A "Jamesicus" Tiberius Purchase

I almost didn't get those. The coin shop here had a nice group of ancients that I helped i.d. aand price. One of those was a Corinth stater I have planned on buying. However, someone came and bought the whole loe except the Claudius, Augustus, and Agrippa Ases, which the shop held for me a a low price. In retrospect, I think I got the better deal.

 

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Very nice, Gavin... I love the portrait of Tiberius on it.

My first purchase of 2019, which arrived a couple of days ago, is also a Tiberius, but a 'Tribute Penny' rather than an As. It doesn't have the neat lettering that yours has, but it has a few charming quirks of its own.


TIBERIUS
AR Denarius. Holed and gilded in antiquity. 3.67g, 21mm. Lugdunum (Lyon) mint, Group 4, AD 18-35. RIC I 30; Lyon 150; RSC 16a. O: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right; one ribbon on shoulder. R: PONTIF MAXIM, Livia, as Pax, seated right, holding scepter and olive branch, feet on footstool; ornate chair legs, single line below.

 

Wow. Why gilded? Interesting.

 

I don't know if anyone can say for sure if it was gilded for decorative or deceptive purposes, but I like how a piece like this sparks the imagination when you inevitably wonder about the whys.

 

I'll guess it was gilded to pass as an aureus and nailed to the wall by a merchant who foolishly accepted it or took it from a customer. Did the Romans have a law as to what to do with bad coins offered in trade? Were they handed back to the passer so he could try again at the next shop?

 

A very interesting coin, @zumbly! A general observation: the inscriptional lettering on Roman gold and silver coins is seldom as sharp and well defined as that on Aes coins due to the softness of the gold and silver employed - the much harder base metals facilitated better defined die impressions.

 

The inscriptional lettering on Nero Aes coins is usually of high quality. Even the very small SPQR on the shield carried by the personification of Victory on the reverse of this (circulated and used) coin is legible:


RIC Vol. I, NERO, As, Lugdunum, No. 543 (AD 66)
Obverse: Nero, bare headed facing right
Inscription clockwise from bottom: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TRP P P
Reverse: Winged Victory, walking left, holding shield inscribed SPQR
Inscription: S -------- C (left and right)