If i had a Billion i would get some very nice coins. what would be your first coin if you woke up to find you had a Billion dollars? This Billon is a Carinus, as Caesar, 283-285..AD.. Alexandrain Tetradrachm, year 1..282/283 Obv. laureate cuirassed bust. Rev.Tyche standing with rudder and cornucopia. 18mm x 7.37g. Oh ya, post up some Tets or Billon coins.
Nice portrait & reverse. And my first coin with a Billion Dollars at my disposal? A aureus of Lucilla.
My first would be a nice Odoacer. Other rulers I'd get would be Charlemagne, all of the rare late Western Roman emperors, the Visigothic kings, Aistulf (a Lombard king) a portrait coin of Louis the Pious, and many more of course!
Here are a couple of Tets. The first is a billon ( not billion ) of Emperor Caracalla. The second one represents Emperor Philip I , known as Philip the Arab. I cleaned it once and it still needs to be cleaned. It's registered sometimes as a Potin Tet. I wish someone could tell me what that exactly mean.
carinus, nice ENG...an alexandrian tet of him is on my list! here are all 4 of my tets. gordian iii.... claudius ii... maximian and diocletion...
Billion is a large number and a different amount in the some places than in others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales Billon is an alloy with low silver content. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billon_(alloy) The question here is when is appropriate to stop calling a coin silver and start calling it billon. Similarly, when does the silver drop so low that it is copper with impurity levels of silver rather than billon? I say billon should look a little gray but silver should not look porous even when it is not rotten. Opinions? Valerian II's coins came about the time Rome was debasing too much to call it silver but before the alloy needed silver wash to be gray. I'd call this one billon.
i like the "looks silverish" criterion. i think billon and potin are interchangeable terms, but i think of my tets as potin and this cetlic coin as billon. it at least looks kind of like a silver coin. that's how it works in my brain anyway. good question 7C! please await a good answer from someone besides me however.
Nice Tet John. Here are a couple of Numerian Tets NUMERIAN AE Tetradrahm OBVERSE: A K M A NOVMEPIANOC CEB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right REVERSE: Athena seated left, holding Nike and sceptre; shield below chair, L-B (date) across field (Year 2) Struck at Alexandria, Egypt, 283/4 AD 19mm; 6.74g Köln 3192-3193; Dattari 5607, Emmett 4013; Sear 12272 NUMERIAN AE Tetradrachm OBVERSE: A K M AN NOVMEPIANOC K C, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right REVERSE: LA (year 1) above eagle standing facing between two vexilla, head right with wreath in its beak Struck at Alexandria, Egypt, 283 AD 9.3g, 20mm Milne 4674
FRANCE. CELTIC TRIBES OF GAUL. CORIOSOLITE CLASS IIB BILLON STATER Date: 80-50 BC Diameter: 20.69 mm Weight: 6.13 grams Obverse: Stylized Celtic head right Reverse: Celticized rider on horseback right, below, boar right Celtic Gaul, Senones AE Cast Potin Date: 100-50 BC Diameter: 17.8 mm Weight: 4.0 grams Obverse: Head right Reverse: Stylized horse with pellets around EGYPT, Alexandria. Julia Mamaea. Augusta BI Tetradrachm 222-235 AD Dated RY 11 of Severus Alexander (AD 231/2) Diameter: 23 mm Weight: 12.92 grams Obverse: Diademed and draped bust of Julia Mamaea right Reverse: Draped bust of Serapis right, wearing calathus; L A (date) behind, palm before Reference: Köln 2526; Dattari (Savio) 4511; K&G 64.74; Emmett 3224 EGYPT Alexandria Antoninus Pius BI Tetradrachm 138-161 AD Dated RY 5 (AD 141/2) Diameter: 23 mm Weight: 13.39 grams Obverse: Laureate head right Reverse: Poseidon standing right, foot on prow, holding trident and dolphin; date across field Reference: Dattari 2339 Valerian I, Billon , Antoninianus 253-260 AD Diameter: 23 mm Weight: 3.76 grams Obverse: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG, Valerian bust right radiate cuirassed and draped Reverse: VOTA ORBIS, Two victories attaching shield inscribed SC to a palm-tree EGYPT, Alexandria. Saloninus. As Caesar BI Tetradrachm AD 258-260 Dated RY 7 of Valerian I and Gallienus (AD 259/60) Diameter: 22 mm Weight: 13.00 grams Obverse: Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right Reverse: Eagle standing left, head right, holding wreath in beak; L Z (date) across field Reference: Köln 3005; Dattari (Savio) 5377; K&G 93.8
Probus, Billon tetradrachm Obv:– A K M AVR PROBOC CEB, Laureate draped bust right Rev:– None, Bust of Serapis right Minted in Alexandria Egypt. L - E | _ Year 5. A.D. 279-280 Reference:– Milne 4605. Curtis X-1889, Emmett 3993(5) R4. BMC -. Dattari 5544 A rare type for Probus Probus, Billon tetradrachm Obv:– A K M AVP PROBOC CEB, Laureate, cuirassed bust right Rev:– None, Nike advancing left, holding wreath in both hands Minted in Alexandria, Egypt. Year 3. (LГ in left field) Milne 4555. Curtis -, Emmett 3992(3)R5. BMC -. Ex-Olympus Coins February 1992 Ex-Keith Emmett Collection (private purchase)
In spite of wikipedia (which can be written by anybody, and in the case of "potin" is wrong) the term "potin" refers to the metal used in some low denomination early coinages of Britain and Gaul. Whatever those coins are, metallically, is what "potin" is. "British Iron Age Coins in the British Museum" by Richard Hobbs says "so-called because of their high tin content but perhaps more correctly termed cast bronzes." Melville-Jones in his "Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins" admits the term has been misused to refer to low-silver coins but notes the real distinction is that "potin" coins apparently did not have any intentional silver, rather a signifiant amount of lead. "Billon" refers to silver content which is intentional but usually below about 20% (such as late tetradrachms from Roman Alexandria, Egypt.) Daphne Nash in "Coinage in the Celtic World" mentions potin's "glossy tin-rich fabric" (p. 122). I have four books on metallurgy in ancient numismatics and did not find an article analyzing "potin" coins for metal content. If someone can quote some analyses of Gallic or British coins said to be "potin" we will know the definition of the metal. The experts who write books are in agreement that it is not low silver that makes the coin potin, rather copper with a high tin or lead content. I hope members of this list will, in future, make the distinction between "billon" and "potin."
Thank you for your comments, i only copy what's on the coin flip. i may miss spell a word or two. but what it says is what your going to get.
Valentinian.. That might be perfectly correct. In fact the Philip I above coin is totally red. In hand, I wondered that it can't be even bronze. It's just red copper. Though it is listed as Potin Tetradrachm of Alexandria.
