I am sure this will be a quick one for all you Ancient adepts out there. I picked up this in a job lot a few weeks back. I am told it is a Hadrian Drachm featuring Nilus reclining, and that the letters at the bottom would give the year, but I have been unable to find a list online that does this for me? It appears to read IK or possibly LK. Also, I will pass on to a friend, who likes anything ancient, but I need to know a fair price to offer it to her for?
Looks more like Trajan to me. If so, I think it would be AE drachm of Alexandria, Milne 545. Take a look see: http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/trajan/milne_545.jpg
Hi Bing - Looks like you might be right! The chap who told me Hadrian was so certain I never questioned it. Still interested to know the date and sensible value.
Sure as heck looks more like Hadrian to me. Its a fairly common issue for Hadrian, but desirable. In that condition my cheap butt would say $50, but I could be underpricing it. Hadrian, the Nile, and Antinuous have an interesting interconnected story.
3:1 to Hadrian at the moment! Anyone help me with the date? $50 seems quite a lot to me! I will probably let her have it cheaper than that as it does not owe me much. I would like to be able to provide her with as much detail as I can about it though.
I'm not convinced this is Hadrian. You may be right, but, if it is, what is the reference? And either way, I think $50 is too high for a coin in worn condition like this. Maybe $30-$35 IMHO.
Not sure but it looks like this may be your coin EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (34mm, 27.15 g, 12h). Dated RY 13 (AD 128/9). AVT KAI TPAI ADPIA CEB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Nilus reclining left on crocodile, holding cornucopia in extended right hand, and cradling reed in left arm; IV; L TPICKAI (date) in exergue. Köln 1001; Dattari 1808; Milne 1276 = Emmett 1014.13. EF, brown patina with earthen highlights. Struck with dies of fine style
Its an Alexandrian drachm, which are very popular right now, a nice big coin, but most importantly a Hadrian associated with the Nile. Because of Antinuous, Hadrian+Nile=money. Weird, I am usually the cheapest guesser on pricing around. Maybe I am getting soft. Hey Mat/Doug/Randy/Bill, can you BELIEVE I actually guessed higher than someone else on a value! I am so proud.
It's difficult to say with certainty because there isn't enough facial detail, but I also think it's Trajan. I think the siloette looks more like Trajan.
The OP coin is LK or year 20. L just means 'year'. It shows a hippo in place of the crocodile shown on the year 13 coin icerain posted. I place a low value on the coin because an coin not certain to emperor to all reasonable viewers is not worth a lot to me. Drachms worn slick are still collected so I guess I'll say $20 but I would pass on the coin since there are nicer ones available. My vote is Hadrian. This is Hadrian: I regret buying the worn one some days but the elephants are cute. Most drachms are worn; they circulated for a long time. That icerain coin is spectacular ($800?) although common. The one below is Trajan and has Eirene and Homonoia and is better than average.
Another thing: Flans for these drachms were cast in cup shaped depressions so the obverse was thin on the edges compared to the reverse. It is not unusual to find nice coins with weak obverse legends. To get a great strike all the way to the obverse edge, they really had to hit the thing hard. As a result collectors tend to tolerate weak obverse legends more than on most coins.
Hi Doug - Thanks for that, that is brilliant and just the sort of info I was after! My coin indeed has the dish shaped effect of being cast, and I must admit I would not want to pay a great deal for a coin that worn. I can sell on to my friend now with plenty of history attached.
I apologize but now I think I will change teams. I'll now say the OP coin is Trajan. Here is the evidence: http://www.acsearch.info/search.htm...n=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ol=1&sort=&c=&a=&l=#0 These two coins have enough legend that they are identifiable with greater certainty although neither is a nice coin. The second one is clearly Hadrian with his formal name Traianus Hadrianus split left and right. Remember that Greek does not write the letter H as we know it (they use that shape for Eta, the long A sound) so the first legend right of the portrait is alpha delta rho. Trajan, however, used a lot of titles following his name so the first part of of the right side legend on the top acsearch coin reads rho M delta AK. This continues the missing left legend picking up in the middle of the abbreviation GERM (defeater of the Germans) followed by DAK (defeater of the Dacians). Going back to the trace of legend on the OP coin there is no way that the legend reads ADP but PMDAK can be seen. Trajan. The OP coin is year 20 and the acsearch is year 19 showing that Trajan used this type late in his reign. The Hadrian coin shown on acsearch is weak on the date but the seller's guess was LB or year two (early in the reign). These are coins with the Hippo. The wonderful coin icerain posted has the revised type with crocodile and year 13. Now for other possibly bad advice I gave: The website acsearch has a lot of coins of the crocodile version but only two come up when you search Nilus and hippo. Those are both ugly coins compared to the decently surfaced OP coin. The acsearch coins show less wear and poor surfaces. I'd rather own the OP coin. Neither listing carries a price but it seems that the hippo is a more scarce version and not as easily available as the crocodile which I pointed out was common and available in better shape. Is the OP coin worth more? It is not to me because, as I mentioned, I don't like coins that are hard to ID with certainty. It may be to someone looking for the hippo type. This is ancient numismatics as I know it. The blind lead the blind. Eventually we may stumble forward to the right answer but moving at all caries a risk of tripping and falling flat on our faces. There are expensive, out of print books that might make this easier but I do not own the ones for this particular specialty. There are experts on these coins who would see this immediately but they apparently don't read this list or chose to sit back and chuckle as I wipe the mud of error from my face.
Thanks again Doug - that is a lot of info to absorb, and I hope you have enjoyed the intellectual challenge? I will pass all the above onto Karen so she can keep it with the coin in her collection.
