Coin #4 – GTCTer 2019 (Guess the Owner of This Coin)

Welcome to Round 4 of Guess the CTer 2019. For the latest updates on the game and to review the clues to the possible prizes please check out the master thread.

[Ancients] Guess the CTer (2019) Master Thread

Coin #4


Anonymous
AE Quadrans, Rome mint, struck early 2nd century AD
Wt.: 2.93 g

Why I added it to my collection
I bought this anonymous quadrans at least partly because it is different than most Roman coins. There is no legend other than SC on the reverse. It is part of a series, each with a reverse related to the god on the front. Mars is paired with an empty cuirass. These are thought to date to the early 2nd century.

How the Game Works
The object of the game is pretty simple: Guess which CT member the above coin belongs to out of the five participating members.

@dougsmit
@Al Kowsky
@Valentinian
@Curtisimo
@Parthicus

This is the 4th of 5 total game threads. After I post all coins and allow for three days time for each thread I will hold a drawing to select 5 winners from those who played the game. Participants can earn multiple chances to win based on the following rules.

1. Guess who the owner of the coin is and give a reason why you think that. (Ex.: I believe that this coin belongs to Curtisimo because he owns pink socks and thinks a toboggan is a hat.) This is the minimum requirement for entry into the drawing. Please include a reason with your guess!
2. Anyone who posts a photo of an ancient coin along with their guess (related or not) will receive an extra chance to win.
3. Anyone who gives a particularly well thought out or amusing reason why you guessed a certain person will receive an extra chance to win.
4. Anyone who guesses correctly will receive an extra chance to win.
5. Anyone who is a young numismatist (age 18 or younger) will receive an extra chance to win. If you are a YN please say so in your entry post.

In total there can be up to 5 chances to win for each member in each thread!

A Note to the Volunteers
If you would like to follow along with the results of the poll feel free to vote for yourself.

A Note to Poll Voters
The poll option is intended just for fun. If you wish to have your guesses counted for the game or to be eligible for the prizes please comment in the below thread per the above.

 

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Well well well... this is interesting .

I suspect our volunteers and/or host are getting crafty. The images of this coin may have been purposefully shot out of focus or otherwise made lower resolution and the background is photoshopped from a non-black original. Perhaps the originally planned contest images were even changed after the whole thing started when Curtis realized many of us were depending on image style for assignment of ownership.

I think it's from either Doug or Curtis. The type and this exact coin would not be out of place in the collection of either of them (or Valentinian). So who to pick? Hmm. The photo trickery or editing trickery would be child's play for either of them. Without knowing what the fifth entry will be, it's a coin toss.

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The toss goes to @Curtisimo .

I have no quadrans to share but here's something iconographically related:


IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum, c. 4th century BCE, AE8. 0.95g, 8.2mm. Rare.
O: Laureate head of Apollo left.
R: M-A, cuirass.
SNG Kayhan 393.
(images from AMCC)

 

Interesting, indeed... if after a quick search I hadn't found that @Valentinian had wrote a freaking web site on quadrans! The write up being so consice yet insightful gives me no doubt that ol Ry to the ro is now 4 of 4...baboom!
#Kingofthecoincage


I do love the quads me self.

 

Maybe the owner didn't take the images himself. Perhaps they are the seller's images. They are definitely not the owner's images unless they were purposefully lower quality than usual for the sake of deception. Or, maybe the owner has had the coin a long long time-- before becoming better at coin photography.

The coin toss still goes to Curtis .

 

I'm going with @Parthicus ......

.....Not your run of the mill Roman coin maybe interesting for an Eastern collector to delve into?.....
Here's Mars in full armour...
Severus Alexander. 222-235 AD. AR Denarius (2.89 gm, 20mm). Rome mint. Struck 228 AD.
Obv.: IMP SEV ALE-XAND AVG, laureate head right.
Rev.: PM TRPVII COSII PP , Mars standing right, holding shield and spear.
RIC IV 83; BMCRE 503; RSC 337. aEF.

 

Round 4 - where that feeling sinks in that all my earlier guesses were wrong. I don't know whose coin this is, but I know that I would like to own it. Valentinian has a nice page on this type of coin and the rarer coin from the mine of Delmatia which was one of several mines that supplied metal for the mint at Rome with reverse inscription "METAL DELM". So, maybe not his coin - and I already picked him for coin #3.

