A little help please from the ancient folks. Can you tell me what this is, and if there's any worth? Size is 20mm. This is from an accumulation my grandmother left, and as she was not a coin collector it's curious as to how she ended up with this. Most of the rest was US silver from circulation. Thanks
Its a Constantine with a Sol Invictus reverse. The mint mark is PLC...not sure which city but any serious LRB collector can tell you that. Those coins are fairly common usually. If I had to guess probably worth $5
Yep, 1702 years old! Constantine I IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG SOLI INVIC-TO COMITI TF / Star / PLG Mint: Lyons RIC VII Lyons 34 C3 315-316 AD
No 'wow' here. Just as with modern coins, condition is everything. Mine below was $20 and not a great bargain at that. Yours has lesser surfaces and a couple green spots that I'd want to see if could be bronze disease (Dangerous if powdery, safe if hard/solid). Sallent may be right about the $5 number but selling it to a dealer for any price would be just as hard as getting $20 from one for mine. The market wants better/smoother/prettier examples of such common coins. It would be easy to sell a well circulated junk silver coin but not as easy to sell a 1700 year old ancient 'worth' the same amount.
Your Grandmother probably could have told you a very interesting story about it and why she had it. I'd keep it if I were you. I watched an old movie with my wife about an ancient Roman coin called "Miracle in the Rain." It used to be free on YouTube but I think it costs you a couple of bucks now. Warning if you watch it: Keep some Kleenex handy.
"Wow my Grandmother somehow had a 1700 year old coin!" "Wow, her family will be thrilled to know this" "Wow, I've never, and I suspect they've never held a 1700 year old coin" I suspect they will be very happy, and I can say it is in better condition than every other ancient I have
Thanks for the pointer, I'll keep my eyes open for it. This was one of a grab bag of a couple hundred coins she left, and her children didn't know she had. She wasn't a collector of coins, but simply knew to keep older silver coins. And this one ancient coin...
Welcome to the Ancients Forum, @Dave M ! Keep the coin and start your ancients collection with it. If you like, I'll PM to you a list of my favorite and trusted dealers in ancient coins. Believe me—putting together a small collection of authentic ancient Roman coins is not expensive.
If you're excited by holding a 1700 year old coin—that's proof you've got ancient coin collector potential !
I wonder how many thousands of ancient coins are resting alone in the possessions of people of the elder generations who felt the desire for one and only one ancient coin. The Licinius below was such a lone ancient belonging to my father in law. When he died, my mother in law took his collection to SilverTowne in eastern Indiana (where she lives) but they did not want it so she gave it to me. He collected from circulation and never bought coins in a shop. I have no idea where he got it. I wonder if my daughter/grandson will want it because it was his or if their 'need' for ancients will be saatisfied from my holdings.
Very likely given to him by a collector as a gift of appreciation for a service or act of kindness. I enjoy giving away ancient coins to people—sometimes just to see their reactions—I always carry a few ancient Judaean coins in my pocket. Not quite this many.
"Wow" is the same response I had the first time I held an ancient coin and it was no scarcer or better in shape than your OP. That's true bang for buck IMO. Regardless of the monetary value I think that it's a great coin also. If your grandmother was religious at all it might have been of significance to her because of the portrait of Constantine who was largely responsible for the rapid spread of Christianity in the 4th century. Even though it's common this coin is extra interesting because it has the traditional Roman god Sol Invictus (the unconquered sun) on the reverse and was issued AFTER Constantine converted. Sol Invictus was a very popular god with the Roman army and Constantine needed thier support to survive. Owning 1700 years of history and a reminder of your grandmother is priceless! Thanks for sharing.
I'm sure he meant "Wow, that's really cool!" not "Wow, I'm gonna retire!" And you know what Doug? He's right.
Sorry to come off as the bad guy but when the leading post asks about 'worth', experience has taught that the interest was retirement potential.
I think that's typically only the case with members that are new to the hobby / forum. The OP has been a member since 2009 and has over 1600 posts which is more than enough experience to temper unreasonable expectations and earn the benefit of the doubt IMHO. For what it's worth I don't think being blunt necessarily makes someone "the bad guy" if the intent is to help. You have a treasure trove of valuable knowledge that you freely share which I think is awesome.
Far too often, being blunt is the right thing. A friend just brought me a bin of coins her sister collected over the years to see what it might be worth. The bad news is there are a ton of collector trap items from Littleton, true collector coins shipped and stored in cellophane packaging that will ruin their grade by leaving hairline scratches and others that worn past the point of collector value. Some of the coins are silver or gold and worth melt value but that is it. In the past, I found if I wasn't blunt in cases like this, people didn't really hear that the coins are worth less than the purchase cost. So, I'm painfully blunt and, in my opinion, that is better than giving them hope. Tough love is love, and far too often, a failure to tell the truth causes more pain than simply telling it like it is.
Sorry for the misleading "any worth?" question, Doug. This coin as well as a small pile of 40/90% US silver was in my grandmother's estate which is being divided among her children (my mother being one). I was asked to value the whole pile to give them a plan on how to divide it 4 ways. So given my assignment, I did need an idea of value, but my personal interest was in being able to report back semi-intelligently about what this actually is. Fortunately I'm already retired, so that box is already checked off
