Post your favorite ancient "problem coin"

I used to watch Johnny Quest in in Cuba using a bootleg antenna back in the early to mid-1990s. Little did I know that one day I'd too be a capitalist pig with a big TV to watch cartoons, except the cartoons my son watches are not even half as good as those from the early to mid-90's.

 

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I had never noticed it but the banker's mark in the hair of the coin Carthago does not own is shaped much like the squiggle Antiquanova puts over the cap on their terrible fine silver replicas. Obviously the style separates them more clearly but still...

The same company sells tin copies unmarked but the style is still the same and that is still bad. They do make OK tie tacs though in case you don't want to wreck a real one.

 

My favorite problem coin, hum...thats tough, collecting eastern,recycled and nomadic people I have developed quite a stomach for problems.

Everyone think this Lysimachos gold stater has a big problem but I don't see the problem... I think it just looks real.

 

My favorite "problem coin", easily, is this overstruck triens. Anyone who collects Republican bronze knows that you really have no choice but to collect problem coins and many of what I think are the most interesting coins of the series only ever come as problem coins. This particular one is in really great condition for the type, but even so is rough with some detail obscured from being overstruck. There's also a small chip on Athena's helmet which scared me(thinking it might be corrosion) at first but you can see it in the picture from Vecchi sale 3 in 1996 so it is stable

ID: Roman Republic Æ Triens(20.5mm, 5.75g), anonymous, after 211 BC. Helmeted head of Minerva right; above, four pellets / ROMA Prow right; below four pellets. cf. Crawford 56/4. McCabe group H1(halfweight overstrikes). Ex. Fallani(Vecchi sale 3, 1996, lot 124)

 

One of you needs to sell me a genuine problem coin so I can be part of the club.

 

Step right up.

 

My Aemilian has problems... The portrait is a bit flat, but i really loved the reverse. And I'm a one-per-emperor kind of guy so I take what i can afford. What do you think?

AR antoninianus. 253 AD. Rome.
Obv: IMP CAES AEMILIANVS P F AVG Bust radiate, draped, cuirassed right.
Rev: AP - OL CONSERVAT Apollo, nude, standing left, holding branch and leaning on lyre set on rock.

 

It seems to me that all the 'problem coins' posted are examples I would purchase and probably for all the same reasons we all did-----they have character, interest and fit our respective budgets.

 

Big problems used probably as a pendant or something similar.and heavy cleaned

VITELLIUS AR silver denarius.
Struck at Tarraco,

Spain, 69 AD (Hispania Tarraconensis).

A VITELLIVS IMP GERMANICVS, laureate head of Vitellius to left, with globe at the point of the neck.
Reverse - CONSENSVS EXERCITVVM, Mars, nude but for helmet and cloak over his shoulder, advancing to left, holding spear in his right hand and eagle on vexillum in his left. RIC 6,

they say it is very rare. 18mm, 3.5g.

probably as a pendant or something similar.

 

Well, we all have our burdens we must bear... ;-)

Mine comes in the form of a favorite Nero reverse that's slightly double-struck:



NERO
AE Sestertius (26.56 g.) Lugdunum circa 65 A.D. RIC 441
NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P Laureate head of Nero left. Rev. PORT AVG Port of Ostia, river Tiber reclining below.

 

AH, to have such 'burdens' as AJ and I-O-M seem to have to deal with...

 

I'm quite happy this one has a problem, or I would have probably not been able to purchase it


Octavian, Denarius Italian mint, possibly Rome, 31-30 BC
Anepigraph, bare head of Octavian left
CAESAR - DIVI F, Victory standing right on globe, holding wreath
3.84 gr
Ref : HCRI # 408, RCV # 1552v, Cohen # 66, RIC # 255
The following comment is taken from CNG, sale 84 # 957 :
"Following his victory at Actium, Octavian ordered a golden statue of Victory, standing on a globe and holding a wreath and palm, to be set up on an altar in the Curia in Rome. This statue had been captured by the Romans from Pyrrhus in 272 BC, and it assumed a somewhat tutelary mystique, protecting the Roman state from dissolution. In AD 382, the emperor Gratian ordered its removal. Two years later, the senator and orator Symmachus urged Valentinian II to replace it, a request that was met with stiff opposition from the bishop of Milan, Ambrose. Though it was briefly returned to its place by the usurper Eugenius, it was again removed following his defeat. Petitions to Theodosius I for its subsequent replacement were refused, on grounds that the once-important symbol of the gods’ blessing on the Roman Empire was now nothing more than a piece of paganism"

Q

 

H8, your coin has a "gouge" to adjust the weight of the flan downwards. Such gouges have been discussed in our Forum here:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/one-scoop-please.256181/#post-2031404

and academically discussed by Clive Stannard.

https://www.academia.edu/810536/The...of_Roman_Republican_Denarii_Blanks_by_Gouging

That copy is at Academia.edu , a very good source of scholarly information about ancient coins.

 

This thread is starting to turn into a 'Let see who can post the nicest coin with the smallest flaw" contest. The idea as I understood it was to show problem coins not those whose only fault is to fall short of qualifying for a gold CACA sticker.

If you didn't get that one, you are new here. If you are easily offended skip this link. The animals were restless back then.
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-modest-proposal-for-coin-storage.268815/#post-2239706

 

Hmmm... I guess the subtle, tongue-in-cheek nature of my post in this thread flew well under the radar...

 

It was not one but the trend. On page two of this thread, the Lysimachos has a splitting headache worth calling a 'problem'. The others have the equivalent of a 'boo-boo'.

I forgot this one:
Augustus was hit with hammer once too often. He could survive the nail because he was a tough guy but...

 

Thanks. I'm definitely a novice with ancients and should spend some time reading older threads. I appreciate the link.

 

I have a really high tolerance for broken coins. Here are a couple of my favorites:



Philip I The Arab
Reigned AD 244-249
Coin Struck AD 247-249
AE Sestertius
RIC 168a, Cohen 26

O: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right

R: ANNONA AVGG S C, Annona standing left holding corn-ears over modius & cornucopiae




Nerva
AD 96-98
AR Denarius
RIC 31

O: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P II COS III P P, laureate head righ

R: LIBERTAS PVBLICA, Libertas standing left, holding pileus and scepter


After being worn, holed, and broken, that Nerva denarius really feels like it has a history to it, and I think it has surprising eye appeal given all that. What do you guys think?

 

Sure, every ancient coin is unique, but I love 'problem coins' because they really go the extra mile to shove their uniqueness in your face.

My Otho has some rather singular edge enhancements and most likely did not leave the mint this perfectly round:



On the other hand, my Maximinus from Anazarbos left the mint in exactly this odd state and I think it's just about perfect the way it is:

 

AH more problem coins...ones I spent good money on.



and



Both are from Ceylon in the Ancient Period, Both are extremely rare and both have seen better days.