My grandson and I visited the Beaumont, TX coin show today. They had a youth auction and he came away with lots of good stuff. He even sold a note from the auction and turned it into a couple of coins. I was looking for 'Pirate' money at the show. My niece has 3 boys High School age and their mascots are pirates. One of them graduated this year and the class logo was "Once a Pirate, always a Pirate." I was hoping to find something reasonable, but found nothing close. I came away with a great consolation, a Geta Denarius. Geta as Caesar / Eternal Victory RIC ?????; 198-209 AD Roman Imperial Geta as Caesar, A.D. 198-209. AR denarius. Laodicea mint. Struck circa A.D. 200-202. Obv - Geta bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right; P SEPT GETA CAES PONT Rev - Victory flying left, holding open wreath (it looks more like a Christmas garland to me) over shield on low base; VICT AETERN or eternal victory. gVF, well struck from new obverse dies, well centered, some reverse weakness at high points. Out of 74 coins on acsearch, 19 of the shields had a border of dots and 55 had plain edges. 2.85 grams 17.7 – 19.2 mm diameter oval flan RIC IV.1 101. RSC 206. RIC 23 and 101; Coh. 206; BMC Sept. Sev. 247-8 and 723. Purchased from Garth Clark at the Beaumont Coin Show, 9/18/2021. I am not sure of the attribution. I just copied some from acsearch notes. Please comment on the proper numbers. I have liked Geta coins since I started collecting, but have not bought one this nice. PS - my daughter bought me the T-shirt last week.
Wow, what a great Saturday! I'm still an empty-nester in the "waiting for grandchildren" stage. Coin shows are fun for collectors of all ages. Here's my Geta denarius with that reverse design. It's not as nice as yours:
Congrats. The coin has excellent details, centering and surface. I only have 1 Geta coin (a provincial from Ephesos). I bought this one, the auction house attributed it incorrectly as Geta, specifying and incorrect legend as well Actually it is not P SEPT GETA CAES PONT, it's M AVR ANTON CAES PONTIF, the good brother Caracalla. Now on your coin, the difference between RIC 23 and 101 is that 23 is from Rome mint and 101 from Laodicea ad Mare mint. There are Several specialists here with much more knowledge than I have (I also have issues when trying to determine the mint for coins struck in separate mints, as the difference is only the style), but I would say your coin is RIC IV Geta 23, from Rome.
Sounds like a fun day. Grandkids and coin shows, not a bad combination. I'm trying to imagine what a "pirate" coin would be. "Pieces of eight," maybe? Or perhaps a coin of Carausius? Carausius Augustus, A.D. 286/7-292 Billon Antoninianus London mint Obv: IMP C CARAVSIVS P F AVG Rev: PAX AVG - Pax, standing left, holding olive branch and vertical scepter S in left field; P in right RIC 475 23mm, 4.3g.
Talk me through the process that led you to change the mint assignment to 'Laodicea'. Your seller envelope reads RIC 23 but you quote both the listings including RIC 101 the 'Laodicea' listing. Ambr0zie suggest Rome. I suggest you research more and decide what you think. Is my coin below barbarous? Yours is a fine example and a good purchase. Do you agree with ambr0sie?
Nice score & bargain priced too ! I'm sure the kid will be happy with this coin for many years to come . My favorite coin of a mature Geta is pictured below.
I was thinking an 8 Real coin. Hammered cobs would be best. I found a couple but they were a bit out of my price range. I was surprised I saw no struck 8 Real coins. A coin of Pompey's fight against pirates or money that would have paid Julius Caesar's ransom when he was kidnapped by Cilician pirates while sailing the Aegean Sea would work too.
My favorite pirate coin is this Tarkondimotos who was a Cilician pirate who allied with several Imperators along the way until he died shortly before Actium on the wrong side. His coin has the reverse exergue legend 'friend of Antony' but most of them were countermarked on the obverse so as to erase that legend. His sons allied with Octavian. These people were, after all, pirates and pirates loyalty is 'negotiable'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarcondimotus_I My example had the c/m misstruck so it failed to erase the 'friend of Antony' on the reverse making it a better coin than most IMHO. Most kids would rather have a really poor cob 8 reales with no legible date and mint marks making the coin undesirable to most collectors and, hopefully, cheaper. The bad ones are really bad but they are good to pirate's point of view. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8460721
Be advised that pirate shares included minor coins which the pirates threw away. Frequently used were Dutch Indies DUIT coins around 1700. Those also circulated in New York and are frequently promoted as AMERICA'S FIRST COINS. I dug many of them around the pirate stronghold of BARRATARIA BAY, LOUISIANA in the 1970s. Lafitte had many men there. Fractional cobs are also an inexpensive option. good luck in your search.
Bwahaha! Your daughter has great taste in shirts Here's my Geta and his pops with the same reverse as yours:
Geta Caesar (son of Septimius Severus) AR Denarius 202 AD. Obv. As young boy, bare-headed, draped & cuirassed bust right, P SEPT GETA CAES PONT/ Rev. Securitas seated left on throne with globe, SECVRIT IMPERII. RIC IV-1 20b, RSC III 183A, Sear RCV II 7200. 18 mm., 3.17 g.
@rrdenarius....That's a great looking Geta! Geta, as Caesar, AR Denarius. Rome, AD 203-208.( Minted AD 205 ) Ob- GETA CAES PONT COS, bare-headed and draped bust right. Rev- VOTA PVBLICA, Geta standing left, sacrificing out of patera over tripod & holding roll. RIC#38b. 3.57g, 14mm, 7h.
Geta Caesar, A.D. 198-209 Augustus, A.D. 209-212 Silver Denarius Rome mint, A.D. 198-200 Obv: L SEPTIMIVS GETA CAES Rev: SPES PVBLICA - Spes, advancing left, holding flower and raising skirt RIC 4 18mm, 3.4g.
@dougsmit.... .....That's a lovely example!.....This is a coin type I've been looking for and now appreciate just how difficult it is to find a 'friend of Antony' legend decipherable on one.........
I'm having a Geta moment this afternoon. Geta as Augustus (209-212) As, Rome, c. AD 211 Obv: P SEPTIMIVS GETA PIVS AVG BRIT, laureate head r. Rev: FORT RED TR P III COS II, S C in exergue, Fortuna enthroned l., holding rudder and cornucopiae, wheel below seat. 10.25g. RCV 7279, RIC 175(a). Geta as Augustus (209-212) As, Rome, c. AD 211 Obv: P SEPTIMIVS GETA PIVS AVG BRIT, laureate head r. Rev: FORT RED TR P III COS II, S C in exergue, Fortuna enthroned l., holding rudder and cornucopiae, wheel below seat. Copperbark Ltd 2021. My interest of course is the BRIT legend on the obverse. View attachment 1376586 10.25g. RCV 7279, RIC 175(a).
I'm sorry, I seemed to have uploaded two images, tried to edit one and then lost both of them! Here is the coin.