Inexpensive beauties

This one is a real minimus. It has a diameter of of only 0.7cm. I wonder if these coins are contemporary to the official ones. Is it possible, that these tiny coins were produced as fractions of the official Ants?

 

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This one is slightly bigger than the one above, but still a real Minimus. Again, it is a mystery to me how these coins functioned. Perhaps they changed hand only in bags, meaning that their size and appearance was of no concern. More likely, these coins represent the final stage of hyperinflation when the monetary system disintegrated. The German hyperinflation of 1923 lasted only about 6 months.

Sometimes these coins are attributed to "Germanic tribes/Germanic tribes at the Rhine/or Rhine-Frankish-people". I think this is complete nonsense. The Germanic people were not interested in small copper coins. I think the Minimi represent the final stages of hyperinflation and the various imitative coins represent instances were the official mint had run out of official dies and operated with dies that were made by non-expert engravers.

 

I'm through with Tetricus I and II and I'm now going through my Victorinus group. This is the star of my Victorinus collection. The coin is a beauty and for what it is, it was inexpensive. I bought it some 15 years ago on French Ebay from an older collector who was selling off his collection.

 

This one came from the same source. The coin is near mint state, with most of its silvering preserved and a relief that is almost sharp to the touch.

 

That is a great Victorinus. My favorite Victorinus is Salus and a bit hard to see because Carausius struck his Pax coin over it.


Barbarous coins are more fun when they are way out there. I believe the maker of this one was trying for a left facing Victorinus (or Tetricus?) / Fortuna but that is a bit of a guess. It is my only left facing Barbarous Radiate.

 

Years ago, I was outbid in an auction for a barbarous (do not recall of whose) with reverse of a retarius gladiator with a clear net. Was that you? I have not seen another since.

 

I have always loved portraits from the gallic empire, here are some of my favorites:




Postumus AR Antoninianus. IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / MONETA AVG, Moneta standing left with scales and cornucopiae.


RIC V 75. RSC 199, Sear 10962. Ex. George W. Laborde collection (sorry for the blurry image)





Victorinus AE Antoninianus, Cologne mint. 269-271 AD (20mm, 3.08g) IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG, radiate draped bust right / PAX AVG, Pax standing with olive branch. V - * across fields.


RIC V 118





Tetricus I AE Antoninianus, Gallic mint, (19mm, 2.09g) IMP C TETRICVS P F AVG, radiate draped bust right / SPES PVBLICA, Spes, draped, walking left, holding flower and raising robe. RIC V 136, Cohen 170


Love the little smirk he has in this portrait.




Tetricus I AE Antoninianus, IMP (C?) TETRICVS P F AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right / HILARITAS AVGG Hilaritas, draped, standing left, holding palm in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand RIC 79/80.


Awesome portrait, too bad this is one of the worst flans I’ve seen during an era with already low minting standards haha.




Tetricus I AE Antoninianus, (17mm, 2.82g) Gallic mint, 271-274 AD. IMP TETRICVS P F AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right / LAETITIA AVG N, Laetitia draped standing left, holding wreath and baton/or anchor.


RIC V 90


Again, great portrait but hilariously bad reverse.




AE “Barbarous” Radiate, (14mm, 1.59g) Garbled legend, radiate head right / figure walking left holding bow, I in upper left corner. One of the better struck barbarous radiates I have handled. The bow or shield? Is pretty clear as well.

 

I think this is neither a bow nor a shield. The model was perhaps a PIETAS reverse and the coin may have been copied from a copy so that the meaning got lost in Translation.

 

Nope, I have never seen such a reverse. If it was a retarius it would have been quite something.

 

Interesting imitations. I like the Carausius/Victorinus overstrike. The left facing Tetricus was probably the result of the unskilled engraver failing to realise that his engraving would be mirror-inverted. Both coins demonstrate nicely the predicament of mints working under the conditions of hyperinflation. Coins had to be produced in ever bigger quantities to keep up with rising prices (while at the same time causing the rise in prices); the mints ran out of official dies quickly and used make-shift dies produced by unskilled engravers.

 

Inexpensive and beautiful coins can be hard to find for many folks but when you view ancient coins through the eyes of someone who has a fascination with history—they are common.

I consider this one of my most beautiful coins and I purchased it from a highly respected dealer in ancients for only $35.

 

Nice one. This is my most inexpensive Victorinus. It was in a group lot that worked out to $8.83 a coin.


Victorinus, AD 269-271.
Roman billon antoninianus, 2.63 g, 20.1 mm.
Cologne (though CNG attributes this coin to Treveri), AD 269/70.
Obv: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS PF AVG, radiate, draped bust, r.
Rev: FIDES MILITVM, Fides standing l., holding two standards.
RIC-109; Cohen-36; AGK-5b; De Witte pl. XXVI, 22; Sear-unlisted.

 

Great coin, excellent portrait and at under 10 Dollars a super bargain. The FIDES MILITVM reverse is scarcer than average I would say.

 

Another early Victorinus - PIETAS AVG, with near complete silvering and a FIDES MILITVM. The latter has Victorinus' full name, which is quite rare. Note the very different portrait styles.

 

Another interesting discovery. The following two Antoniniae are die-identical. They are also in the same state of preservation and I think that they may have stayed together ever since they were first minted some 1700 years ago.

 

Another variant of Victorinus' bust (AEQUITAS AVG). On this coin he looks like Marius.

 

This Victorinus - PAX AVG seems to have some kind of special bust. Note his unusually long hair and no drapery or garment on his shoulder. This is the only exemplar with this bust type in my collection.

 

Here is a particularly expressive portrait of Victorinus. Das anybody know what the V on the reverse stands for?

 

Here is a Victorinus - INVICTVS with some sort of countermark.

 

This Victorinus - VIRTVS AVG is not much to shout about at first sight. However, the coin is special for its exceptional weight of 5.3 gr. The flan is more than twice as thick than usual.