This piece has been at auction at 3 times in the last 2 years, Naville, Roma, and now Leu (recent history oddly omitted). Is this just an overhyped limes, is this really ancient? https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7493067 https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=4713&lot=3571
SC on the reverse suggests it is a quadrans. I don't know if it is ancient or not. It does not strike me as obvious either way but my tendency is to suspect it is modern. To me, it makes no difference. The coin is for people with money to spare. I would be interested in hearing the opinion on the item from Barry Murphy and Curtis Clay if either of them have had it in hand.
My quadrans are not far off of denarius size. This coin appears to be bronze or orichalcum, which quadrans would be the correct term. Denarius should only be reserved for silver coinage.
not a comment on the Severus coin, but here are a few Ӕ denarii-- Gallienus Severina Aurelian plus, you shouldn't link to active auctions, as it tends to drive up the prices.
My understanding was that quadrans were made of bronze and usually did not have the emperor's bust, while semisses were orichalchum and had the emperor's bust - is this true, or only for certain emperors or time periods?
The quadrans denomination is thought to have been discontinued about the time of Marcus Aurelius, well before Septimius Severus. Here is a site on the quadrans denomination: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/quadrans/ Any quadrans issued this late would be very unusual and remarkable. If it were a regular issue, I can see how it might command a $650 price tag. I have studied quadrantes a lot and I would not expect to see such a late piece. I agree. I don't immediately see anything wrong with the coin itself, but quadrantes are already very rare under Marcus (and even those do not name him, they are attributed to him because the bust looks like him) biases me to think it isn't genuine. Unexpected coins do show up, but rarely. Is this one of those rare cases? Maybe, but I doubt it. Anonymous. 15 mm. 1.86 grams. Head of Jupiter, right Eagle standing right on thunderbolt, head left, S C either side. Look at the bust of Jupiter. Does it remind you of any emperor? This one has the chin line of Marcus Aurelius. Is that enough to say the denomination continued into the time of Marcus? Otherwise, the literature would suggest the denomination ends early in the reign of Antoninus Pius. Having the quadrans issued as late as the time of Septimius Severus seems unlikely.
I agree that it feels modern- the wreath looks to clean to me. But this is little more than a gut response. The quadrans/semis denominations were long discontinued by this time so that doesn’t make sense unless it was made for a very specific occasion. A medalette also seems a possibility but I wouldn’t expect sc in that case. It would be very cool if authentic (and well worth the estimate) but my instinct is to hesitate.