ANCIENT - Opinions...Theodoric The Great Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (AD 471-526)

Theodoric the Great King of the Ostrogoths (471--526),
ruler of Italy (493--526),
regent of the Visigoths (511--526)
AE Unit Rome Mint. 493-518 or 526 AD (In the name of Anastasius?)
10mm x 1.35 grams.
Obv. Bust right, completely degraded issue
Rev. Victory advancing left with dagger, dragging captive, chi-rho in the left field,
Note:Black and Sexy!


I would like to here some of your guys opinions on this coin.

 

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It has a sinister look to it - great eye-appeal. What does "completely degraded issue" mean?

 

This was the seller's wording. I decided to include it. The seller is a Eastern Numismatic expert I don't know if he is a Roman Expert or Gothic expert. This was sold as Vandalic LRB Imitation. I came to the attribution from like portraiture and reverse devices of similar coins. In a nut shell I can only answer your answer with conjecture. I suppose he meant it to describe the style of the devices and legends? All opinions are welcome!

 

I absolutely love this coin - I haven't seen anything like it before, and I have to say I'm curiously drawn to the transitional period between LRBs and coinage of the Middle Ages. What a great find. :thumb:

 

I'm not a fan of these, but I'm glad you got one for your collection.:thumb:

 

Why would you collect coins of your beloved empire going to poop?

 

I also these Unique Hilderic coins at the same time from the same seller,

http://www.cointalk.com/t222692/

Dionysos found a link to a another presumably unique one.

 

Im not a big fan of these things either but I really like this one. Good catch.

 

Thanks all. I really do like these because of the extreme rarity. Its so hard to find info on the internet on these types of coins.

 

I like 'm black & sexy (the coin that is...). For the type : great find ! Love it !

 

Nice coin, but while this may be from one of the tribes, there is the equal possibility that it could just be a regular barb. Just not enough evidence to tell who made these, and many sellers simply attribute any barb AE4s as Vandal or Ostrogothic. My tip with collecting post-Roman Germanic: go only for the types that no doubt belong to them. It's tough to find them, but its definitely worth it when you do.
I really don't enioy being the party pooper here but I had to point this out.

 

That's I appreciate your opinion. It is valued. I must tell you though, there is no such thing as a "regular" barb. That's funny though. There are local imitations of circulating coinage, if that's what you mean? If it were an imitation it would be so of Anastasius there for the time fits. There for there is no doubt. I noticed so sellers sell coins that are supposedly late Roman or Gothic-but there is not enough device to make that determination. Again that is not the case here.

Not to mention all of the Gothic rulers imitated existing coinage so unless you can read the legend which 99.9% can't that determination cant be made. At least to my knowledge.

The other two coins I received in this lot are unique examples of Hilderic. As Dionysos pointed out. This coin has all the devices and the same portrait style as others of this ruler. Hum. Again VK I always appreciate your opinion.

 

Often the attribution can be corroborated with other examples of the type, found in the same location or strata. Also, coins are frequently found with other artifacts that point to a specific culture.