Pulcheria Ae? What do you think?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Brian Bucklan, Mar 24, 2016.

  1. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    Was going through some old coin purchases that I put away years ago and came across this coin. It was marked as purchased on ebay in 2003 with my note of Pulcheria ?? on it. Cleaned it up a little and it actually looks like it may be a decent example of this Empress.

    Pulcheria.jpg
    The obverse legend appears to be AL (or AEL) PVLCH - (ERIA AVG) with the P looking like an E because the top loop is missing. The reverse is the CONCORDIA AVG type with Empress seated on throne with arms folded. The only two coins with this reverse are Evdocia and Pulcheria and the legend sure points to the latter. What do you think?
     
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  3. Mikey Zee

    Mikey Zee Delenda Est Carthago

    Looks pretty decent to me but I'm as unsure as you are. I think Mat or Val will be the best source for an answer.
     
  4. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Brian Bucklan likes this.
  5. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

  6. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    ACserach, wildwinds, all the same, no dots for the throne & Evdocia does.
     
  7. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    Hey Mat, I see what you see but it's obviously a pretty small sample. The problem is that there is clearly an L-C-H on the obverse and that leads to Pulcheria. But ... the P looks like an E. Now I see why I put it away 13 years ago.
     
    stevex6 likes this.
  8. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    I don't own a Pulcheria, I can onyl go by what I find online, not much to find unless it's gold.
     
    Brian Bucklan likes this.
  9. ValiantKnight

    ValiantKnight Well-Known Member

    The letter to the right of the V looks a lot more like an L and not a D (doesn't even look like a messed-up D to me), so my opinion is that its Pulcheria. That being said I am very envious!
     
    Brian Bucklan likes this.
  10. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    Thanks VK. I also think it's Pulcheria but you can tell I'm not 100% sure and that's why I wanted some opinions. But Mat has made a valid point so I still can't say for certain. After finding this one I think I need to go through some more of these old ebay coins I put away many years ago.
     
    Ancientnoob likes this.
  11. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    By the way, as weird as this sounds the obverse die looks like it started out as a Eudocia and was re-engraved into a Pulcheria. Maybe that's not as crazy as it sounds, who knows.
     
  12. ValiantKnight

    ValiantKnight Well-Known Member

    I can only imagine the rarities you are probably going to find :woot:
    In 2003 while you were buying up rare and cool ancient coins I was only a kid collecting the state quarters :D Kinda crazy to see how much I've changed with regards to coin collecting.
     
  13. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Brian, in your photo, it looks like the portrait is slightly double struck or shifted, I see double mouth/lips. Is there some doubling in the letters. And I thought about reengraving being a issue do or reverse die for eudocia.
     
  14. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    In 2003 I didn't collect!
     
  15. stevex6

    stevex6 Random Mayhem

    Wow, Brian-B => that's a very cool and very rare OP-example (congrats) ...

    Yah, I really like the reverse, showing Concordia sitting on her throne with her arms folded (judging all marriages!! => man, I hope that she doesn't tell my wife how much I spend on ancient coins!!)

    :eek:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_(mythology)

    => oh, and ranking #155 out of 207 on the who gives a poop ERIC-II Rarity scale (very nice)

    :rolleyes:
     
  16. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    Thanks to everybody who pointed out I'm an old guy. Well ... I guess I really am. One advantage was that I got to buy good stuff on ebay 15 to 20 years ago. Back then there were only a few ancient collectors and you typically were only bidding against a couple of other bidders, if any. This Pulcheria (I think) coin went for the staggering sum of $22.27 including shipping.

    I remember once looking at a pic of a Licinius bronze that appeared to be taken from Earth orbit. I had to cut and paste and use a photo enhancement program to see that it was a very rare closed door campgate (I actually have an example of all of these; Constantine, Crispus and Licinius). I think it went for $30. Those days are long gone now but it was fun while it lasted.

    Now it's time for my nap.
     
    Mikey Zee likes this.
  17. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    I second that!
     
  18. LukeGob

    LukeGob Well-Known Member

    Old thread, but gotta say; wow! Ever get to leaning one way or the other? Pulcheria is my guess. Spelling gets...interpretive on AE of the time. Nice score!
     
  19. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I think it's Pulcheria. I also had a major collector of late Roman types agree with that. Here's a new pic and you can see the obverse is most likely AE PVLCH ... with the top loop of the P not completed closed, and the last H kind of compressed. A bit more likely that than AE EVDO ...

    Who knows.

    Pulcheria Ae.jpg
     
    Severus Alexander, seth77 and Bing like this.
  20. seth77

    seth77 Well-Known Member

    Wonderful find. I don't have my RIC X with me, but is this type with empress sitting on throne facing recorded for Pulcheria? I thought this was Eudocia's type.
     
  21. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    I'm reading that as EVDOC-, with a weird-shaped D.
     
    Moe "Wolfy" Wilder likes this.
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