Caracalla denarius

Did someone know, is this denaius fake or geunine.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

welcome gogili

 

It is 1.7 gr weight.

 

The weight seems very light for this coin. It should be 3-3.5g

Caracalla Denarius, RIC 80b, RSC 420a, BMC 481
205 AD. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, draped bust right / PONTIF TR P VIII COS II, Mars, with cloak, foot on helmet, holding branch and spear. RSC 420a.

 

Caracalla denarii should be around 3g. I'd allow a little less for coins with corrosion, etc. But yours is a lot less than what I'd expect.

If it was a denarius around the time of Elagabalus or later, yeah, I've seen some genuine ones with wildly fluctuating weights (quality control suffered a bit in tbe buildup to and the crisis of the third century), but I would not expect that for Caracalla.

 

It's hard to guess from pictures as unclear as those, but the light weight could be due to extreme crystallization.

My lightest denarius of Caracalla is 1.82g.

 

Perhaps the weight is not accurate? And although I lean towards a genuine coin that is just an impression and nothing more.

It does seem a more typical weight would be about 3 grams although coins under 2 grams during the Severan dynasty are not unheard of.

I recently purchased a denarius of Septimius Severus struck at Rome in 208 AD that came in at 3.94 grams...... and zumbly just posted Caracalla above at 1.82 so the variation can be quite significant.

 

Well, I checked my records and I do have one lightweight Severan for what it's worth. Apparently I'm not the only one here who has a lightweight Maesa either.


Julia Maesa, c. 165 - c. 226 AD.
AR denarius, 20mm, 2.1g, 12h; Rome mint, 218-220 AD.
Obv: IVLIA MAESA AVG. draped bust right.
Rev: PVDICITIA, Pudicitia seated left, drawing out veil from shoulder with right hand and holding sceptre in left.
Reference: RIC 268.

 

Also, I have in collection this Maximinus I denarius, of wheight 1.6gr.

 

Weight is not far off

MAXIMINUS I
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: VICTORIAAVG - Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm
Struck at Rome, 235-236 AD March - January
2.8g, 21mm
RIC 16, BMC 25, C 99

 

Weight is all fine and well to consider as a potential factor in determining authenticity, but what I find most important is examination of the coin itself since Roman denarii were typically minted "al marco" meaning that for a specific amount of metal delivered to the mint, there was an expectation of a certain number of finished coins and a certain finished weight of the whole batch of coins - however, there was almost no control over the individual coins' weights. Although <2g is a little unusual, it's hardly unheard of in Severan denarii. I've seen certainly authentic denarii as low as 1.5g.
That said, even though the photos aren't particularly well focused, I see nothing to make me suspect this relatively common piece is anything other than authentic. Perhaps, however, if I had it in-hand, I might see something the unfocused photos do not reveal.

 

googly ... you obviously meant to say "thank you" ... right?

Oh, did I already say "welcome"?

 

Coins of this period were a poor silver mix and some suffered to leeching of weight in the ground. That makes weight vary but this is light even for the appearance. The photo is poor and soft so I would err on the side of safety. I would not buy the coin. We can't expertise properly from good photos so soft looking ones are worthless.

 

Caracalla denarius, eh?

Ummm, well, I do have one example I can show ya ...

Caracalla. As Caesar, AR Denarius
Struck AD 201-202
AD 196-198
Rome mint
Diameter: 18 mm
Weight: 3.17 grams
Obverse: Laureate and draped bust right
Reverse: ADVENT AVGG, galley left; signum and aquila at stern
Reference: RIC IV 120; RSC 3
Other: 6h ... VF, lightly toned
From the Dr. George Spradling Collection



Wow, my weight is a lot different, eh?

However, here are a whole bunch of examples to compare against ...

https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PAGE_NUM=&PAGE=1&TABS_TYPE=2&CONTAINER_TYPE_ID=1&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=caracalla denarius&ITEM_IS_SOLD=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_1=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_3=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1

Yah, both of your coins are super-light (I would dodge them both and buy something else) ... but that's just me

... hmmm, it is a bit odd that both of your coins are on the super low-end, eh? (maybe switch coin sellers?)

*welcome*

 

Mine seems alright weighing in at 3.6g

 

I have a Caracalla and his Wife:


RI Caracalla 198-217 AR Denarius MONETA


RI Plautilla 202-205 CE m Caracalla AR Denarius 3.7g Concordia patera scepter RIC 363

 

Caracalla, AD 198-217
AR Denarius, 20mm, 2.8g, 12h; Rome Mint, AD 206
Obv.: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; Laureate, draped bust right, seen from behind.
Rev.: PONTIF TR P VIIII COS II; Mars, in military dress, standing left, resting right hand on shield and holding spear.

 

JAZ Numismatics? Looks very familiar to me. I think I considered buying that coin a year and 5 months ago from JA before finally settling for this one.



That is a fantastic coin @Jwt708 . Definitely one to be proud of. That Virtvs reverse is stunning. So much detail in the body armour.

 

I messed up...there was supposed to be some typing. I like to collect Caracalla. @gogili1977 your coin looks fine to me too.

 

The photo is so blurry that I got seasick looking at it.

The light weight would be enough of a concern to me (and no doubt to potential future buyers) that I would pass and wait for a nice example. My guess it that the coin is ok and has just lost a lot of metal to acidic soil conditions, but why buy a problem example of such a common emperor and wind up with something you can't sell down the road?