At the start of his reign the coin (we call it an antoninianus) still had a decent plating of silver but by the end of his reign the bottom had fallen out and the coins had the thinnest of silver wash on it. Wait until you read what happened to his father Valerianus and you will understand what I mean about the bottom falling out. Your purchase of that coin at $5 should be seen as a gift of Fortuna. I have been collecting for decades and though I have several coins of Gallienus I would have bought that one and been willing to pay more than that. Consider this a sign, an omen, that you should become a student of Ancient history and a custodian of antiquity till it passes on to some other person for his keeping. In other words, become a collector of ancient coins and you will be happy you did.
Welcome to ancients. I started about 2 months ago and the people on this site have helped me greatly. I was overwhelmed, still am but I think headed in the right direction thanks to their help. I look forward to seeing more from you....again welcome...
Great first ancient! Congrats! For $5 you scored! Gallienus ruled for 15 years. Half that time with his father Valerian I. He fought off many northern barbarian tribes, Sassanids in the East, and many usurping generals. Sometimes with success. When his father was captured by Shapur the tide of history swung against him and he lost control of large parts of the empire. Exciting history with lots of action!
Great first ancient. Welcome to the club. I am assembling the coinage for this family, slowly but surely. So far I have: Gallienus Salonina Valerian
So If I understand this correctly. That would date mine more toward 253 rather than 268? I was thinking about doing a "Husband and Wife" kind of set. So I would need a Salonina next. That is a very nice Gallienus @Sallent Is it One of the "Zoo" series I was reading about?
Dating coins within the reign will take more than a little study but there are specialist works suggesting some pattern if you get into these deeply. The big division is whether a coin was issued before or after Valerian was captured. Two emperors is signaled by the plural AVGG abbreviation while the later, sole reign coins show singular AVG. Not all legends ended with 'Augustus' so this clue is not always available. Early coins had enough silver to appear gray without a silver wash while the late ones will look entirely copper. Your coin seems to have a decent amount of remaining silver wash but not a lot in the alloy of the core so it might date to the middle to later period. Add to this the fact that Gallienus struck coins from several mints and not all reduced the quality on the exact same schedule. I suggest, for now anyway, you just be happy with separating sole reign from joint. Better silver, earliest, joint reign but legend not having AVGG (IOVI CONSERVA) Decent silver but toned, earlier, joint reign PIETAS AVGG Later, sole reign with partial retained silver wash (a zoo series hippocamp NEPTVNO CONS AVG) Later, sole reign with all silver gone (this looked silver when new but no more) SALVS AVG - More coins of Gallienus you will see look like this in color today. Gallienus ruled at the time when the coinage passed gradually from barely enough silver to look gray to not much of any but the silver wash made all appear the same in the beginning. If you decide to specialize in these (I do not) you will develop a feel for the differences between metal contents as well as mints and possible dates. Gallienus is only one of many very interesting periods available for study and collecting. I recommend being a general collector for a while until you decide if there is one specialty that makes you want to be exclusive. Here on Coin Talk we have collectors of all kinds. Whichever you choose, you will most likely find someone sharing your interests.