I ended up getting some money for christmas, most of it went to other hobbies and some car fixes but the rest I put towards this tetradrachm. I have wanted it for almost a year and after thinking it over and budging the price down a bit, its now mine. Surprisingly tetradrachms of Claudius arent as rare like his imperials, it's still pretty cool to own though. Claudius (41 - 54 A.D.) EGYPT ALEXANDRIA Billon Tetradrachm O: TI KLAUDI KAIS SEBA GERMANI AUTOKR, laureate head of Claudius right, LΓ (date) before. R: MESSALI-NA KAIS SEBAS, Messalina standing facing, head left, leaning on draped column, holding figures of two children in extended right hand and cradling two grain ears in left arm. Year 42 - 43 A.D. 13.1g 25mm RPC I 5131
Nice choice . Your coin was on my Vcoins "consider buying" list for a while. Guess I should have acted sooner. Glad it went to a good home!
Super! Eye appeal = 10. Numismatic interest = 10. Getting a coin you've been wanting for a long time = 10.
I believe denarii of Caligula, Claudius and the first years of Nero were removed from circulation extensively when Nero debased the coinage for the first time. Many were made but few survived. The tets were low grade silver to start with so there was no demand for them among the melters. I am a little surprised that this Messalina coin and Nero's Poppaea don't bring more since they provide another person from our list of famous Romans. The big question to me is why we don't have Alexandrian coins from Caligula.
Wow, Mat => that's a fantastic Alexandrian winna (plus, the sweet deity has two fricken babies in one out-stretched arm and still has the strength to carry two grain ears in her other arm!!) => she's like a wife, a stroller, and a pack-mule!! (best deity "ever" my friend) awesome score!!
very cool coin mat! cladius alexandrian mint dated thick i like all those things. i had to look up who messalina was (his wife)...that's pretty cool as well. man alexandrian coins awesome, i really have a thing for their style, greek and roman.
