Picked up this cheapy at a flea market. It appears to be a Roman provincial ae3/4 small bronze, about the size of a US cent. On the obverse there seems to be a youngish male facing right. I think I can make out (eyes not so good anymore) SEVEROC KAISER. On the reverse it an archer, perhaps Diana Artemis, with an inscription that may say something like ADRIANO POLES. Any help nailing this down appreciated.
I think it's Marcus Aurelius, based on what you can see of the obverse legend (...HPOC...). What threw me was that at first I thought the reverse was Artemis. It's Apollo . https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4567208 Thrace. Hadrianopolis. Marcus Aurelius as Caesar AD 139-161. Bronze Æ 18mm., 4.14g. OYHΡOC KAICAΡ, bare-headed, draped bust right / AΔΡIANOΠOΛEIT, Apollo walking right, holding bow. very fine Jurukova, HP 126, 53; Varbanov II, 261, 3180; BMC 116, 4.
By the way I just heard that RPC volume 1 (to the death of Caesar to the death of Vitellius, 44 BC- 69 AD ) is now available online ! That’s good news.
I simply do not spend the time online necessary to be of use on Coin Talk in a timely fashion. I spent the day selling pumpkins at our church fundraiser. TIF posted the full ID. Like the OP coin, mine is weak at the start of the obverse legend where the important OVHPOC needs to be seen. However this post let me to look for coins of the type and city. I found them for Antoninus Pius through Gordian III but not for two major names that I really think should have been represented. There is no Septimius Severus. Young Geta is rare but old (sole reign) Caracalla is well represented. The one I really want to see is the totally absent Lucius Verus. The Aurelius coins are common and from the earliest period just after Pius adopted the two boys. Why was one so common and the other ignored? Why were there so few during the life of Septimius Severus? Students of Hadrianopolis may know details of history that ill make sense to lean years but I would really like to know why Lucius Verus was ignored. Was any of it related to the use of the name Verus by Aurelius at this time? The portraits are obviously Marcus (Lucius Verus dd not look like these portraits). Did the mint know there were two boys? The truth is I am too lazy to do research on the matter. I have enough questions backed up that currently rank higher on my curiosity list. Anyone else interested in the question?
It may be simply a matter of supply and demand, that is a financial need having nothing to do with politics. When Hadrianopolis needed some pocket change coins they made enough for circulation and then simply ceased when there were enough in circulation. If they had sufficient coinage on hand after the Marcus Aurelius as Caesar minting, there simply may have been enough in circulation to last till the reign of Caracalla.
