Coin Quiz from The Bishop's Wife, a coin movie for Christmas

Hope this is not too off the wall.
One of my favorite Christmas movies is The Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, Loretta Young & David Niven. The Professor gave the Bishop's wife a Roman coin to help with fund raising for a new cathedral.

• Who did the prof say was on the coin?
• Per the prof, the coins were minted for what event?
• Who was on the coin?

I need an expert from here to give an answer to the last question.
You can see the coin here:
http://theoldmoviehouse.blogspot.com/2011/11/it-is-apparent-to-professor-that-all-is.html
I had a link for the movie, but it is not there now. Maybe it was pirated in the first place.

or you can read the lines here:
http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/sear...-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=12

 

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Only my favorite Emperor ever: the Divine Trajan. It's a denarius. It says Cos VII, which could help dating the coin.

The professor said it was Julius Caesar. The professor needs to go to his optometrist or retire.

 

Are those really small hands or is that denarius a slightly oversize replica?

 

it is not a denarius, it is a large bronze coin

 

I forgot the pictures were of a black and white movie, how silly of me. I saw silverish color and assumed silver, forgetting it is a white and black movie.

The size should have been a clue too

 

Whatever it is, it's not a denarius. It's a tetradrachm-sized coin, if it's an authentic coin at all. Since the obverse inscription is in Latin, as opposed to Greek, that rules out any of the Levantine tets.

Another possibility: it's an over-cleaned large bronze that looks like silver because the movie is in black-and-white.

 

Just read your post rr - does the script actually call it a bronze coin?

 

I started watching this when I was a wee one in the 60's. Hmmm. maybe this was an influence.

I remember looking this up once years ago trying to figure out what it was. I always that it was a dupondius or sestertius or some type of provincial. Never thought it was a denarius because of the size.

Great memory

 

It's also COS VI not VII, so after 112 AD. I should have taken my time with this, but saw Trajan and got overexcited. I'm not sure Trajan had a seventh consulship come to think of it.

 

The image is definitely Trajan. I've never seen the movie. Perhaps I should.

 

The obverse legend is "...TRAIANO AVG...AC PM TRP COS V PP"

Looking at Wildwinds, four bronzes are shown which have that legend (there may be more which aren't represented in Wildwinds):

RIC 492
Trajan Æ Sestertius. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAINO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V PP, laureate bust right / S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Annona standing left, holding grain ears and cornucopiae; modius with grain ears and prow at her feet; SC. Cohen 469.

RIC 500
Trajan 98-117 AD. AE Sestertius, 27.21 gr. Struck 103-111 AD. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V PP, laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder / SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S-C Fortuna standing left, holding rudder before prow, and cornucopiae. RIC II 500; BMCRE 797; Cohen 477; Sear (1988) 1008.

RIC 502
Trajan AE Dupondius. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V PP, radiate bust right / SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI S-C, Fortuna standing left with rudder on prow and cornucopiae. Cohen 497.

RIC 571
Trajan AE Sestertius. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V PP, laureate bust right / SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI S-C, View of the Circus Maximus, showing a colonnaded front (the Duodecim Portae), with arched gateways surmounted by quadrigae; temple of Sol along back wall; within, from left to right: meta, equestrian statue of Trajan, obelisk of Augustus, shrine of Cybele, and a second meta. RIC II 571; Woytek 175b; Cohen 545.

 

I haven't looked, but of the four choices presented by TIF, the third is out since the bust is not "radiate".

 

Good catch. I didn't notice that

Does anyone here have RIC II? Are there other possibilities not listed in Wildwinds?

 

I'll check when I get home.

 

Isn't that Cointalk's own Dougsmit as the professor in the second and third pictures?
;-)

Oh wait, he would never fail to recognize that coin. That must be Monty Woolley.

Never mind.

 

We can probably rule out 571 as well. The Circus Maximus reverse is quite rare, and if the reverse of the film coin was in the same condition as the obverse, you would be looking at an extremely valuable coin. It wouldn't make any sense for the producers to buy or borrow such a coin. A higher-grade common type would suffice for the scene.

 

I was impressed the size of the coin the first time I saw the movie. The movie mentions Julius Caesar and a Widow's Mite. I was pretty sure those were not right. I rented a copy of the movie from Netflix and took a picture from my tv. The picture was bad, but I could see Trajan was on the coin.

I used John Jneck’s obverse legend search tool for TRAIANOAVG and found 9 potential fits. Number 2 looks most likely. I used a Trajan web site http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/Trajae.html and found 12 RIC II number matches. I suspect a large number of the RIC #s between 459 and 564 have the same legend. I will settle for a sestertius of Trajan.

TRAIANO AVG...AC PM TRP COS V PP

http://www.jhecoins.com/searchlegends.php?legend=TRAIANOAVG&Submit=+Search+

Results for: TRAIANOAVG, best (only?) fit is #2.

Emperor Trajan A.D. 98-117 Legends:

1. IMPCAESNERVAETRAIANOAVGGERDACPMTRPCOSVIPP
2. IMPCAESNERVAETRAIANOAVGGERDACPMTRPCOSVPP
a. RIC II: 459, 489, 492, 497, 504, 519, 523, 527, 536, 549, 556, 564
3. IMPCAESTRAIANOAVGGERDACPART
4. IMPNERVAETRAIANOAVGDACPMTRPCOSVIPP
5. IMPTRAIANOAVGGERDACICOTRPCOSVPP
6. IMPTRAIANOAVGGERDACPMTRP
7. IMPTRAIANOAVGGERDACPMTRPCOSVDESVI
8. IMPTRAIANOAVGGERDACPMTRPCOSVIPP
9. IMPTRAIANOAVGGERDACPMTRPCOSVPP

 

I see over 70 sestertii with RIC entries with that legend. A handful are left facing busts, but we're still talking about dozens of options.

 

One of my most favorite Christmas Holiday movies. Sorry to say that since the professor didn't produce a 'modern' coin, my curiosity wasn't peaked. Feel free to cast stones........

 

I have one.