Common as Dirt : a Gordian III Antoninianus

A couple of threads recently have touched on rare rulers and coins. Here's one recent arrival of mine that is neither. In fact, I always remember a memorable phrase used by one of our members here whenever I see Gordian III antoninianii, the 'cockroaches of Roman silver' .

The unusual and the rare draw me in as well, but when I saw this coin, it quite simply said, "BUY ME!!". A nice coin is a nice coin, so sometimes, really, to heck with rarity. Feel free to share your Gordian III cockroaches .


GORDIAN III
AR Antoninianus
4.87g, 22mm
Rome mint, AD 240-243
RIC 95
O: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
R: VIRTVTI AVGVSTI, the "Farnese" Hercules standing right, resting hand upon hip and holding club set upon rock.

 

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Nice, I have one of those too


5.3g 23mm
Gordian III coins are farily cheap, but i like mine better than all of my earlier roman silver coins that i have so far.. lol.

 

Lovely!

 

I'm looking for one of those common as dirt Gordian III antoninianus myself. I love his portrait on coinage.
You got a really nice one there. Congratulations.

 

Nice coins. Question: why are the coins of such a relatively obscure emperor so common?

 

Gordian III ruled for six years, which was plenty of time to mint a massive number of coins to pay off the soldiers, finance military campaigns, and otherwise grease the wheels of economy. Claudius II barely made it past two years, but his coins are awfully common as well. Within half a dozen years of GIII's death, the fineness of the antoninianus started falling badly... good reason for those holding on to these nice shiny GIII's coins to hoard them. What we have now probably comes from a number of large hoards. The Great Dorchester Hoard alone had 8000+ (many of which I believe ended up dispersed into the collector market).

 

I believe a lot of it is timing. The end of the denarius and takeover by the antoninianus probably resulted in a shortage of circulating silver so the expenses of the army could not be met by coin on hand. The start of the really bad debasement also drove many people to put away the better silver coins.

The odd part to me is how few rare types of Gordian III there are.

 

well if that's a cockroach, it's one sweet looking cockroach...that's for sure.

i only have one i picked up several years ago, and it is better than my poor pic would suggest...but not much.

 

Z that Hercules is tremendous

Here's mine with a less detailed reverse


Gordian III, Antoninianus Antoninianus struck in Rome c.241-243 AD
IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, Draped and radiate bust of Gordian right
VIRTVTI AVGVSTI, Hercules standing right, leaning on club
5.41 gr
Ref : RCV #8670, Cohen #404

Q

 

These cockroaches are nice!

I still need to get myself a Gordian. I think my brother has one.

Erin

 

Here's my RIC 95

 

Hey I finally have one to contribute to an ancient thread. Given to my son for Christmas by Eng.

 

Gordian III
Antoninianus, Rome mint (Jan to Mar 240)
OBV: IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG
REV: AEQVITAS AVG
Aequitas standing front, head left, holding scales and cornucopia
RIC 34

 

Gordian III
Antoninianus, Rome mint (242 AD)
OBV: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG
REV: PM TR P V COS II P P
Apollo, bare to waist, seated left, holding branch and resting left elbow on lyre
RIC 89

 

Gordian III
Antoninianus, Rome mint (241 AD)
OBV: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG
REV: PM TR P IIII COS II P P
Gordian in military dress, standing right, holding transverse spear and globe
RIC 92

 

Gordian III
Antoninianus, Rome mint (242-244 AD)
OBV: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG
REV: FIDES MILITVM
Fides standing left holding two standards
RIC 209, listed as Rare in the RIC

 

Gordian III
Antoninianus, Rome mint (242-244 AD)
OBV: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG
REV: SAECVLI FELICITAS
Gordian standing right, holding spear and globe
RIC 216

 

Just to throw in a little variety

Gordian III
Sestertius, Rome mine (239 AD)
OBV: IMP CAES GORDIANVS PIVS AVG
REV: PM TR P II COS P P
Emperor sacrificing out of a patera over altar, holding scepter in left hand
SC in fields
RIC 280

 

Nice Gordians, swish! And thanks for the coin shares and GIII love, everyone!

 

Here is the one I bought today. This is the seller's picture. I changed the background from white to black though.

It's a Gordian III Double Bonus, as he is in the obverse and also in the reverse (the little figure next to the large image of Jove)