Please help me about this denarius of Antoninus Pius (paid 50 eur): Obv: ANTONINVSAVGPIVSPP - Laureate head right. Rev: TRPOTCOSIIII Exe: LIBIIII - Liberalitas standing left, holding coin counter and cornucopia. 145-161 (Rome). Weight 2.9 gr. I'm trying to clear my collection of bothersome (problematic) coins.
I see noting suspicious except possibly the weight. It seems a little light at 2.9g, but not enough to make me worry. Perhaps an AP specialist will weigh in.
I have to question whether the coin is official or, possibly a contemporary copy which is a better thing than a modern fake made to fool collectors. We need a comment from a Pius specialist who has handled many more of these coins than I. Below are a few coins that I consider to be ancient but barbarous/unofficial but, in truth, I am not the person to rule on the status of any of these. It seems unlikely that anything this far from official in style would have fooled the Roman on the street but they may well have circulated far from the civilization centers where coins were needed for commerce and the supply from Rome was not to be had. Where do we draw the line between criminal intent and a branch mint of necessity? How do we tell a product of 150AD from one of 2015? This is easier when comparing to a known, official standard but harder with coins like these.
That is an interesting coin. It appears to be struck (as per the edge) but it has unusually flat fields which dont appear typically on ancients. The overall style is obviously barbarous and falls into line with known contemporary examples (note Doug's Faustina above). Its one of those coins I think someone needs to see in person.
