THE COIN CHALLENGE

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, Feb 21, 2022.

  1. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    Let’s have a little fun here: it’s been a while we didn’t have a « coin Challenge ». What is your coin with the longest legend ? The problem with this question is we don’t hall have coins of the same size; so sestertii’s collectors would have an advantage on our challenge. So to equalize the chances, here is what we can do: calculate the circumference of our specimen, count the number of letters in the legend and this will give the quantity of characters per millimeters on our coins.
    For example, here are two Victorinus with a circumference of 60 mm ( diameter of 19.1 mm X 3.1416= 60 mm). The obverse legend on both coins contains 30 letters:
    IMP CM PIAVVONIVS VICTORINVS PF AVG. So 30 letters and 60 mm= 1 letter every 2 millimeters… I don’t believe anyone can beat that ! Can you ? IS THERE NO ONE ELSE ?

    0E68D99C-9F74-4035-9E5C-2D318EF7E423.jpeg

    E37BA3B4-8F49-45A2-8526-891089F94F5A.jpeg

    2CBA400F-7D9A-4733-A9FF-C55224E9F2F6.jpeg

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    Last edited: Feb 21, 2022
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  3. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Trajan's early denarii are known for having long legends.:rolleyes:
     
  4. maridvnvm

    maridvnvm Well-Known Member

    Hadrian runs it close..... maybe even better if you include the exe on the reverse of this one

    Obv:- IMP CAES TRAIAN HADRIAN OPT AVG GER DAC, Laureate cuirassed bust right, with drapery on far shoulder
    Rev:- PARTHIC DIVI TRAIAN AVG P P M TR P COS P P, Concordia enthroned left holding patera, arm on statue of Spes, cornucopiae below, CONCORD in ex.

    19.7 mm diameter so 62 mm circumference
    32 letters obverse legend - 37 letter reverse legend including the EXE

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2022
  5. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    1 letter every 1.63 mm for your reverse. You knocked me out !

    C81C1696-2B7B-4A15-83B9-284E15CCCE8F.jpeg
     
    +VGO.DVCKS likes this.
  6. Terence Cheesman

    Terence Cheesman Well-Known Member

    Avast ye hearties be prepared to be over informed.
    Trajan Ae Sestertius 116-117 AD Obv. Bust right laureated draped. Rv. Trajan in military attire seated left on cella crowning Parthamaspates who stands before him. To left Parthia kneeling. RIC 667 Woytek 594 v-25 This coin illustrated 28.78 grms 33 mm Photo by W. Hansen trajans37.jpg As usual Trajan's obverse legend appears to give an almost obscene amount of information. However given that these legends are standardized over a long period of time actually tell us very little. Trajan is by all accounts the perfect politician;) This reverse celebrates his last great conquest that of the Tigris Euphrates basin. Here he is seen setting up a client king in an effort to stabilize his rule over the area. It did not last. Within a few years much of the region was abandoned.
     
  7. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM TRP
    COS VI PP. 52 letters on a 104 mm coins= 1 letter every 2 mm.
    Nice try but you didn’t beat @maridvnvm !
     
    philologus_1, Spaniard and +VGO.DVCKS like this.
  8. Heliodromus

    Heliodromus Well-Known Member

    upload_2022-2-21_12-39-40.png

    I think this is the best I can do:

    DIVO CONSTANTIO PIO PRINCIPI with 16mm diameter = (3.14 * 16) / 25 = 2.01 mm/letter :(
     
  9. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    The longest legend I have read is on an Augustus Denarius, moneyer L.Mescinius Rufus, 16 BC:
    on the obverse:
    I O M S P Q R V S PR S IMP CAE QUOD PER EV R P IN AMP ATQ TRAN S E and means
    Iovi Optimo Maximo senatus populusque Romanus vota suscepta pro salute Imperatoris Caesaris quod per eum respublica in ampliore atque tranquilliore statu est.
    and on the reverse:
    L. MESCINIVS RVFVS IIIVIR and on the column IMP CAES AVGV COMM CONS

    not my coin, would love to have one:D, but you can see it here:
    https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces247834.html
     
  10. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    How about this one:

    Trajan AR Denarius, 106 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right; IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TRP COS V P P / Rev. Captive Dacian in peaked cap with wide brim, seated right on shield in mournful attitude with left elbow on raised left knee, and face resting in left hand; below, curved Dacian sword (falx) right; SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI. RIC II 219 (http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=RIC+II+Trajan+219); RSC II 529; Sear RCV II 3168 (obv. var.); BMCRE 175 (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-11584). 17 mm., 3.02 g., 6 h.

    Trajan-Dacian in mourning jpg version.jpg

    30 letters on the obverse, diameter 17 mm.

    17 x 3.1416 = 53.4072 circumference.

    divided by 30 letters = one letter every 1.78024 mm.

    Not quite as impressive as @maridvnvm's reverse, but the most crowded obverse so far, I think.
     
  11. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    This is outside the challenge since the coin is medieval. Yet I doubt that anyone can beat the length of the legend on this Seljuq dirham. The design is basically just legend.

