I recently picked up this piece from a metal detectorist who was selling several mixed up hoards from the 90s. Most of the coins he had were from Lithuania (c1660s) & Spain (c1636 & 1641 with some glorious counterstamps remonetizing beat up old copper host coins). One ancient jumped out at me though and set off a "bong" in that bell hiding in my hindbrain. I'm not an expert on these counterstamped Roman coins, but it seems that they date mostly to the first and second centuries CE. It's my understanding that this is because later emperors were less concerned about tying their legitimacy to previous rulers and were happy to melt down coins to reissue lighter / lower purity coinage of their own. If I'm reading these 3 countermarks correctly, this piece is stamped "PRO / BSY / IMP". Or, "By order of..." "???," "Emperor". In a quick search of other counterstamped Roman coins though, I'm not seeing "BSY". Do we have any experts who can help guide me toward which emperor, usurper, or pretender might have used that counterstamp? I'm also curious about the host coin, but I'll probably have to measure diameter and weight to have any hope of ID-ing it. Even then, it's a longshot due to the extremely worn details. And the reverse is pretty much gone.
Way cool, @GeorgeM . I understand countermarked AE coins were to retarrif them for the Legions as small change to break the larger value Denarii that they were paid. Here is one of mine: Augustus As four countermarks 25-23 mm 9.8g TICA AVG probably for Tiberius Augustus CE14-37 Dolphin
Very interesting. I really like countermarks, but I am just getting started on ancients - there are so many I am constantly amazed. As for yours, I am not familiar with that one. The basic three rectangles looks like a lot of 1st century Roman countermarks. There are a lot of types. (FYI, if you hit "full image" button when you make your post, your photos will be shown full size within your post). Whenever I get a new one, I reference The Museum of Roman Countermarks - here is a link to a page with a "BPV" that looks a lot like yours. You might look around the site - there are a lot of different types: http://www.romancoins.info/CMK-Moneyer-Aug-Part1.html Here is one like Alegandron's, but not as nice (the dolphin on his example is exceptionally nice - these usually get flattened out, from what I've seen). I have a bunch of these - they are alarmingly common. As Alegandron suggests, there seems to be a military connection out on the limes - I would love to see a full-blown single-source description of these - where they are found, etc. This came in a batch earlier in the week - the Ephesus/Moesia attribution is from what I have gleaned online - I really don't know: Ephesus / Moesia Æ 24 (As) Unknown Host Tiberius c/m (c. 14-37 A.D.) Æ as (or barbaric imitation); too worn to identify. (5.07 grams / 24 mm) Countermarks: AVG, TICÆ and Helmet obverse / Dolphin reverse M. Pangerl Collection 75 (AVG), 90 (TICÆ) 98 (Helmet) 95 (Dolphin) And yet some more uglies - ugly but I love 'em. TICA TICAE and AVG seem to be the most common:
Thanks for the link to that site. I'm still not seeing anything quite like the "Bsy" countermark though. It sends like the legions used strange monograms though... any idea which ruler or legion this matches up to?
I don't see a BPV countermark listed in Howegego, which is the main reference for these. It's old and missing a lot of things, though. It's definitely a V, since there is no Y in the Latin alphabet, and Greek countermarks are rare on these issues. Maybe something related to the military (bellicum pecunia vsvs, which is probably the wrong conjugation but all I can think of right now for 'money for military use'), but that's a completely random guess.
You might want to take a look at this list. It has a BPV countermark which is, I think, identical or very similar to the one on your coin.
I am only a fair weather friend to countermarks. I like them on decently worn, smooth surfaced and identifiable coins. I never will be a serious student - just a collector. This TIBCAF on Augustus is on the list Orielensis linked and confirms their guess as to the host. Everytime this comes up I ask about this Claudius as with AD but still have no idea what it means.
@dougsmit, I'm not an expert on these either, but I have one which is stamped DD (faint, and doesn't photograph very well). Interpreting these is total guesswork, really. DD may mean Decretio Decuronium ('by decree of the City Council'), so maybe AD could mean something like Approbo Decuronium ('approved by the City Council,' may be mangled but I learned to read, not write, Latin). It's not a normal abbreviation that's in the epigraphy books I checked.
