Your Youngest Ancient Coin

Well, we've shown our oldest and second oldest Ancient coin, so now how about showing your youngest Ancient in your collection. Don't worry about dates of Ancient, just no modern coins.


JUSTIN II
AE Half Follis
OBVERSE: D N IVSTINVS P P AVG, Justin on left, Sophia on right, seated facing on double-throne, both nimbate, Justin holding cross on globe, Sophia holding sceptre, sometimes with cross between their heads, sometimes with vine pattern below
REVERSE: Large M, ANNO to left, cross above, regnal year to right, officina letter below, mintmark NIKO
Struck at Nicomedia 565-578 AD
12.9g, 29mm
SB 369

And maybe not Ancient but...

ROMANUS III
Follis
OBVERSE: IC-XC to right and left of bust of Christ facing with nimbate cross behind head, square in each limb of nimbus cross, holding book of gospels, a dot in centre of dotted square on book
REVERSE: IS-XS BAS-ILE BAS-ILE to left and right above and below cross with dots at the ends, on three steps
Struck at Constantinople 1028-34AD
9.5g, 29mm
SB 1823

 

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Alexius III (1195 - 1203 A.D.)
Billon Trachy
O: IC-XC, + KE HQEI Bust of Christ facing, beardless, wearing nimbus cross, holding scroll & raising hand in benediction.
R: [ALEZIW ECP TW KWCTANTI] Alexius & St. Constantine standing facing, holding labara, globe cross between.
Constantinople mint
3.29g
30mm
Sear 2013

 

Perhaps my "youngest" is this 1163 to 1201 Helmet Dernier from Antioch?

 

It's hard to determine when the ancient era ended, if we look at Europe, it's around the fall of Rome/yearly Byzantium.



If we look at South India, it's around 13th century with the fall of the Chola empire (when the domination of the traditional Tamil kingdoms started to wane).


Or I like to consider my oldest coin with modern dating (1511) to be my youngest 'ancient' coin!


And if we look at the minting process itself, with a guy hitting a metal disk with hammer for a last time, it's towards the end of 19th century.

 

My youngest is probably this one. I think it is Constans II from Carthage. 643-647 AD



Although this one could be younger. It's kind of a crappy coin and I'm not sure what it is.
Could be Michael IV, but I'm not sure. If so that would put it about 1034 or so, I think.
I'm not too familiar with Byzantines.

 

"Ancient" can be a somewhat broad label. If I use the Justinian Plague as the start of the "Dark Age" (which wasn't so dark), and the end of the Greco-Roman ancient world , I guess my "youngest" ancient would be my Justinian I follis of Constantinople, regnal year 15, 541/42 AD, the period which saw the plague beginning to strike Constantinople and other parts of the empire, making it my youngest ancient coin, by that measure.

Justinian I Æ 40 Nummi. Constantinople, dated RY 15 = AD 541/542. D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVC, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, holding globus cruciger and shield decorated with horseman motif; cross in right field / Large M; cross above, ANNO to left, XЧ to right, Δ below, CON in exergue. MIBE 95a; DOC 40d; Sear 163. 22.21g, 39mm, 6h.

 

Not entirely sure but I think some of the Indian Princely States coins may have been hammered into the 1930s and 1940s.

 

In my opinion, Late Antiquity ended in Eastern Europe and the Levant when the Arabs conquered Sassanid Persia and seized Egypt, Syria, and Jerusalem from the Eastern Roman Empire. The loss of territory in 6th-7th centuries transformed the Eastern Roman Empire into the medieval Byzantine state.

The Arab conquests deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its wealthiest provinces which drastically changed the lives of its citizens. With the loss of Egypt, there will no longer be ships delivering grain to Constantinopole, ending government programs such as free bread to the poor. The wars against the Persians, Arabs, and Avars resulted in the destruction of many Greco-Roman cities. Refugees escaped the cities and moved into the countryside to work the land. Thus, Byzantine society became more agrarian compared to the earlier cosmopolitan Greco-Roman society.

To combat against Arab invaders, the Imperial government leased land to “farmer-soldiers” in exchange for military service. These farmer-soldiers populated provinces known as Themes, serving as its militia. The Theme system can be seen as a form of Feudalism, as military service is tied to owning farmland.

The ancient Roman Empire was characterized as being multi-ethnic and a melting pot of cultures. However, the Byzantine rump state was reduced to small pockets of Greece, Asia Minor, and southern Italy. The Latin language fell out of use due to the loss of the Latin speaking Balkan provinces to Slavic invasions. Emperor Heraclius made Greek the language of administration, as the Empire’s remaining territories were primarily Greek speaking. From the 7th century onwards, being “Roman” was defined as speaking Greek and practicing Nicene Christianity. The Byzantine Empire was more culturally homogeneous compared to its earlier incarnation as the Eastern Roman Empire.

My youngest ancient coin is a bronze Follis of emperor Maurice. Maurice was the last emperor to rule a state resembling the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity.



