A New Septimius Severus Denarius - Opinions Please

This coin came walking into the shop today, so of course I bought it.

A silver Denarius of Septimius Severus with Hercules reverse.

Thoughts?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks good to me in nice condition I might add.

Ref Septimius Severus Denarius, RIC 97, RSC 212, BMC 218
Septimus Severus Denarius. L SEPT SEV PERT AVG VIIII, laureate head right / HERCVLI DEFENS, Hercules standing right resting on club & holding bow & lion skin in hand. RSC 212.

 

Looks like a good purchase to me - excellent example of an interesting type. I have one, not yet photographed, and much less nice than yours.

 

I like it, good details on herc.

 

I like it.

 

Great OP-coin!! ... congrats, Aethelred

=> I love Herc examples (I'm jealous of that winner)

 

Yes, that is a nice one, with a fine portrait of Septimius Severus.

 

The Hercules is not a rare type of the Rome mint but people here probably get a skewed idea of what rare means from all the really rare Eastern denarii Martin has posted. Septimius is a very common ruler and his coins come in poor to extremely nice shape. I'm not sure anyone who posts here regularly cares a lot about the Rome mint coins so nice ones like this seem more special than they are in a market sense. Hercules was issued at a time when mint workmanship was not at the best level so many are small and scrappy.

Barbarous? The reverse right should read DEFENS.


Rome mint normal

 

It's nice to see one on a full flan, well struck with plenty of detail. I have two that I have acquired over the years. Neither is anywhere near as nice but do show some of the problems with the output from this time (ragged/tight flans for example).

 

I think Gresham's Law comes into play here (good money drives out bad). Less than 5 years after his death, his son Caracalla introduced the "double" denarius, known today as the antoninianus, which contained approximately 1 1/2 times the silver as a genuine denarius. Denarii were probably pulled out of circulation and hoarded as use of the antoninianus became widespread. Because of this, many Severan-era denarii have been preserved with very little wear.

We see this occur several times over the history of the Roman Empire. There are many beautiful examples of large, early-reform, 4th century nummi to be found today at very reasonable prices because shortly after their introduction their size was dramatically reduced. We even see this in U.S. coinage. Go to any coin show and you'll find numerous examples of XF and UNC silver from 1964, the year before we switched to clad coinage.

 

Looks like a winner to me!

 

I'm an experienced collector, but I'm fairly new to ancients. One day I stopped at one of the local coin shops and the dealer said he had something I might be interested in. He had a coin that was about 1,800 years old and he also had the wife of the person on the coin. He showed me Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. The price was right, so I bought the both of them. I'm still learning to take photos of coins that are as small as these two, so I'll just have to post scans.

These two started me on a new journey in coin collecting:

 

I think it is a neat reverse, but Sear shows it at £23 in VF, so it it dead common.

 

I will defer to those with more knowledge of this era than me, but I suggest there may be a flaw with this theory. My reason for thinking this is that Caracalla introduced the Antoninianus in c. 215, after his assassination it continued to be issued for a brief time under Macrinus and Elagabalus, but ceased to be minted by about mid way in the latter's reign (c. 219-220). It would then be almost 20 years before it was issued again (AD 238).

 

I'm a little confused here. I think you got the "good" and "bad" adjectives reversed in Gresham's Law.

Gresham's law is that "bad money drives out good money" meaning, e.g., that if high-purity silver denarii and lower-purity silver denarii are in circulation at the same time, the higher purity denarii will be taken out of circulation by individuals, leaving mostly the lower purity denarii (the "bad money") in circulation.

 

Those are nice examples from the middle period of the reign and more well struck on full flans than is ordinary for that period. They are certainly much better than we tend to see shown here as "My First Ancients"! I hope you will enjoy not only the coins but the Coin Talk family here.

 

I have to admit, I'm intimidated by the knowledge that I see posted here about ancients. As an experienced collector, I'm used to club members and others, asking me for information about coins. Ancients is a whole different story. You not only have to have a knowledge of the coin, but history is also an important part of this area of coin collecting.

I'm also not as young as I used to be, so to remember the terms, relationships, grades, etc. of ancients doesn't come to me as easily as it used to. I tend to sit back and listen and learn, but I have to admit sometimes it seems less informed or newer members tend not to be included in discussions. I understand that, long time members know each other and feel comfortable with each other, but like the hobby of coin collecting as a whole, I think it's each person's responsibility to try and encourage new people to join in and help the hobby grow and prosper. Jeez I'm starting to sound like a Preacher, so I'll stop.

 

Are any of us? I know I'm feeling my age more and more.

To be honest, there are some members here who have extensive knowledge and I think they try to share. But, then there are those of us who learn everyday from the postings here (I am one of the latter people). Besides, any one on the forum is encouraged to chime in whenever they fell like adding something. CT is a good place!

 

You're right, of course. Gresham's Law is the exact opposite of what I typed.