Ancient Coins => Hip-Hip-Hip-Hippo!! (ya gotta love it!!)

Antoniniani

 

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Sorry Doug ...

 

Geeessh ... hippos really are quite odd/cartoonish looking animals, eh?

 

Yes Steve,

They may have seen them in the arena, alive, or after they were thrown out, dead.

They wouldn't have much time took at it before the Hungry of Rome came to eat it!

 

Do we have documentary evidence as to how the arena surplus exotic animals were 'recycled'? I could imagine the meat of something like a hippo being in demand by the Senatorial class as well as the Imperial family for banquets that would be hard to top. I know they served Peacock and the like but wonder about others. I also understand that elephant is not very tasty so it would seem someone might have written about the matter back then. The question is whether such a text survived.

 

We do have evidence that animals killed in the arena were put out for the poor to eat... the Rich didn't want their dinner sullied in the arenas.

 

Thanks! Coins and contacts with fellow collectors bring education to us all.

 

I'm realizing I've done a lot of school projects on these weird, esoteric topics on Rome....

It's nice being an expert on some things.. as a YN

 

Hype Hippo !
Great find

Q

 

Curious => I love these big, fat Æ Sestertii ... this particular hippo coin is:

28 mm
16 grams

... but I know that I have a few other Sestertii that are a bit bigger and heavier ...

=> ummm, what were the acceptable measurement/weights? (or did it vary depending upon the time period, etc?)

Thanks gang

 

Steve, compare with those from the link you've posted yesterday. On the lighter side I'd say, but nothing exceptional :hail:

 

Some more below, as low as 12.99 g

http://www.acsearch.info/search.htm...n=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ol=1&sort=&c=&a=&l=#9

 

As per usual => thanks for your help, dawg!!


=> hey, my wife just left for the big-city of Winnipeg for the week ...

Uh-oh ... nuthin' but wine and a keyboard in front of me ....

Muuhahahahahaha!!!

 

Your wife should install a parental control software on your computer to keep you from visiting coin sites when going that long, just to be sure she will still have a house to return to

 

ahahaha ... you're 100% correct (and I really had to fight for that "not" to happen!!)


Ummm, I must admit that when my hot wife is away, I tend to "indulge" a bit more than normal, so if I end-up being a total a-hole, then I'm sorry (I will apologize in advance!!)




You guys rock => in advance, I didn't mean what is said about your Mommas!!

 

Do what I do...buy your wife something too. My wife likes silver bullion...

 

My Philip sestertii range from 21.6g to 11.7g. The light ones are late in the reign and what you might call dumpy. The heavy tend to be rounder and have metal outside the dotted border. The Saeculares coins are late. There still is a huge variation in weights but coins with low weights and cut looking edges tend to be late and well made round ones tend to be early. I don't have a hippo but my wolf is typically junky and 13.9g which really is not small for a late coin.


To me the odd part is that Trajan Decius sestertii also vary a lot suggesting to me that he restored the weight or that they just did not care how much metal you got in a sestertius. Looking at the weight ranges of his double sestertii on acsearch, I think they just did not care.

 

Thanks Doug ...

 

Great hippo coin !

 

If a coin is only token value, as nearly all copper coins were in antiquity, isn't the amount of metal only for illusory purposes? I mean, you want enough metal in there to give the illusion of value, the exact number of grams not really mattering except for maybe a slight P&L affect to the mint.

I would postulate that by this point the public was accepting of the denomination only, and the illusion of a sestertius worth of metal was not terribly necessary anymore.

Just my guess why such variations occurred. I see the same thing happen over and over in history. With bronze denominations, they at first are careful at maintaining tight weight controls, trying to convince the population there is "value" in the weight. Later, weight control gets sloppy since this illusion is not really necessary anymore, since everyone now only concentrates on the denomination, not the metal content.