Philip II, as Augustus, Æ Sestertius, 13.93g OBV: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, Laureate draped & cuirassed bust right. REV: PAX AETERNA S-C, Pax standing facing, head left, holding olive branch & scepter. RIC 268a corr, Cohen 27, RCV III 9280 Dealer says this coin is a Sestertius, I'm not so sure since the weight is 13.93 which is closer to an As, I believe. What do you guys think?
You sure are posting a lot of new coins. This is the best so far. For one thing, it's a Sestertius! I have a couple denarii and a provincial which I think is pretty sweet: PHILIP II Pentassarion OBVERSE: M IOVLIOC FILIPPOC, KAICAP below, confronted draped busts of Philip II & Serapis REVERSE: MARKIANOPOLEITWN, Aesklepios standing right, head left, leaning on serpent-entwined staff; E in right field Struck at Markianopolis 9.8g, 27mm Moushmov 858; Varbanov 2090
Wow Gil-galad => you are crankin' out a lot of sweet coins (nice, I love it!!) ... Oh, and cool coin, Bing I only have one Phil-II, but it's a real charmer!! MOESIA INFERIOR, Marcianopolis. Philip II. As Caesar Æ Pentassarion AD 244-247 Diameter: 27 mm Weight: 13.73 grams Obverse: Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust of Philip II right, facing draped bust of Serapis left, wearing calathus Reverse: Serpent coiled left; E (mark of value) to right
Very nice Philip II coins guys. I think I'll look into some provincials in the future. Steve, I do what I can with a limited budget. Sometimes I wish I could get higher grade coins like you do. Yeah, I am posting a lot of coins but this will be it for the end of the year. I only have to get this Greek Illyria coin that I posted and then I'm good for awhile.
I believe it is a sestertius and a coin of Philip I. I do not have experience to be dogmatic but the portrait has too much chin, too much nose and I have not seen a Philip II with the earlier walking Pax. His are the standing with legs together type: http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1937709 This may be completely wrong but most late sestertii of Philip have a squared off side or two as does your coin. Asses are rounder??? http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=240454 Many of them are lighter than this. I don't have a Pax but these two below are 13.9g and 11.7g respectively. I consider them sestertii. When I think of later asses, I think rounded edges and even lighter. This is a feeling not an absolute.
Well, makes me kind of sad to realize it's not Philip II but I'll have to agree with you on that one. So, I'll take Philip II off of my list. Well, at least I'll have a better Philip I coin so it's not a complete loss. I think I'll talk to the seller about it but I'm still keeping the coin. This is not the first time this has happened. I thought a coin was Lucius Verus at first but then realized it was Marcus Aurelius.
Philip's family coins are cool to collect. Here's an overview of the whole lot through antoniniani, sestertii and tetradrachms : Q
There are a lot of Philip Augustus coins that are less than certain as to which numeral is appropriate. There are some I believe are the father that show no beard (the traditional separator) and some that just seem intermediate. We do the best we can. If you want a certain Philip II just get a Caesar like that lovely sestertius in the bottom row of Cucumbor's group. A few of my favorite Philip II's: The splitting headache coin from Marcianopolis. I always liked the way the city name was continued in the right field. Antioch tetradrachm as Caesar Antioch AE as Augustus Eastern mint IDed only by young face Officina 3 was junior's whether it was shown by III or gamma:
