A Marcianopolis AE

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Luckily I found this old thread

Can someone tell if on the reverse of this AE coin, at left, there is the lower part of a letter "E" or "T" or is it just some deposit:

Severus Alexander
Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis (now Devnya, Bulgaria), 222 - 235 AD
AE 18
2.862 g, 12h

RPC VI, 1701 (temporary number); AMNG I (Dacien und Moesien), 1047; Varbanov I, 1733; Moushmov 706, Plate IX 6.

Ob.: AVT K M AVΡ CEV AΛEXANΔΡOC laureate bust of Severus Alexander to r.
Rev.: ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ Homonoia standing facing wearing kalathos, holding patera in r. hand and cornucopia in l. arm

 

I vote for "just some deposit" if you are referring to the lump below the arm holding the patera. Varb. 1733 - another example, not my coin.

 

During the wonderful time of the influx of coins from the Balkans the provincials from the area were freely available in high grade for insanely low prices - now that things have returned to "normal" - the price for high grade examples has gone way up. Wonder what happened to all of ones that were available?

I have also wondered why there was so many coins from the Balkans that seemed to come in all at once starting in or about 1998 (?). I think the answer is three fold: (1) the diggers found out that there was a big market for these coins and that they could be found using war surplus mine detectors (2) it was before governments cracked down on the export trade, as coins should ever have been included and (3) the war in Serbia made it much easier to get these items out of the countries where the coins were found. Germany did not have import/export restrictions on coins and these were freely traded - to the point where I had heard that one dealer had moved a ton or more of uncleaned coins through Germany. Those were the days before the cultural crazies started screaming about it and the restrictions came into place - not that that did anything but drive up prices.

In any event, check out Doug Smith's excellent summary of Balkan provincials from the glory days of the early 21st century.

Now of course it seems like many coins come from Syria and thereabouts - is it any coincidence that this area is the site of constant unrest?

 

Yes - even since I wrote the OP about 3 years ago the prices have gone up. For those who don't know Doug's webpages: I think this is the link you were recommending https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/thrace2.html

I think the influx was also a result of the increase in on-line access - this increased trade globally as online auctions and markets had a burst of access that quickly changed prices. Generally I think coin collecting and speculation in coins as an investment asset has increased in the COVID/post-COVID period. Awareness that there were interesting Roman coins issued outside of Rome is also up and more accessible with RPC online. The investor interest has been mostly focused on the most perfect examples - IMHO ancient coins with flaws have almost no investment value (I have some decent VF+ US Silver dollars that I bought in the 1980's - if you factor in inflation (I won't even mention opportunity cost of alternate investments) these coins are worth less than 1/2 of what I paid for them more than 40 years ago.

 

Thanks - I had the link but somehow forgot to include it. Some of the coins from these cities were crude but most were quite beautiful and the patina on many was incredible. I remember being told by a Serbian friend that the crater created by an errant US bomb had uncovered a horde of spectacular perfect condition third century denarii. One way to dig I guess.

 

Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis, Caracalla with Julia Domna 198-217 AD. AE Pentassarion, Quintillianus legatus consularis, 215 AD.
Obv.: ANTΩNINOC AVΓOVCTOC IOVΛIA / ΔOMNA Laureate head of Caracalla and draped bust of Julia Domna facing one another.
Rev.: VΠ KVNTILIANOV MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN Tetrastyle temple, with annulet in pediment and containing facing statue of Fortuna, with rudder and cornucopia; Є (mark of value) below.
Varbanov 1052.

A double die match with Eid Mar Auctions 4.217