On the reverse of your coin, the bottom of the scepter is definitely resting on a star, not a shield.
Vitellius sestertii are certainly difficult to find in almost any condition; yours has a readily identifiable obverse bust of Vitellius and is a...
These really are wonderful coins and illustrations of the myth. One of my all-time favorite musical compositions is Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus...
Nero gets my vote for scruffiest beard: [ATTACH] [ATTACH]
https://www.archaeology-world.com/in-mint-condition-millions-of-pounds-worth-of-pristine-5th-century-gold-coins-are-found-buried-in-a-pot-under-an-...
Just FYI, here are two Galba denarii of the SPQR reverse that sold at auction within the last year or so for $300 not including buyer's fee (so...
When I initially saw this coin, its beauty was so breathtaking that I didn't even notice that the dolphin's tails was off the flan. It was only...
ACSEARCH shows what appears to be the same coin as yours being sold at auction in 2016 by Savoca Numismatik: [ATTACH] Here's the link:...
Uh, Mars, what's that you're supposed to be holding in your right hand on the reverse? Why, Victory of course! But the one feature lacking on...
This definition of smoothing raises a lot of interesting issues, especially since the process of cleaning a coin may inadvertently or...
The reason that there are so many different answers and opinions in this thread is due to the differing definitions each collector has about what,...
Thanks -- that was what I was wondering about.
Yes, I understand what tooling is. My curiosity is whether the photograph posted by the OP is sufficiently high resolution to determine beyond...
Titus' hair on the obverse does appear to be very highly detailed. However, I'm curious if it's possible to authoritatively determine (i.e.,...
Just out of curiosity, did you have an opportunity to view the reverses in this set? While it's an attractive set of 12 Caesars denarii, I note...
Is the hammer price adjusted for inflation? According to my research, U.S. inflation has been around 13% since the beginning of 2012. Also, what...
FYI, the majority of U.S. states exempt ancient coins from sales tax: https://www.ha.com/information/state-sales-tax-info.s For the...
This issue is far more complex statistically and mathematically than can be resolved here. The complexity is exacerbated by the lack of...
Since there are dozens, and maybe hundreds, of different die combinations for this particular aurei, it's not surprising that the OP coin...
It appears to be a well-worn, well-centered example of this type. There is nothing that immediately appears to be counterfeit based on style or...
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