This is my first coin ever and I am just now getting into buying and selling. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Interesting choice for your "first coin ever"...most people get a few Lincoln Wheat Cents first... Welcome to CoinTalk
Welcome, @will_rx7fd Is this coin for you or did you buy it to resell? Or, perhaps it was a gift? If so, cool gift
TIF's reluctance to help you stems from the fact that many people posting here for the first time are dealers who like to use us as a free attribution service. That's taking advantage of us. We are happy to help out a fellow collector. Because your profile says you're 15 years old, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you are sincere in your request and not some part-time, online dealer taking advantage of our goodwill. When you post a coin, crop the image and don't just post a thumbnail. I've done this for you. Here's a bigger and better photo of your coin's obverse: Here's a bigger and better photo of your coin's reverse: Do you see the reverse inscription? It reads P M TR P COS III. That's the date. Hadrian was Pontifex Maximus (P M; meaning "high priest"), given Tribunicia Potestas (TR P; "Tribunician Power") for the first time (otherwise it would say TR P II or some other number) and was Consul for the third time (COS III) when this coin was struck. The figure on the back is female -- she wears feminine clothing and has her hair in a long plait in the back. She is therefore a goddess or personification of a Roman value. She is standing left and sacrificing out of a patera over a lighted altar and holding a scepter and leaning on a column. The patera and scepter are a few of this personification's attributes (she often holds a branch instead of a patera; she often leans on a column, as in this case), and experienced collectors are often able to identify her from these attributes alone. But you don't need to -- her name is abbreviated in the exergue: CLEM, for Clementia. You might be able to guess that this is taken into English as clemency (mercy). In attributing a coin, we give the issuing authority and his dates, the metal from which it is made, the denomination, the size and weight (and often the die-axis), the mint producing the coin, the date of the coin, the obverse inscription, the bust description, the reverse inscription, a description of the reverse and references in which the coin is found. When describing the bust, we note any headdress (laureate, radiate, diademed, bare-headed, etc.), and the direction it is facing (left, right, facing, etc.). When describing the reverse, we note who or what is featured. If a god or goddess, whether s/he is standing or seated and which direction they face. The objects they are holding are mentioned from left to right (on the coin, not which hand the deity is holding them in). Therefore, this coin would be described as: Hadrian, AD 117-138 Roman AR denarius (x g, x mm, x die-axis) Rome (mint), AD 119-122 Obv: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate head, right. Rev: CLEM (in exergue), P M TR P COS III, Clementia standing left, sacrificing over altar and holding scepter, left elbow resting on column. References: RIC 117; BMCRE 252; RSC 214; RCV 3463. Here's the British Museum's example of a coin similar to yours (they don't have the one where Clementia is leaning on a column; it is listed erroneously in BMCRE as 252, but the curator of the collection notes, "BMC in error notes Clementia as resting on a column"): Here's the page in RIC (Roman Imperial Coins), vol. 2 in which it appears (as 117):
Hi, will_rx7fd. I see the 117-138 AD Hadrian AR Denarius from Ancient Rome is your first coin ever. It surely won't be your last. But you seem keen to do business with it, which, to me, seems a great shame. If you sell your very first coin, you may live to regret it. My feeling, although not everyone would agree, is that anyone who sees numismatics as a lucrative business, but not much else, is collecting their coins for the wrong reasons.
If you are still with us, I agree with Roman Collector on each point and add one. There is more than one hobby called coin collecting by people who participate. If your hobby is collecting coins, you will find help here but you said 'buying and selling'. We might take that to mean that your interest in coins is seeing how much profit you can achieve in how short a time. Age not considered, I have no use for that hobby and would be quite happy if you moved on to day trading in the stock market. Certainly, to some degree, buying and selling comes into the hobby as most of us practice it but when it is the first thing out of your mouth, you lose some 'points' here. For the record, you can make a profit buying and selling ancient coins. You also can turn a good size pile of cash into nothing by thinking you know more than you do. All things taken into account, the 50+ years I have spent collecting ancient coins has returned to me a lot of enjoyment and a little potential for profit which will not be realized until my heirs sell my favorite coins. My considerable library, all the gas I spent driving to coin shows, the tuition and time I spent learning what I can still remember about the subject and the mistakes I made along the way (trusting the wrong people, overpaying, fakes, poor identifications etc.) need to be subtracted from the profit potential. We don't call it the 'Darkside' for nothing but many of us would not change a single thing. If this seems like a good game plan to you, welcome.
Roman Collector. You are to be commended for taking the time to write such a though and enlightening and, dare I say it, caring reply. With such responses to young people, this hobby would never have to wonder about its future. May I ask if you are or were a teacher of young people? If so, it shows. If not, consider a career change.
