Probus With Silver?

Attached I have a Probus that appears to have silver plate. Note areas that appear to be craters and laminations with silver curling up. Thanks for any feedback. I inadvertently got two images of the reverse.

 

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Here is a Probus like you have in better condition. I also believe it is silver although I do not have a testing kit to check it.

 

Thanks for posting that very nice piece.

 

They are from different mints. The first coin is Cyzicus (you can see C M on the reverse) but you can't quite see the rest of the mintmark which is XXI something. The second coin is from Serdica with mintmark K A Gamma. Neither is made of silver but both would have started out as silvered.

 

I very much appreciate all this feedback. Very educational.

 

The OP coin is as follows with my best guess at the exe.:-

Probus
Obv:– IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG, Radiate, bust left in imperial mantle, holding scepter surmounted by eagle
Rev:– SOLI INVICTO, Sol in spread quadriga holding whip
Minted in Cyzicus (CM in centre field, XXIQ in exe) Emission 3 Officina 4. A.D. 280
Reference:– RIC 911 Bust type H



The same type was minted across the empire.

Rome



Siscia



Cyzicus

 

Nice coins all. What I find as an interesting phenomenon with silvered coins is just how much they vary in the amount of silvering that is left. In some cases a superlative coin has no silvering, whereas in other cases a somewhat worn piece will have more silvering. I suppose in some cases the alloy adhered better than on other examples. As far as I know the process to adhere the silver wash onto the coin is not very well understood by metallurgists. (Correct me if I am wrong).

 

The variety of silvering is indeed very wide. Frome full to partial patchy, none, including sandy.

A small sample of my RIC 911 coins.

 

I have one that I was told was plated as a Barbrous Fourree (sp).
Septimius Severus Denarius. Feel free to comment. Whoops need pics. Next post.

 

Pics of the Barnarous

 

At first I thought the coin might have been silver washed, but it does appear to be thinly plated.

Interesting!

 

That is more or less correct. By the time of Probus, supposedly silver coins contained only about 5% silver, the rest was copper. Thus the need for the silver wash to make them appear silver.

During the reign of Septimius Severus, however, denarii were still solid silver, albeit debased. You coin is a fourree, but probably not barbarous--meaning a coin that was minted and intended to be used in areas outside the Empire where official coinage was scarce--but counterfeit. Whoever made your coin most likely intended to pass it off as a legitimate denarius within the Empire.

 

I have a similar one from from cyzicus , with silver plate still intact

 

Gotta little silver on this one:

PROBUS


RI Probus 276-282 CE Ant 21mm Rome mint captive on ground Riding Horse in ex R-Thunderbolt-Z RIC 155

 

@Alegandron I have one with the R thunderbolt Z that I have had a terrible time identifying. Thanks for the post it does help.

 

My pleasure! I enjoy when we PILE-ON various coins in threads for the exact reason that you stated: I LEARN from the variety of coins posted, I DISCOVER details that I would never had noticed or knew, and everyone has the opportunity to DISPLAY Ancient coins that otherwise average folks would have no interest or outright ignore.

Personally, I do not understand folks who hide away these treasures! I am a steward of possessing these cool bits of heritage. They represent achievements of Humans throughout history, and I enjoy when they are shared!

Oh, and thank you... I have always liked that Probus because of that cool horse and the thunderbolt!

And, since the die-cutter created a "split-horse", he was probably working on the new ultra-secret Legionary project with Robot Horses...

 

@Alegandron Just this morning I got leads on three coins I have been researching. I agree about the posting you mentioned. Sometimes that activity can be called "hijacking". But, us amateur's need all the help we can get. I have been collecting for over 70 years and have had many ancients sitting around. I have recently pulled them out. I find a lot of interesting coins and need help. This is a great place to find it.

 

OH! And Happiest of Birthdays!

South Central Texas... my daughter was stationed at Ft Hood for several years.