I don't see anything that says "Al Kowsky" about this coin and I am feeling good about my coin #1 pick. This doesn't seem a "Parthicus" pick, so that would leave "Curtisimo" and "dougsmit". I already picked dougsmit for coin #2, so I am going to say @Curtisimo and wonder what coin #5 from @Parthicus holds.

Here's a quadrans...

 

It will be funny when the owners are revealed and we both score 0/5 .

 

I had actually liked the idea mentioned previously about guessing the same participant every time. This promising the most Pyrric of victories 1/5! But I'll take my chances at total victory... Even if it means utter defeat (and a hardy helping of humble pie).

 

Some really great reasons put forward in the game so far. Reading the reason people think a coin belongs to one person or the other has been my favorite part of the game.

Many have already picked up that the game is much easier if all 5 coins are known up front. In the next and final round I will invite players to guess the owners from all 5 rounds if they wish to.

I will also post a spreadsheet in the master thread of everyone's guesses in the first 4 rounds for reference (and to help make sure I didn't miss any guesses for the drawing portion!)

 

I have to go Valentinian on this one, he loves these types, Quadrans, Semis and odd denominations where all you have to go on is the size and weight of the coin.
ROMAN REPUBLIC 273-269 BC, AE Litra, Head of Minerva, ROMANO horses head. RRC 17/1a, 18.5mm, 6.02gm Early struck coinage.

 

Yes, but...

V already has a few of these and most of us have seen his website and many of us have read his page on quadrans... which might have even been the inspiration for Curtis's purchase .

I guess V could have picked up another as store stock, or just to have another example of the cool type.

(Still sticking with Curtis )

 

I trust Curtissimo is as honored as I am to be classified as skilled in what we do. The question now is whether TIF is right to trust important decisions to a coin toss. Of the five volunteers, one knows what coin #5 will be. Will that make the coin land on edge?
"If coin lands on edge, vote Anderson"
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces109643.html

 

I'm going to say @Al Kowsky on this one no reason apart from I've used up everyone else and I'm leaving @Parthicus till last (hope to see a parthian next lol)

Not related but:

Carthage AE20
OBV: Date palm tree with fruit
REV: Horse head
Struck at Zeugitana, Carthage or Siculo-Punic,
3d-4th Century BC
8.2g
20mm
SNG Cop-10

 

This just looks like a Doug Smith coin regardless of the image. Besides, Doug is getting too old to consume bacon in any quanitity. So what the heck. Doug Smith it is!

TRAJAN
AE Quadran
OBVERSE: IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG GERM, diademed bust of Hercules right with lion-skin on neck
REVERSE: Boar walking right, SC in ex.
Struck at Rome, 98-117 AD
2g, 14mm
RIC 702

 

To me, this looks like just the sort of interesting coin Doug might scoop up at the right price (ie., at least 30% less than it actually deserves), so I’m picking him for this round. Yes, the photo doesn’t look like his, but Curtis is a crafty gamemaster, so I think it’s entirely possible he’s not beyond trying to mess with us that way.

 

my remaining choices are Curtisimo and Dougsmit. I choose Dougsmit I think this is really a coin for him, not too high quality but interesting. Moreover, it seems logical to me that Curtisimo has positioned as the last or the first. So I go for dougsmit.

 

Æ Quadrans . Rome, 85. IMP DOMIT AVG GERM COS XI bust of Ceres right., wearing wreath of grain. R/ Modius full of grain ears. RIC II 315
Haven't a clue about the possible owner of the initial coin.

 

I think it's @dougsmit because the reason for acquisition is consistent with many of his other acquisitions. It just sounds like Doug.

 

My vote for such a coin goes to @Curtisimo any day : from the pictures I've seen of him he's the only one to be fit enough to wear such cuirass as depicted on reverse...

Is that silly enough a reason for choosing him ?

Mars himself :




Q

 

Well, the image style and quality is similar to mine, I do collect Roman coins (even ones with no obvious connection to Parthia), I'm not afraid of low-grade coins... The more I think about it, the more sure I am that this is my coin

Note to @Curtisimo: Do not enter this guess in the contest, for obvious reasons.