I bought this coin this week mostly because I did not have one like it but it brought up a point some here might find interesting. The seller correctly named it as a post reform radiate rather than an antoninianus which is a denomination before the currency reform of Diocletian. He also correctly identified the mint as Alexandria. Less accurate was his call on the ruler shown. I find it interesting that there is a dealer who 'gets' the rather fine distinction between the antoninianus (having some silver content, marked XXI and issued with a silver wash) and the post reform radate (no silver, no mark, no wash) but missed the name. Beginners only: Who is portrayed on this obverse? Who do people mistake his coins for? What two pieces of evidence prove beyond all doubt the ID of this coin? Hint?
This one is a bit worse because Alexandria mint of the day used lerrer forms that are less friendly to modern collectors including the open top A and open bottom V. That makes GAL VAL appear to read GIILIIIIL to unpracticed eyes.
I am just curious, what Emperor did he have this attributed to? You can answer after people have made their guesses Doug.
Maximianus. It is, after all, written on the coin if you ignore the GAL VAL and the NOB CAES. My question is why early numismatic scholars didn't just call him Maximianus II. It is not like folks don't already have trouble splitting out the Maximinus II coins.
