New Ancients: Sasanian & Gallienus

Some new ancients came today.

Dont know alot of details on this other then it's a Sasanian Khusro II (590 - 628 AD), AR Drachm. Very thin but something different for me.


No particular reason I picked up this. Was within my budget & got it much cheaper then asking price. Has some heft at about 5.4grams. I also liked the ragged flan.

Gallienus/Jupiter standing left, head turned right, holding scepter in right and thunderbolt in left.

 

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More cool additions I like to get a decent Sasanian, just to have an example. Heres a similar Gallienus

 

Lol, my Sasanian isnt great but Doug told me it's common for them to look like mine. Still trying to figure out the mint/year :/ Giving me something to do though.

What's the weight of your Gallienus? Mine's about the size of a antoninianus but a bit thicker/5.4grams.

 

5.4g is heavier than any Gallienus I have seen. I wonder if it was overstruck on an older coin? The legend and style suggests to my guessing eye an earlier coin. Randy's is later and a very nice example. There is a lot of variation in weight on Gallienus coins but 2.5g to 4.0g covers most.


The Sasanian is hard to read because of the thin flan and, I suspect, slippage in striking but the mint mark is sideways at the right side. My guess is AL which is one of the marks not assigned to a city in the chart I have seen: http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/sasania/sas_mint/sas_mint_table.html

The date was on the left side but this is so messed up by the strike that I have no guess. Sasanian coins were made at many mints including some that are just plain crude. It has been suggested that old coins were hammered flat to make some of the flans and it certainly is true that the things are thinner than most coins. I am not at all comfortable reading the Pahlavi letters and even more unsure of the numbers in the dates. All I do is compare my coins to pictures of others and hope. I'm not even certain of many of the ID's to rulers.

 

Dang Doug I was about to give the same website. Tom is a great guy, busy at times, but his website is invaluable and has helped me a lot. Khosrau II was the most common shah you will see in Sassanid coins. He ruled for an extremely long time, so his coins coin from huge numbers of mints. Go to the website and he has all of the headresses used and mint names there for your attribution. In lower grades like this the mint can be tough, but head type is usually discernable.

Sassanid coins are special to me, they are what got me into Central Asian coins. I wished I paid more attention to them, always get sidetracked, and only have a few dozen of them, (maybe more, they are not all together).

 

Gorgous Gallienus!

stainless

 

Hey nice to see ya Stainless, it was your old Severas I bought from you that got me into ancients...

Incase you dont remember, http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3303&pos=5

 

dont have the size but its a bit smaller than yours

 

Ah yes, I remember that one. It has an awesome portrait.

I'm doing some research on your Gallienus. Do you have the RIC number? If not I'll get back to you with it.

stainless

 

Nope

As I PMed doug with, I took a modern quarter it's the exact same size diameter wise and same thickness, quarter weights 5.67grams and this Gallienus is apparently 5.4grams, which seems true as there is some heft over my other silver romans.

 

Nice coins and interesting discussion!

I'm taking notes....

 

Very nice coins, especially the Gallienus, looks like nice silver.... and a very nice portrait.
I have a very large later Gallienus Antoninianus, I can't weigh it, but it must be 4grams + . Here is a US 25cents for size comparison.

Minted in AD 258 - 259 Antoninianus. Lyons.
obv: GALLIENVS P F AVG - Radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right. Seen from the front.
rev: GERMANICUS MAX V - Two German captives bound and seated at the foot of a trophy.

 

Here's a web site I like that was inspired by the site Doug has cited:

http://www.beastcoins.com/Sasanian/Sasanian.htm

It is very sad that Sasanian culture and history has been suppressed almost as badly as the Parthian culture they supplanted. :so-sad:


guy

 

Great coin rexesq, glad to see mine isnt the only hefty one, lol. So I assume your reverse was just weakly struck?

@Bart9349, I found that website earlier last week with just some researching. Has alot of info so I had bookmarked it. Actually bought coins from him in the past.

 

:thumb:

It's all good.

Here's a post from a few years back about some possible counterfeit Sasanians that were circulating.

http://www.cointalk.com/showthread.php?t=22511&p=207021&highlight=#post207021


guy

 

There are fakes of everything. I feel 99% certain I can spot fakes in certain specialities I collect but only 1% certain of other coins I'm only starting to get interested in. Sasanian is made hard, to me, by the fact that there are so many styles and mints with such different 'looks'. We can spot obvious junk like tourist grade casts but there will be coins that we accept or condemn until we know better and move them to the other group. When you see a post on CoinTalk asking if a coin is real, the most common and most honest answers will be either 'certainly fake' because the item is identical to a proven fake we have previously seen or just an opinion based on gut feelings and the information available (usually a photo). Like everything else, I feel better buying Sasanians from a dealer that I have reason to trust and whose opinions I have reason to respect.

 

Thank you sir. Your's is just beautiful.

Well, I assume it was just weakly struck on the reverse. I really like my coin though, even with it's imperfections. It's my only Gallienus, and also my only coin from between 253-310 AD.

I will try to get mine weighed at the coin shop, and I will let you guys know how much it weighs.... my guess is that it will be right around 5 grams. We shall see.... I could start a contest for everyone to guess the weight, heh.... but I haven't any respectable ancients for a prize. So, I will try to get it weighed this week.

 

Well everyone, I was just at the coin shop, I had some free time today so I stopped in, and I weighed my Gallienus Antoninianus, along with some other Romans.
The Gallienus I posted photos of weighs in at 5.1 grams.... pretty hefty, not quite as hefty as yours mat... but a pretty respectable weight for the type.

 

Interesting & good to know.

Curious if this was common for him then?

 

Very much agreed. I have seen many Sassanid coins declared fakes simply because of style. Remember always that the Persians ruled over a huge empire, from the Greek influenced modern day Iraq and Syria, to Central Asia. Many times these "eastern mints" look very strange to collectors who only have "western mint" examples and condemned as fakes. The differences are as drastic, or more so, than the differences between Rome mint and Antioch or Alexandria mints in the Roman empire. Also, so many mints are pretty rare that if someone sees a mint and style they don't recognize they are quick to label it a fake. A major factor of mint differences is that there was no mediterranean sea and elaborate road networks like Rome enjoyed for her network, so there tended to be more variation between mints than you would expect.

Excellent point Doug. I never label one a fake unless as Doug says is tourist trash or linked to known fake. Short of that, even if I cannot place it, it does not go into my black box, I simply label as unknown and how I bought it.