Dear Friends, I have recently bought two denars of Severus Alexander. However they have very different designs, and I would like to ask your opinion about any suspicious signs of these coins. Thank you very much in advance for your help! Best wishes, Gábor
As far as I can tell they are both real Roman coins. The metal flow and surfaces look great, as do the irregularities around the edges of the flans.
The question here was why the coins look so different. Severus Alexander issued coins for several years during which time he grew from a young person to an adult. He used two mints that shared little in the was of styles or types. Like most Romans, he had many reverse types in production at the same time. His coins are common and required the use of many sets of dies. Each die was an individual work carved by hand not using mechanical reproduction methods as we see in modern times. There are many things to study even if you collected only coins of this one emperor. There are a couple hundred rulers, some more common, many more rare. You are right to be suspicious but, in this case, I agree with Sallent and Mat that they are good but must point out that we never say a coin is definitely genuine from just a photo. That is why we always suggest all beginners and wise longer term collectors buy coins from people they trust.
The flow lines, as Sallent pointed out suggest for me that the coins are authentic. This was the result of the hammer hitting the die and having the hot metal spread from the impact. Common feature on silver coins of the third century.
Thank you very much for your help! I understand now the very different style of the first coin. It was so unusual for me that's why I asked about it. Hereby I share the pics of my other coin (It also differs significantly from the first coin in design, anyway.)
