Hello, I purchased this Septimius Severus coin from forumancientcoins and I'm aware of their relatively good reputation when it comes to selling authentic ancient coins. After taking a closer look at the coin, it seems to have a weird metal composition and just wanted some opinions on whether this coin is genuine or an electrotype copy. I also read that denarius coins in the 3rd century AD could have less silver then previous centuries in Roman mint but wanted to make sure. Here is the page on forumancientcoin from where I purchased it http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=&vpar=429&zpg=112469&fld= Here are some closer pics on the edges of the coin and close ups of the obverse and reverse.
Thanks! Would this coin be considered a "silvered" coin then, becuase it looks like a bronze coin underneath now that I realize it.
I bought the one pictured below in a slab for $75.00 . They are common but interesting & historically important .
This picture makes it look like there is silver plating on top and bronze inside, you can see from the inside cracks it looks brownish like bronze. The fact that it also looks different than the examples I've seen online (silver surface is grainier looking and dull) This might be a fourree.
Or it just be dirt that wasn't cleaned off, I'm still unsure about this coin, on the surface it has a sort of faked casting shine to it but is the right weight and does look like a genuine coin based on the edge cracks.
Coins of that era were very debased; often they had < 50% silver in the alloy. See Butcher, Kevin, and Matthew Ponting. “STUDY OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ROMAN SILVER COINAGE.” American Journal of Numismatics (1989-), vol. 9, 1997, pp. 17–36.
Just for the record, Joe (Forum) does not have a “relatively good reputation.” He is extremely honest, diligent and has an excellent reputation. Anyone can make a mistake but I would trust his “in hand” assessment unless there was overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
I'll echo everyone else's verdict as the coin looks fine to me as well. As @Roman Collector mentioned, silver coins had a relatively low grade compared to earlier Republican or Imperial coins, so any differences in metallic composition you see on the edges is likely just due to the alloy used.
