Wow! This has been a great year for me. Today I received in the mail a coin that I have searched for since I started collecting ancients. Vespasian AE As, 9.48g Rome, 77-78 AD IMP CAESAR VESPASIAN COS VIII Laureate head left Spes standing left RIC II 1011 c/m: XLII carved to left of bust. Retarrifed by Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy as 42 nummi, 6th century AD. Morrisson, Re-use 19; cf. MEC 1, 76 (Vespasian). Ex CNG 82, lot 1139 In the 6th century AD, the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy began revaluing a number of early Imperial issues: asses and dupondii at 42 nummi (XLII) and sestertii at 83 (LXXXIII) nummi. If the numbers seem a bit odd, its because they functioned not as multiples of the nummus, but as fractions of the siliqua! These are pretty rare, with Medieval European Coinage catalog noting only a few hundred specimens surviving. Here's a good article on them: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Countermarked%20in%20late%20antiquity
I have no idea what that is, but I certainly understand the excitement of finding a coin you've been looking for forever.
Great Going!! I would have probably just put it down as graffiti! Isn't it a wonder what knowledge contributes to our good fortune ! Jim
