Recently I picked up this larger than normal as of Domitian - measuring a whopping 29.5mm and weighing 11.14g! (My alternate title for the thread 'Who doesn't love big asses?' seemed a bit open ended!). The metal is clearly copper, so not mistakenly struck on a dupondius flan. Domitian Æ As, 11.14g Rome mint, 86 AD Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XII CENS PER P P; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r. Rev: VIRTVTI AVGVSTI; S C in field; Virtus stg. r., foot on helmet, with spear and parazonium RIC 499 (C2). BMC 393. BNC -. Acquired from Marc Breitsprecher, February 2022. The Virtus type was struck repeatedly on Domitian's middle bronzes from 84 onwards. I. Carradice in his 1983 monograph on Domitian's coinage (Coinage and Finances in the Reign of Domitian: A.D. 81-96) says the following concerning the type - 'Virtus is a military type, symbolic of the courage of Domitian and the mutual devotion between the army and emperor.' Virtus first appears on the coinage in the flurry of Germania Capta types that were struck soon after Domitian's German triumph. This fairly common variant from 86 without aegis is surprisingly missing from the extensive BN collection. Please show your larger than normal coins. Thanks for looking!
What a fantastic coin - I love the contrast between the field and the design/legend. Not to mention the size.
Quips Sir Mixalot, "I like big coins and I cannot lie.." I've bought a fair amount of coins from Marc. That's another interesting addition to your wonderful collection. I would be a very happy camper if all my coins were 35+mm. Here's a few random recent examples: itle: Trajan (AD 98-117). Egypt. Alexandria Æ Drachm / Nilus Reclining Attribution: Milne 551 Date: Dated Year 2 - AD 98/9 Obverse: AVT KAIC NEP CEB ΓEPM, laureate head right Reverse: Nilus reclining left on back of crocodile, holding cornucopia and reed, LB (date) in exergue Size: 37.44mm Weight: 27.69 grams Description: near VF. Huge Medallic flan. Ex: Marc B./Ancient Imports (how come he changed the name? Ancient Imports was a bit catchier). The next: An inexpensive throw-in with a very nice S805 Heraclius. USTINIAN I.(527-565).Nicomedia.Follis. Obv : DN IVSTINIANVS PP AVG. Helmeted, cuirassed bust facing, holding cross on globe and shield with horseman motif, cross to right. Rev : Large M, ANNO to left, cross above, regnal year to right, B officina letter below, mintmark NIKO. Sear 201. Condition : Very nice green patina.Very fine. My grade: Fine. weight : 20.1 gr Diameter : 36 mm I had always wanted this type of Heraclius. I was prepared to find a more expensive one, but this was the only one left on vcoins at the time.. A higher grade but possibly bd infested one had just sold. However, this one has an unusually large flan. A person at work, "It looks like a cookie." Another said burnt cookie. Well, better than my mom, who calls Byzantine AE slag heaps. It's unusually worn for the type. Most Seleucia ones I see are VF. Perhaps it had a long and colorful history during its time in circulation. Title: *Sear 844* Byzantine Empire. Heraclius (AD 610-641) with Heraclius Constantine Æ 35mm Follis Attribution: Sear Byzantine 844 Seleucia Isauriae mint Date: Dated year 7 - AD 616/7 Obverse: Facing crowned busts of Heraclius, on left, and Heraclius Constantine, smaller, on right Reverse: Large M, Christogram above, ANNO to left, ςΙ (date) to right, A (officina) below, SEL ISA in exergue Size: 35.30mm Weight: 14.52 grams Description: nearing VF. From the Peter Lee Collection. My grade: VG/F. Ex Marc B. Caracalla (198-217). Cilicia, Tarsus. Æ (35mm, 13.29g, 6h). Laureate and cuirassed bust r., slight drapery. R/ Emperor standing l., togate, sacrificing over altar. Cf. SNG BnF 1527-8 (for rev. type). Near VF My grade: VG/G Ex London ancient coins. A throw-in when I ordered a lovely (for type) Leo III. Just before covid struck I hopped on a couple of good deals from Ken Dorney. There was a lucky accident with the other Alexander. The wrong coin was shipped, a Dionysios type. I ended up liking the coin, kept it, settled accounts, and re-ordered the correct one. Aeolis, Temnos, 188 - 170 BC Silver Tetradrachm, 35mm, 15.79 grams Obverse: Laureate head of Herakles right wearing lion skin. Reverse: Zeus enthroned left holding eagle and scepter, monogram above oinochoe below vine tendril in left field. Price1678 // SCBC356 Struck on a broad flan, original find patina. Ex: Ken Dorney. GP97579. Bronze tetrobol, Lorber CPE B275, Svoronos 505 (8 spec.), Weiser 28, SNG Milan 552, BMC Ptolemies -, SNG Cop -, Hosking -, Noeske -, Malter -, VF, nice dark green patina, thick tight flan, porosity, obverse edge beveled, central depressions, Alexandria mint, weight 45.469g, maximum diameter 33.0mm, die axis 0o, c. 260 - 246 B.C.; obverse horned head of Zeus Ammon right, wearing taenia; reverse ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ, eagles standing left on a thunderbolt, wings open, head left, Y/T monogram between legs; from a New England collector, Coin Archives records only one sale of this type in the past two decades; very rare; Ex: Forum
Is there any easy way to search for an As on vcoins? 10 billion entries come up if one types in "As."
It's big... Ptolemy Philopator, (Lover of his Father) PTOLEMAIC EMPIRE EGYPT. ALEXANDRIA. Ptolemy IV 221-205 BC AE Drachma. (75.52g, 41mm, 12h) Obverse: Bust of Zeus Ammon right Reverse: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, cornucopiae in front, ΛΙ between legs Reference: SNG Cop 199.
Photos of coins do not tell the size of the coin unless you know what you are looking at. There can be large photos of small coins and some types come in different sizes which are not distinguished by a photo. (e.g. late Roman bronze "soldier spearing fallen horseman" coins with the same design can range from 24 to 17 mm. The small boar/lion's head silver coins of Cyzicus come in various sizes that look the same.) But sometimes you can see that a coin is larger than normal because the die-diameter is visible on an over-large flan. Witness the next coin where the reverse makes it clear the flan is much larger than necessary. 35 mm. 11.58 grams. Byzantine emperor Maurice, 582-602 AD, struck year 8 (589/90) at Nicomedia. Sear 512. Byzantine coins are very often overstruck on previous coins. At 12:00 on the obverse "ANVS" from the undertype can be seen and at 3:30 on the reverse is the top of the large off-center "M" of the undertype. With that orientation "II" is clear on the lower right of the "M" and above it "X" is partially there. The size of the flan is correct for a coin of Justinian I (527-565) from year 22 (548/9) arranged: X X I I but the flan, at 35 mm, is significantly larger than the beading (22 mm) and the die (25 mm). Of course, if you use an old coin as a flan your new coin will be the size of the old coin which is not necessarily the intended size of the new coin. I don't have another one from the same year to show, but here is that coin compared to one of the same type from the same mint, but year 15 instead of year 8: Measurement shows the design is the same size. but the coin on the left is larger than normal.
