us to pick and choose as we wish. I agree that the travel series holds special interest. I found this Alexandria denarius appealing due to the color of tone. Others prefer bright and shiny coins.


They also come as sestertii for those who like bronzes.


I also liked that Minerva pose.


Septimius Severus seems to have liked it, too, since he brought back the type fifty years later.


At that time he was operating more than one mint so we have the option of standing Minerva from Alexandria. These are scarce.


When our collecting advances to the point that we consider having more than one coin of any ruler, we can seek different obverse styles, reverse types, branch mints or any path we choose. When I only had about a hundred coins, half of them were Septimius Severus. Part of that was because his coins were cheaper than the popular guys' coins. Part of that was I had learned what to seek in rarities or special interest coins and enjoyed seeking things that struck me as special.

Your denarius is a nice coin. I'm sure you paid 'too much'. People who pay 'too much' get nicer coins and get them when they want them (now!). Those of us may compromise on one or the other of those factors. I pay 'too much' for coins I consider very special in some way (not just condition - not my thing) but wait for bargains on the things I consider ordinary. You job is to decide what you define as special. Will this be your last Hadrian or the first of a thousand. Time will tell.

 

I also like this reverse type. One of my first denarii, when I was an absolute beginner.


It was quite an exercise for someone who knew absolutely nothing about Roman coins, except for some 4th century portraits, to recognize the portrait and then attribute the coin.

 

How many friend do you have that you recognize and can call by name? Some of us have more (coin) people in that category that have been dead for many centuries than we do that are alive.

 

Unfortunately, as years go by, less and less...
I bought 2 other Septimius Severus denarii, much better condition, but this one remains my favorite as it was the 1st and it was quite rewarding when I found out who is on this coin, after spending half a day looking at emperors' portraits.

 

Interesting that’s what you’re seeing. For me I find Marcus Aurelius denarii to be far less expensive in auctions than Hadrian ones. Your Hadrian is wonderful btw.

 

My favorite Hadrian portrait, on a nicely toned coin.

 

Congrats on a beautiful coin

 

Curious for you collection - nothing barbaric

 

Beautiful coin.

 

I'm afraid I accumulated more than 1700 official Roman coins over the years, if only to aesthetically balance my collection of barbarian coins.

 

Great OP coin, Being so nice is one more reason to crack it out of its plastic tomb !!

Q