This coin was my grandfather's - I think he acquired it in the 1920s or '30s. I think (do not know) that he found it while excavating/exploring old Indian sites in the southwest. Not for sure on that, but seem to recall a story along those lines from childhood. Any help would be appreciated. This is a heavy coin, quite thick. It is not exactly circular, but close, diamater is just slightly larger than a US Kennedy Half Dollar. Perhaps the thickness is about comparable to 2 US quarters. On the obverse is a man's profile, facing right. There appears to be a rim lining of a rope or weave pattern only on the top center of the coin (rest could have worn away if it existed.) On the left, visible letters appear to be ??NVS, on the right, AV???. There may have been more letters at one time. On the reverse, appears to be a woman reclining, facing left. On the top, the letters ??RIA?? are visible, again, could have been more originally. I am intending to upload the following images with this post: 1) Coin - Obverse 2) Coin - Reverse 3) Coin - Rim compared to typical US Quarter 4) Coin - Obverse compared to typical US Quarter Thanks for your assistance! Chris
Helo It is a brass sestertius of Hadrian, roman emperor from AD 117 to AD 138 Obverse : HADRIANVS AVG COS III PP, laureate and draped bust of Hadrian right Reverse : ALEXANDRIA S C, Alexandria reclining left, References : Cohen #157, RCV vol II #3575
Roman Coin in Indian Territory? It makes you wonder how the coin ended up in SW USA? Odds are it happened in relatively modern times. But what if?
Yeah, it does make you wonder doesn't it? I wish I paid more attention when I was young to a lot of those stories, but I am pretty sure that this coin was from a grave site that was old even then. I don't know what Indian tribe or even what state (my guess is western texas, or southern new mexico), but seems like my grandfather said that the coin had to have been in the indian's possion pre-american revolution to have wound up in that site, and he speculated the coin almost had to have been there pre-Columbus. He had quite a collection of interesting finds; he donated the vast majority of them to a muesum in the mid 1980's before his death. I ran across this coin at my parents recently, and it was the first time in almost 20 years I had even thought of some of those stories.
I would imagine that Roman ancients are found all over the world,probably carried by Europeans who found them as fascinating then as we do today.Remember,that coin was already about 1,300 years old when Columbus accidently bumped into the Americas.
Also, I don't know for USA, but in europe, those brass and copper coins where accepted as change (10 centimes and 5 centimes) until 1935. I remember my grandparents telling they would have used coins from Nero's times as change. Pretty cool isn't it Cucumbor
Cucumbor,that's an amazing story.I doubt the same thing could have happened here but I would imagine that these ancients were dug up all the time and used as whatever European denomination they most resembled.The closest thing we had here was the widespread use of Spanish Reales mixed with whatever equivalent coin was in circulation.This went on for a few hundred years.
Been there When that coin was struck, the Rio Grande was navigatable all the way to modern Albuquerque and beyond. When I lived there, a woman with a home on the Rio Grande brought a Roman coin to the local club meeting. The president was a high school history teacher and he told her that some pioneer probably dropped it. After that, I could not get her attention. She had an expert answer and her eyes were blank when she looked at me. It is a fact that the statistical distribution is not random. More are found on the East Coast than on the West. As far as I am concerned, we cannot simply explain away all the Roman coins. Read Kon-Tiki. Read about Kennewick Man. Roman coins in the Americas were old news in their own time.
Well the Romans where the first foreign people to discover America! I knew that they where smart enough to find this place. Colombus must have used old roman maps. Likewise Lewis and clark where predecessors of earlier roman explorers. This might also explain why the Aztecs where expecting to find a white man come on large sea going vessels. That white man may have been an early roman explorer. The later Aztecs carried down this story and tradition for the next 1500 years till the conquesdadors arrived. It all comes full circle due to that one coin found in the SW US. WHAT A CONSPIRACY THEORY STORY!!!!!! Nice coin and interesting find in one of the most unlikely of places. It could have been lost forever.
Accidents of History The Olmec Heads are large stones with NEGRO faces, looking East across the water.
I'm not an anthropology or history expert by any means. But I recall reading a long time ago that ancient Rome sent out several large expeditions "to go to the end of the earth" but I never recall reading about any of them returning. Being fantastic engineers and militarily strong, it wouldn't be entirely surprising to eventually learn that they made it to just about anywhere.
