I wonder if some of you could be of some assistance to me. This coin belongs to my neighbor. Someone gave it to him years ago as a gift for some assistance he lent them. The coin appears to be a Tetricus of nominal value if authentic. The front as you can see is fair shape but the back is pretty badly worn. Any chance any of you can confirm authenticity based on the details of the photo?
Nobody can say certainly from a photo but it appears so. These are very common and can be found very cheaply. The coin is actually of Tetricus II, Tetricus' son. The reverse is of Spes! Google "Tetricus II Spes" and I'm sure you'll find many of them similar.
It's authentic. But is it official? That's the $64,000 question. Imitations abounded in the Romano-Gallic Empire. Some probably looked very convincing; some official coins looked really crude. Maybe. No one really knows for sure. But the OP is almost certainly authentic and ancient. And the obverse portrait looks about as good as any I've seen, so chances are it's an official issue. But as I said . . .
This coin is pretty dark in color seen with the natural eye - almost black or deep charcoal gray. Is it copper? I took the picture in the sun which brings out the image well. I am surprised to learn that these are so common and remain widely available in circulation. I supposes in those days they could just make as much as they wanted and if they needed money they would just mint more. And given that there were no currency markets in those days, why would it matter. Still, it's pretty cool to have something that old. Thanks for the help.
They were mostly bronze. There may have been some silver mixed in, but consistency is not their strong point.
I believe it is official. Certainly there is a range of degrees of barbarism but this one looks quite 'normal' The reverses are usually bad compared to the obverses. Another tip is that unofficial coins are often smaller/lighter than officials. Coins between 2.0 and 2.5g could be either but lighter and heavier are more likely to be unofficial or official respectively. This is a guide, not a rule. Below are four Spes which I believe to represent two official and two (very) barbarous issues. Official or not, Spes is the most common type for Tetricus II. Very 'unofficial', the one below has a mirror image reverse.
I agree that the second coin from the top is probably official. I have my doubts about the first coin. But that's what makes these so interesting.
I meant the top coin of the four that Doug posted. To me, yours looks official based on the lettering on the reverse, but really, no one can say for certain with coins from this region during this time period. There were just so many unofficial coins, (we think), and the quality of the official coins appears to vary greatly. It's also possible that a lot of the official coins were just very poorly executed. We don't even know for certain where all the official coins were minted. This area needs a lot more study, and it's likely that there's a lot we'll never know.
I personally think it's pretty remarkable considering the era and the level of industrialization at the time, that the process was as good as it was to make some of those coins. There's remarkable detail and it showed great ingenuity considering what they had to work with. Really impressed by that.