    I count 195 Arabic letters, and it is 23mm in diameter. That's roughly 8.48 letters per mm diameter, and 1.35 letters per mm circumference on each side.
    Orient, MA – Rumseldschuken, "drei Brüder", AR dirham, 1249-1250 AD, A-1227..png
    Seljuq Sultanate of Rum, under Kayka'us II, Qilij Arslan IV, Kayqubad II ("the three brothers"), citing caliph al-Musta'sim, AR dirham, 1249–1250 AD (647 AH), Siwas mint. Obv: kalima and citation of caliph "la ilah illa allah / muhammad rasul allah al-imam / al-musta'sim billah amir al-mu / 'minin;" afterwards mint and date formula for Siwas 647 AH. Rev: names and titles of the three brothers: "al-salatin al-a'azim / 'izz al-dunya wa ud-din kay kawus / wa rukn al-dunya wa ud-din qilij arslan / wa ’ala al-dunya wa ud-din kayqubad / ibn kay khusraw barahin amir al-mu’minin." 23mm, 3,02g. Ref: Album 1227.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2022
  12. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    The Rufus denarius is still the most crowded obverse. With 43 letters and assuming 18 mm diameter (no diameter is given for the coin) 18 x 3.1416 = 56.5488 /43 = 1.315 => 1 letter every 1.315 mm :cool:
     
  13. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    Are you considering the diacritical marks as a symbol or as part of the consonants?How do you count them?
     
  14. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    The coin at the link you posted has only 19 letters on the obverse. Wrong coin?
     
  15. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    To be honest, I was lazy and used the transcription of the legend from Numista, changing the mint and date: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces69101.html .

    When copying it into a Word document and counting characters (without spaces), I end up with 195 characters.
     
  16. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    Sorry. Wrong coin, my apologies. The one I posted is RIC 353.
    The coin with the long legend should be RIC 538, will try to find it.
     
  17. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    apparently RIC 538 is also the wrong number. This is the denarius (very rare):

    Rufus Denarius.jpeg

    Ref.: Reinhard Wolters, Nummi Signati, 1999 Beck
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2022
  18. FrizzyAntoine

    FrizzyAntoine Well-Known Member

    This coin and the historical changes that accompany it ushered in what I consider the end of the ancient era, however it's close enough and old enough that I think it's not too far out of place to post here. The obverse legend in the margin (NOT the Shahada in the centre) is 44 letters, making reference to a passage from Surah Tawbah of the Quran. With a circumference of 62.9mm, that brings us to 1.429mm/letter.

    Umayyad Hisham Ibn 'Abd al-Malik Dinar (124 AH , 741-742 AD).jpg

    But wait, there's more! The honour of densest legend in my collection goes to none other than Trajan, which really shouldn't come as a surprise. This rarer denarius subtype has PARTHICO added to his usual titles, it reads:
    IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO
    This gives us an obverse legend totalling a whopping 40 characters on an 18mm flan, coming out to 1.414mm/letter! ( sorry @maridvnvm )

    13 - Trajan Denarius (116 AD).jpg
     
  19. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Sixty-two characters, if you count the denomination, E, in the field:

    Gordian III and Tranquillina Marcianopolis Nemesis.jpg
    Gordian III, AD 238-244, and Tranquillina, AD 241-244.
    Roman provincial Æ pentassarion, 12.34 g, 26.2 mm, 2 h.
    Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis, legate Tertullius, AD 243-244.
    Obv: ΑVΤ Κ Μ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ΑVΓ CЄΒ ΤΡΑΝΚVΛ-ΛЄΙΝΑ, confronted busts.
    Rev: VΠ ΤΕΡΤVΛΛΙΑΝΟV ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛI-ΤΩΝ, Nemesis-Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae; wheel at feet; E in field, left.
    Refs: Varbanov 2052; Moushmov 834; AMNG (Pick) 1185; SNG Cop 260.
     
  20. Limes

    Limes Well-Known Member

    The coin with the longest legend (40) in my collection, but big flan:
    18.5.2.png

    And of course denarii of Trajan have a lot of letters. Nothing original though in my collection. Here's an example (31 characters on the obverse). The reverse has 25 characters, including 'ARAB ADQ'.
    18.3.png

    Nerva is a close second, with 30 characters on the obverse:
    17.1.png

    However, not even close to the coin of @FrizzyAntoine!
     
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  21. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    I do not have the longest legend. However, I REALLY like this Trajan as he completely spells out SPQR on my coin.

    Trajan CLEARLY had SPQR spelled out on this coin:

    [​IMG]
    Trajan, AD 98-117.
    Æ As, 26mm, 11.0g, 6h; Rome mint.
    Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO P M TR P COS VI P P; Laureate and draped bust right.
    Rev: SENATVS POPVLVS QVE ROMANVS (Senate and People of Rome) Victory, draped, advancing right, holding wreath in right hand and palm frond in left; S-C
    Reference: RIC 675

    BONUS: Baby Got Back (if @Ryro did not notice...)
     
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