So I just recently bought this lot of 17 bronze coins from Forum Ancient Coins and it came with a list of identifications for each coin. They were listed as being scarce to rare rulers and one of them was identified as an AE11 (1.32 grams) minted by Cleopatra VII. I sorted through the lot and didn't find any pieces of her so by deduction that left me with this piece which was indeed minted in Egypt but looked nothing like her at all, the bust wasn't even that of a woman and the coin is too heavy to be the weight that was listed (I measured it on a scale and it's between 7 and 8 grams). Upon close inspection I knew it had to be one of the very last tetradrachms minted before Diocletian's coinage reforms at the end of the third century but I wasn't sure what ruler it was since the reverse (which turned out to be a fire altar) wasn't like any of the ones I was seeing until I typed in "carus tetradrachm" on VCoins and realized I had a posthumous piece of Carus! What I like about this coin is what led to its issue, namely the unusual way in which Carus died, having apparently been struck by lightning on his way to meet the Sassanids in battle. And to think I was just about to practically give this piece away since I had no idea what to do with it (I thought it was one of the tetrarchs like Diocletian or Maximian and I wanted to get a higher quality piece of them)! Glancing at prices of similar coins I may have saved a good deal of money compared to other examples (I paid about $20.47/coin)! It looks like my critical thinking just saved me from doing something I would have really regretted later, what a nice surprise for my collection! Carus Divus Issue AE Tetradrachm 283-285 AD Alexandria mint Around 18 millimeters Between 7-8 grams
Good ID! A lot of coins were minted for Carus after his death. I have a rew rough imperial coins but do not have one like yours from Alexandria. My first coin is similar to yours but imperial and from Antioch.
