Ive been wanting a Limes Denarius for awhile now but never cared for the price points they have been offered at lately for decent examples. Its flooring me how expensive even them & Fourrees are becoming. After skimming around various outlets I finally found one I like fairly cheap still. I know "condition snobs" will frown on it but seeing some even in worse/corroded shape at $15 & more, I think this is ok. For now I just wanted 1 example of a limes, especially with a empress. Faustina Sr. (138 - 141) Bronze limes denarius O: DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right. R: AVGVSTA, Ceres standing left, raising right, grounded long torch in left.2.493g 18.3mm RIC III 361
I've lost interest in trying to find one myself and I rather just stumble across one I like. This one is nice, I like the portrait. Its funny how sometimes the unofficial coins have better portraits than official
I thought about this one too but didnt care for the obverse much, reverse is nice though. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Severus-Ale...ultDomain_0&hash=item5ae279d269#ht_1063wt_989 Its my collection & I am happy with this limes despite its flaws, lol.
Nice Faustina, Mat. I too am missing one, (even though I live only a few miles from the Limes). Maybe one day I will find one.
Those limes denarii are probably very interesting to study in detail : probably a lot to be discovered Q
The Faustina strikes me as far above average for limes denarii. So many of them have such rough surfaces.
I agree its far and away better than many others I have seen. To me the portraiture seems excellent. If its a limes I am betting the celator was Roman trained. Most limes portraiture is more "celtic", not bad, (I like the look), but definitely different than imperial.
There are those who insist that dies for fourree coins were made mechanically from real coins. The technology exists today but I am not convinced it did then. The Faustina could be a cast and that would make the style easily correct. I attach my favorite limes denarius. Can you see the 3 things I liked about it?
Based on my extensive scholarly research on this topic, consisting of 20 minutes browsing and reading while also consuming liberal quantities of alcohol, I think limes denarius is another word for "excellent fake." Very good ancient fakes...and they had a wash of silver on top to fool people (premium fakes), but fakes nonetheless. There is literally nothing to prove that they were military script, or semi-official or non-official, or fully official money of last resort, money at the edge of empire, etc. All you have is a bunch of guesses, on top of guesses, coated with a thick layer of wishful thinking. So there you have it. Yes, this opinion of mine is worth exactly what you paid for it, but its got as much evidence behind it as the evidence of those people claiming this is military script, or money of last resort, or whatever!
Oops, I posted my rant under the influence of copious spirits in the wrong thread...should have been JAs limes denarii thread. Oh well, Merry Christmas. PS: beautiful limes denarii Mat
You can see some "limes" denarii on my educational page about ancient imitations http://esty.ancients.info/imit/ Go about half way down and hit the link for Severan. After that, the ones with silvering remaining are less likely to be "limes" and the completely dark metal ones are now called "limes." It used to be that these were much less known than now and only imitation asses, dupondii, and occasional sestertii were called "limes". Denarii were not included. http://esty.ancients.info/imit/Limes-falsa.html Since about 1990 many dark metal "denarii" have appeared and seem associated with the frontiers, so "limes" is now applied to them too. If you want to learn more, explore that site. The main scholarly references are listed on one of its pages: http://esty.ancients.info/imit/imitationrefs.html Some limes pieces can be found here, too: http://augustusmath.hypermart.net/Imitation.html Maximinus Thrax, the giant. 235-238 PROVIDENTIA AVG 18 mm. Only 2.00 grams RIC 13, first legend, March 235-Jan 236