11.31g, 25mm Facing crowned bust of Maurice Tiberius holding a mappa and eagle tipped scepter. Large "M" "ANNO" to left, "X IIIII" to right, "r" below and "THEUP" in exergue. SB 533 Antioch mint

Ex. Aegean Numismatics

 

Now you are really getting into a sticky wicket @Bing. Lots of disagreements exist on where ancient ends and medieval begins. Personally, my definition is different for different cultures, (since not all of us limit ourselves to Euro-centric collecting). For Europe, I say the fall of the western roman empire, for central Asia/middle east it would be the fall of the Sasanid empire, for China it would rise of the Tang dynasty, for India the fall of the Gupta empire, and SE Asia the fall of Funan empire and rise of Dvaravati.

All of these things are similar in that they were fundamental changes in attitude in life that all happened somewhat similarly on the timeline around the world. Maybe the latest would be the fall of the Sasanid empire, for which I own a Yazdegird III probably struck in the last few years of his reign, (I suck at photos though).

 

Interesting ask - and there's quite a few ways to approach it.

Going by the traditional cutoff of September 4, 476, the closest I can get in an absolute sense is Basiliscus, who ruled January 475 - August 476


Just going by the Western emperors, for me it's Anthemius, 467-472


Numismatically the Roman currency in the East remained unchanged until Anastasius' reforms in 491


And in the East it clung on for a few more decades under the Goths and Vandals. Byzantine Italy was reformed pretty quickly, but Carthage continued to mint the small nummi for several years under Justinian, this VOT XIII is assumed to refer to his 13th regnal year, 539-540


The further East you go, the more fuzzy it gets.

East of Byzantium, the Sasanians ruled uninterrupted until the Arab takeover in 651


In India, the tradition of minting ~2g silver (later billon) drachms continued until the late 8th century under the Maitrakas of Vallabhi

Similarly, to the north in Khwarezm, the Afrighid dynasty continued to make coins in the tradition that had started as imitations of Bactrian tetradrachms, and persisted even after the Muslim takeover, until the late 10th century


Back in India, the Malwa Gadhaiya paisa represented the last iteration of the Attic drachm from Athens > Alexander > Seleucids > Parthians > Sassanians > Huns > India, where it persisted until the end of the 13th or early 14th century, although it would have been unrecognizable as a drachm by that point


If the Jital can be argued to be a type of drachm, that lasted even later, I think until the 14th or 15th century.

I need to get my example imaged, but Imperial China continued to make traditionally cast cash until Puye was deposed in 1912. Vietnam continued until 1945.

My last hammered coin (and I think possibly the very last anywhere?) Was from the Indian Princely State of Bundi, who minted for every British monarch between Victoria and George V, before the mint closed up shop in 1932. This one is VS 1982 / AD 1925

 

As already often proclaimed its hard to tell when antiquity ended so I'll just go with this one (my next youngest roman would be from the 9th century):

Emperor Heraclius - Follis/40 Nummi - Nicomedia mint
Obv.: DN HERACLI PERP AVG
Rev.: ANNO I

 

large follis of Justinian (41mm)

 

We’ll centered

 

Basiliscus & Marcus
Anthemius
Both acquired from Roma XXIII ex: Bare Nostrum Hoard 1954

 

This is the youngest coin in my collection. I do have a Carson City Morgan but it is NOT part of my collection.
Ventranio Ae Centenionalis Siscia 350 BC Obv Bust right laureate draped and cuirassed Rv. Soldier standing facing head left holding two standards. RIC 285 5.28 grms 22mm Photo by W. Hansen For me this is "Tail end Charlie" I do have some vague plan to acquire two coins that would have been minted after this coin was struck but given the present situation ....... I am not so certain.

 

Baduila/Totila
A.D. 541-552
Decanummium (16mm 5.1g). Rome
D N BADVILA REX. Helmeted and cuirassed bust facing.
FLOREAS SEMPER. King standing right with shield and spear.
Metlich 98b; MEC 162.

 

I think Baduila/Totila is a very valid candidate for an end of ancient world coin - at least in the west. He was the penultimate Gothic king. His death marked in many ways the end of the ancient world in my view. The war, which the East Romans had unleashed on the Gothic kingdom devastated the heartland of the old Empire and ushered in the medieval period.

 

My youngest "Roman" coins are these:
Constantine XI. Constantinople. 1449/53. Eighth Stavraton. 0.63 gr. 12.7 mm. hr. 11. Sear -; DO 1789. Bendall, “The coinage of Constantine XI” (Revue Numismatique 1991, pp. 134-142), #110 (this coin).

Constantine XI. Constantinople. 1449/53. Eighth Stavraton. 0.63 gr. 13 mm. hr. 12. Sear -; DO 1789. Bendall, “The coinage of Constantine XI” (Revue Numismatique 1991, pp. 134-142), #129 (this coin).

 

This one isn't a valid entry as ancient - my only RR aureus:

 

That RR Aureus a beauty @Sulla80