Imagine the scene in Roman time around 110 CE: it's early Monday and the coin striker is a little seedy having imbibed in too much cheap wine last night in the taberna. The first silver flan is quickly misplaced on the anvil and is ready for striking, but his thoughts are wishing he could be somewhere else as he takes a swipe at it and - hey presto - we have a Monday lemon! Here is my idea of a Monday lemon which incidentally is one of my favourite coins. Any more Monday lemons out there? Trajan 98 - 117 ce. AR Tetradrachm, Antioch. AYTO K P KAIC NEΡ TΡAIANOC CEB ΓEΡM ΔAK, Laureate head of Trajan right above eagle standing right; club to lower left / DHMAPX EZIZYMATS, Tyche of Antioch seated right, river god Orontes before. (13.1grms; 22.7 - 25cm)
I agree workmanship was generally good in Trajan's time. During the reign of Gallienus? Well, not so much!
The design on this coin is beautiful. However, I have seen so many much better quality, proper strikes, etc. than mine. This coin is rather pricey to capture, but I went ahead and captured this lower-cost option. I always called this an "ugly coin" because as it compares to many other of this coin, it is poorly minted. So, yeah, this is a Monday special, or a Friday "Who Cares, Weekend is here!" RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm 275-270 BCE ROMANO Apollo-Galloping Horse Sear23
I have a coin of Constantius II where the strike is almost completely off the flan. No pics of it yet though. I have to dig it out of my LRB jar.
There was a time when buying a car, it was wise to ask what day it was produced. Monday and Friday cars were not as good as Tuesday to Thursday cars. Nice Tet! Is that a goat eating out of the River God's hand? I have a Monday and Friday coin in this pic.
LOL, Even under Octavian things could go wrong, maybe because Marc Antony and Octavian were at odds? Denarius, 18 x 19 mm, 3.62 g; 40-39 BC. Southern or central Italian mint Crawford 528/2b; CRI 261a; Sydenham 1193a; RSC 1b; Sear 1506; Obverse: CAESAR IMP PONT III VIR [R P C] bare head of Octavian to r. wearing slight beard Reverse [M A]NTON IMP III VIR R P C AV[G] bare head of Antony, r. This is what they did :-o and this is how it should have been (picture from the web):
I think this coin was a Monday lemon. It's silvered, so I guess it isn't worn much, so must have not been struck well. Hard to see some of the legend and other details. Maybe I also did this coin pic edit on a Monday.
