Ancients => I'll take a Claudius, please => umm, make it a desert style!!

Yup, this is my first "authentic" Claudius (I do have a very sweet looking fake ... but again, this is the first legit C-dawg)

I am always a sucka for the desert-patina look, so when I saw this baby, I hopped all over it!!

... I hope that you guys like it too ...

CLAUDIUS AE As
Rome mint
41-42 AD
Diameter: 25.5 mm
Weight: 11.1 grams
Obverse: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP. Bare head at left
Reverse: S-C across field, Minerva standing right, brandishing spear and holding shield on left arm
Reference: RIC I 100
Other: A very attractive exemplar of this interesting coin with full details in both sides until the last letter (very difficult in this issue). VF including a nice portrait of the emperor. Excellent dark patina (sweet in hand)

 

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Oh, and here is my sweet ol' fake (I still love this ol' sweetie)

 

Nice, I like sandy patinas too.

 

Four coins of Claudius with major footnotes:
A fourree denarius


A brockage as (Spanish branch mint or unofficial?) - bronze brockages this large are not common


This started as a sestertius (probably unofficial) but was later certified to circulate as a dupondius with a DV countermark.


There are many countermarks found on coins of Claudius but what is AD?

 

"Amazing Doug?!"

 

Thanks for the coin compliment and for posting your coin, Mat ...

... cool Claudius coins, Doug

 

Very cool my friend. Nice addition especially since this one is not fake (but you could have fooled me with the fake).


CLAUDIUS AE As
OBVERSE: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TRP IMP P P - Bare head left
REVERSE: CONSTANTIAE AVGVSTI - Constantia standing left, raising hand and holding spear; S C across fields
Struck in Spain, 42/3AD
12.7g, 25mm
RIC111, BMC201, S1858


CLAUDIUS AR Denarius
OBVERSE: TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P VI IMP XI, laureate head right
REVERSE: PACI AVGVSTAE, Pax-Nemesis advancing right, drawing out fold of robe at neck, holding caduceus above serpent preceding her
Struck at Rome, 46/7AD
3.6g, 19mm
RIC39, BMC40


CLAUDIUS AE As
OBVERSE: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG PM TR P IMP P P, bare head left.
REVERSE: Minerva advancing right, holding shield and brandishing a javelin, S-C across fields
Struck at Rome, 50-4AD 10.5G, 25MM
RIC 116

 

The real and the fake Claudius are both nice!

 

Wonderful coin! I havent studied these much, but I feel like it's not Rome mint. I know a lot of similar styled ae's are listed as Rome mint though.

 

=> I'm merely callin' it like I'm readin' it (from the seller's info) ... I haven't studied these much either (yet)

Thanks for the coin-compliments, fellas

 

Theres a lot on vcoins that look a lot like yours, that also say Rome mint . So maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about haha

 

Yes, but.... Standard references do not recognize the non-Roman mints and many sellers will look up a coin in some book and let it go at that. Look at Sear Millennium edition under Claudius and all bronzes are give as Rome mint. The ones shown are all Rome. In 2000 ('Millennium Edition') the coins now assigned to branch, Spanish or other mints were considered possibly barbarous except by a few students who recognized that there was a pattern to the coins that 'barbarous' did not cover. High end dealers (the kind that Sear would go to for images of great coins to illustrate his books) usually did not trade in such things.
Today, dealers whose only reference is Sear or RIC will show off their level of expertise by listing all Claudius coins as Rome mint. Many are still right since some dealers still avoid coins with that Gallic/Spanish/unofficial look. Other dealers are starting to recognize the difference. When there is a new RIC and a new Sear listing these varietal mints, more dealers will fall in line with the new assignments. Meanwhile, be happy the coins you are buying are genuine. If you must have current scholarship, patronize dealers with large libraries and a staff of experts who keep up with recent scholarship in ten languages. I'm starting to think the extra cost of some major sellers might just be worth the difference. How much extra should I pay to be able to buy from someone I know knows more than I do?

 

very nice new claudius stevex...super color.

wasnt' there something cool about your fake claudius? wans't it a 19th century piece or something like that?

 

Great coin as always, Steve. What's the story behind the fake? Was it sold to you as authentic?

 

Hi, JA => yes, it was sold as genuine ... but once we discovered that it was fake, the seller gave me my money back and also allowed me to keep this beautiful momento (apparently, David Sear's authentication was money well spent in this case)

 

Ugh. i have that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach for you. But it sounds like you don't mind too much.

 

=> hey, please don't bust my bubble, randygeki (you're aces in my mind, coin-dude!!)

 

=> actually JA, the whole thing couldn't have made me any happier ... the seller seemed legitimately surprised, yet didn't flinch and immediately gave me my money back and seemed very embarrassed and apologetic about the whole matter (I have a great working relationship with the seller and still trust his opinions and judgements on my coin purchases) ... ironically, the dude is absolute money when it comes to spotting fakes ... the whole creepy experience seemed to solidify our coin-relationship (the guy is top-drawer)

 

I don't have the right Claudius just yet. I had a very, very budget example at one point but just did not enjoy it. Almost bought one a little while ago from a friend but another buyer came and got it before I could get the funds in order!

I quite like this one it has an excellent patina that really highlights his hair. The Minerva reverse is also very attractive. Nice pick up Steve!

 

Thanks Manitoba ... yah, I really thought that this example had a sweet look to it (ummm sure, the "purests" may not consider this winner a total winner, but that's all part of this coin's appeal) ...

=> hey, a nice, big, fat sestertius from the 12 Caesars is always gonna raise a few eyebrows ... I think that this coin rocks!! (bring-on your desert patina 12 Caesar collection!!)

Cheers, my favourite bros!!