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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Julius Germanicus, post: 3561401, member: 80783&quot;]It came in the mail today and looks quite fabulous in hand! </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]946849[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>While it is certainly cast, it looks like a quite sharply &quot;struck&quot; coin and even exhibits what looks like flow lines on the obverse!</p><p>With it´s golden tone and partly lustrous surfaces, it does not have the feel or look of a bronze coin, which would have been made from a brownish copper alloy by the&nbsp; early 270s.</p><p>Also at 24 grams and 32,8 mm it by far exceeds the weight and diameter of the last Sestertii from the 260s.</p><p>As by the time of Vabalathus the only coins of this size (resembling a 2nd Century Sestertius) that were still being struck were the very rare bronze and gold Medallions, I have the impression that this artefact does represent an artist´s impression not of a Sestertius, but of a (slightly barbarized) gold Medallion of 8 Aurei (which in terms of size and weight would correspond with such products by Gallienus and Claudius II).&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]946850[/ATTACH] </p><p>As there are no genuine (gold) Medallions (or regular large bronze coins like Sestertii) known of Vabalathus, there are no extant large module portraits of him that would make this portrait look fake in comparison (like most modern &quot;Sestertii&quot; found on Ebay).</p><p>In fact I think the bust does not look unlike the person seen on Vabalathus genuine Antoniniani, but with unmatched style, richness of detail, and degree of preservation. </p><p>That´s more than one could expect for 8,50 Euros I would say, so this will remain a keeper (next to my cast Aemilian Sestertius which I one day hope to replace with a real thing that sadly will not look 10% as neat as this fantasy piece).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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