Romans for less than $10

Bart;
Of course you can share my site - that is why it is there.

Ardatirion;
Nice coin and a good example of a period where ancients are in no way beautiful in the artistic sense of the word. Yours is a bit more even and smooth than most but I'm sorry the mintmark was lost.

All;
The coins under question here were struck with a hammer and every one was hit a little different squishing out every which way. The Arcadius does have a little 'flower' in it. Some collectors would consider that a bonus while I have known guys who required all their coins be perfectly round and avoided edge irregularities like the plague. It takes all kinds.

I'll offer below another late Roman but this one is from the emperor Leo I. Again the mintmark is off the flan so we have to work a little harder to assign the coin to a mint. In this case it is very little harder since the visible obverse legend is D N LEO but the L is shown as a Greek Lambda rather than a Latin L. That is a known variety from Constantinople mint so the coin once showed CON at the bottom of the reverse. The dirt filled pit under his chin is a natural hole that goes through to the reverse at the right of the monogram. Interesting or an ugly flaw?


Condition freaks rarely collect 5th century bronzes. Being identifiable to ruler places a coin in the top half of the condition census. Being identifiable to mint and ruler probably hits the top quarter. Showing the entire obverse legend is top 2% at best.

 

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thanks everyone for sharing, and please continue to do so if you can

 

I was stationed in fort Huachuca back in 90 to 93.I rode up to flagstaff on my buddies motor cycle to see the grand canyon.
Some beautiful country over there..

 

its changed alot since 93 its still pretty nice here

 

I don't collect ancients or Romans ,but I have two mites and would like to get a Denarious from BC or other BC coins from about 20BC to 20AD. Is it possible get these coins in the price range you all are talking about, and if so where I don't have any dealers around me.
Thanks Kent

 

vcoins.com is a good place to look.
you can some some from around 20 bc for not to much, maybe a marc antony legionary denarius. closest one right now is $50 (and its an ancient counterfiet), but ive seen some for 15-20.

 

I might be wrong but I am assuming you are looking for a 'Tribute Penny' since you mention having two widow's mites and give dates that would fit. That means you will not want an Antony legionary since they have no portrait that could be called Caesar. Christian demand has pushed the price up on the common Tiberius denarius whether or not you believe that it is the appropriate coin for that duty. The only common and reasonably priced portrait denarius in your period is Augustus with the Gaius and Lucius reverse. Again, Christian interest pushes it up a bit since he was the Emperor that ordered the census that resulted in the trip to Bethleham and he is one of the biggest names in Roman history. I'd doubt you will find much in the way of a portrait denarius from your date range under $100 unless you go for a damaged coin (a hole would help). The other possibility would be a contemporary plated counterfeit (fourree) but nice ones of these even draw some money. We are considerably over the price under discussion. I'd warn any coin you see offered at a 'too good' price will almost certainly be a fake.

 

Similar coins

I am a noob to here, but its funny that I stumble upon your thread. I came upon a coin that looks very similiar to the one in your thumbnail attachments. The coin that has the 2 men facing each other, but there is an upside down 3 between them.

 

Bought these for £10 the lot

210Ad Kingdom of Elymais Second Intermediate King


170–217Ad Julia Domna provincial Wife of Septimus Sevrus


253-260Ad Valerian I antoninianus


222-235Ad Severus Alexander AR denarius


37-41Ad Caligula Struck 39Ad AE quadrans


218-222Ad Elagabalus Carrhae in Mesopotamia

 

thats great for 10

 

cant see well enough but i think its constantine.but with one standard on teh rev.


heres the attribution for the one of constantine i posted

Obverse: CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG

Reverse: GLORIA EXERCITVS
Glory of the Army.
Two soldiers standing facing one another, spear in outer hand, inner hand on shield resting on ground; between them two standards.

 

The two men are soldiers, and the thing between them is a decorative pole called a standard. It was basically the rough ancient equivalent of a flag. Surrounding them is the legend "GLORIA EXERCITVS," which means something like "the glory of the army." If you can read the letters in the exergue below the soldiers, let us know, as that would be the mintmark. I can't quite read it from this picture. On the obverse of the coin is a portrait of the emperor. It's hard to read the surrounding legend in your scan, but it looks like it's either "CONSTANTIVS" or "CONSTANTINVS", meaning it depicts Constantine I, Constantine II, or Constantius II. The last is probably the most likely, as his coins are far more common, and the switch from two standards between the soldiers to one happened just before Constantine died. If you can read it better in person, let us know. As for the date, I believe that the one standard version of these coins started in about 336 AD, and they continued for several years afterwards, with 248 being the last year for them that I found on a quick check on Wildwinds.

 

Thanks for the info a tribute penny is what i am looking for, but that price range will have to wait. Also the fact that the counterfits are going to be hard for me to tell the differance in. I will just wait for now but at least now I know what I need. Thanks Again Kent

 

I believe the one standard version lasted until about 341 AD when it was replaced by the even smaller two victories type. The earlier version (pre-335) with two standards weighs more than the type with only one standard. Roman inflation worked a bit differently than what we have today. As the money dropped in value, the new coins came out in smaller sizes until someone blew a whistle and announced a currency reform with a new denomination calling in all the old money. This happened several times in the 4th and 5th centuries and we don't have 100% clear scholarship on all of the steps between the pretty round coins of 300 AD and the "smashed BB's" that circulated when Anastasius did his reform and started what we call Byzantine coins.

 

Back in the day I used to get a lot of good buys in uncleaned lots for well under 10 USD, most about 1 or 2 USD per coin (or less)...here is a sample from some of those lots:











I could probably post several hundred LRB coins I got for a buck.

 

Here are two I got for less than 10 $

Q

 

I astounds me how coins with such amazing history can go for so cheap.

Guess I'm going to have to start looking for some deals on these.

 

heres 2 of germanicus and 1 of claudius bought from ecxcellent CT mebers :hail:

 

Well I think you are all very lucky to own those pieces. Though I don't own any, I love the ancients, especially the Constantines. To me, these are true collector items and the history of them alone makes them more valuable. They are truly beautiful coins and people that pass them by, don't know what they are missing. I guess brand 'shiny' new with a error is what everyone is after.

 

Ziggy...your lucky you know who you know...amazing collections!