Here is something I thought I would never own, a denarius of Claudius I. I have/had several coins of his, from AE provincials, tetradrachms and so on, but this is my first Denarius. I scored this one on ebay pretty much by chance & with little fight. I am sure the reverse is what turned most people off. This is one of the first coins minted under Claudius, so the portrait, to me, looks more like Caligula. Does anyone know if the mark is modern or maybe an ancient bankers mark? When it came it was jet black on the inside, but acetone made it how it is in the photo. The coin is real and no "C" for copy. Claudius (41 - 54 A.D.) AR Denarius O: TI•CLAVD•CAESAR•AVG•P•M•TR•P•, head of Claudius to right, wearing oak wreath. R: CONSTANTIAE AVGVSTI, Antonia (or Tacita or Angerona) seated to left on curule chair. Rome mint; 41-42 A.D. 3.59g 19mm RIC 2 var. (aureus); C. 4 var. (aureus); BMCRE 1 var. (aureus); BN 19 var. (aureus); Von Kaenel 109. This coin is an extremely rare variant of one of the first types of Claudius - the type is well known in gold with this obverse legend, but although the authors of RIC (Claudius, 2, note) speculated that denarii of this type might exist, until von Kaenel's study was published there were no confirmed examples, of which it is believed only 4 examples survive, and neither the BM nor Paris has one.
Interesting coin Mat . The coin has plenty of wear & "ancient" scratches. The discoloration around the oval mark leads me to think it's not a bankers mark.
Congrats. Denarii of his are hard to come by and generally expensive. Here is my only denarius of his: But I also have one from Nero with a Claudius portrait:
AWESOME catch, @Mat ! No clue as to the mark. It does NOT look like a "C" to me, rather an incomplete circle mark. Now, as you are trying to discover, WHAT is that mark? Musings: I wonder if the coin was stored with a round open end item, that over time may had been dropped onto it, and had stayed in place... causing the "stain" of metal that creeped onto your coin. (Coin in bag or jar, maybe with other coins, tube-like item in bag. Bag/Jar drops onto floor, marking coin, and still abutted against coin for centuries.) NO Claudius Denarii in my collection. Here is one: Judaea Claudius w-Britannicus CE 41-54 Æ Prutah 17mm 2.8g Antonius Felix-procurator Dated RY 14 54 CE 2-crossed shields spears - Palm tree BPIT K AI L IΔ date Hendin 1348 Oh, and one of my dogs is Claudius (he was the RUNT of the litter, and was named by my Wife, who has NO CLUE of Ancient History!)
Wow, beautiful portrait. It’s nice to own a Claudius denarius I’m happy with mine.... Claudius Claudius, denarius. RIC 83. 19mm, 3.62 g. Obv. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG GERM P M TRIB POT PP, laureate head of Claudius right. Rev. NERO CLAVD CAES DRVSVS GERM PRINC IVVENT, draped bust of Nero left.
...huh....idk what to make of that C on the reverse...doesn't really look like a copy i've ever seen....l'm in the 'ain't got and probably ain't gonna get one' party....
A very nice catch! No GERM in the obv. legend that I can see, which may well make the coin rarer. I'll have to check von Kaenel's monograph. No idea about the oval on rev., though I think more likely modern than ancient.
I'd like to see the C magnified a lot. It appears to have ragged raised edges that look silvery rather than coppery. To me the style looks modern but silvery bumps suggests the C was applied before the surrounding red area was cleaned. The coin may not be a copy but I wonder if the person who applied the C possibly thought so. Was the dark material removed by the acetone possibly added locally to make the C less objectionable? It is a very interesting item. Thanks for sharing. This question reminds me of a coin I fail to understand. It is a Messembria diobol purchased in 1998 but not Black Sea Hoard and with a reversed E in the legend. I could never get over the chance that the modern countermark was a Cyrillic H (=N for Nyet = no good). I hope you figure out your coin in under 22 years.
Wow!! I suspect someone many years ago mistakenly condemned it and stamped it with the "C". Based on the unusual early style?
While I am far from expert enough to have an opinion on the matter, I do believe that many good coins have been ruined or destroyed because some low knowledge expert thought the coin was 'wrong'. I will point to the first coin of Domitian II that was widely considered to be a fake until the British museum found a second in the middle of a hoard lump that would be hard to fake. We probably will never know the story of this C. It would be interesting.
I believe you are now the owner of the first denarius in the history of Roman coinage depicting a crop circle.........
No, that copper spot is just copper discoloring from the C punch. It's silver. Inside the C you can see it's silver.
I think @ominus1, Doug and Sevy-chase are on to something. Ifn I scored that beauty on the cheap, I would send it off to Dave. I keep meaning to do that for my tribute penny (which has nothing on your amazing rarity!). And DO believe that C is a modern person indicating the coin to be a fake... though I'm not sure that it is. And also agree about the style being so early that it almost looks like caligula! Very cool
