I found this fantastic forum via Google trying to find a match for a coin that was given to us by a gentleman we are caring for. I've managed to learn that is possibly a Constantius ii coin but am not sure exactly what it is I am looking at or what it's potential value may be. I appreciate any and all information given and hope we can determine exactly what we're looking at, thanks in advance! *Footnote* coin has not been cleaned*
It is a late roman bronze of Constantine II or Constantius II struck as Caesar. If I could make out the obverse lettering I'd be better able to pick out one of the two. The reverse is a GLORIA EXERCITVS type with two soldiers surrounding two standards, meaning "The Glory of the Army." Mintmark appears to be Siscia. The value would not be that much, but the historical value of the coin makes up for this.
Constantine II CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS o on banners dot epsilon SIS dot Siscia RIC VII Siscia 236; Sear 17334 c3 334-335 AD Here's a pic of another one to compare to:
Yes! Welcome! Your coin is common and not worth much (although fascinating)... and that's good news. There are tons and tons of great, historically interesting and beautiful ancient coins available for less than your average fast food lunch. Collecting ancient coins is a great hobby that can be done on any budget. Vcoins is a good place to start and browse and buy ancient coins... just price compare across all of the sellers on the site. There are some that overpriced coins but there are some good deals to be found. I'd recommend CoinTalk's own @Victor_Clark 's store.
eBay is a good place to start, too, provided that you keep your initial purchases and/or bids under $10 or, at most, $15. There are a lot of fakes on eBay, but by keeping your initial purchases under this amount, you are likely (although not guaranteed) to avoid getting ripped off. Also, bidding $8 or $10 on auction coins is a great way to learn the relative value of different coins. Chances are you won't win many coins, but you'll be notified of the final selling price, so you'll get some idea of the market price of different emperors, types, etc., (keeping in mind, though, that auction prices on eBay tend to be about 1/3 to 1/2 lower than what most dealers charge). [Full disclosure: I sell coins on eBay, but most of the coins I sell are in the $25-$100 range.] If you use VCoins, you can usually avoid overpaying by using their "low to high" sort feature. Depending on what you are interested in, you might search "Athens owl tetradrachm" or "Trajan denarius." Then after the results come up, you can rearrange the order of the coins by using the "Sort By:" drop down menu and selecting "Price: lowest first." The cheapest specimens will appear at the top of the screen. These may be too beat up for your taste, so scroll down until you find one in a condition that is acceptable to you and a price you think is reasonable.
