First 4 From Baltimore

These are the first 4 that I have identified from my purchases in Baltimore yesterday (minus the Apollodotus drachm and the crazy Constantine II that got their own threads). I believe that I got the attributions right (or as right as possible given the state of the coin). The dealer I bought them from had at least one, mis-attributed I believe (at the bottom). I have 6 more from this dealer that I am working on now. Tell me what you think. Thanks for looking!

Crispus AE follis of Ticinum.
IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
PRINCIPIA IVVENTVTIS, Crispus standing left in military dress, holding inverted spear and resting left hand on shield. P in left field.
Mintmark TT.
RIC VII Ticinum 73.


Constans AE3.
D N CONST-ANS P F AVG, pearl-diademed head right
VOT XX MVLT XXX within wreath.
Mintmark SMALT


Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius 138-161 AD
Winged Thunderbolt Reverse


Marcus Aurelius AE As. 153-4 AD.
AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII FIL, draped bust right
TR POT VIII COS II S-C, Salus standing left, feeding serpent in arms and leaning on column.
This was marked as "FELICITY STG L" but as far as I can tell, there aren't any POT VIII's with Felicitas on them. At least what I found on wildwinds. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong haha.

 

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You are getting too good with coins that have hard to see details. Can you ID nicer coins, too? Cohen lists a Spes type which the BMCRE notes as probably a misreading of the coin you have. (BMC IV, 1961 page 328) Your coin demonstrates how that could happen.

Which are yours and which are you son's?

 

The Constans and the Crispus out of this group are his. He particularly likes the Crispus, more due to his untimely demise than the coin itself I think. We didn't get into details surrounding his death...but Mr. Kritt mentioned that he was boiled in oil which my son that was "super cool" lol. The Constans he likes due to the fact that it was minted in Egypt so that one got swiped from me too

My son was also gifted 4 other ancients that he is working on ID'ing himself. He wants me to post them for him when he is finished.

 

It sounds like you had a good show outing.

On the Aurelius coin I'm seeing a snakey form draped over the arms the standing figure. I'm guessing you can probably take it from there.

 

My son and I have been working on a few more from Baltimore off and on the last couple of days and have come to an impasse with the following coins. We'd like to get some input before me move on to another set. Can you all help?

This we believe to be some sort of Roman Amisos with Aegis on one side and Nike on the other. We can't figure out what it says though.


The next, we can't make out any lettering or even figure out who the profiles depicted on either side of the coin are.


This is one of my son's favorites. Again, no lettering so to speak and we can't figure out who the bust is.


Last in this batch but certainly not least. We believe this is a Trajan Denarius. Also we believe that it is a forgery like the last denarius we posted. We are only maybe 75% confident that it is a Trajan and maybe 90% confident that it is a forgery. How off are we?


As always, Thanks for any help and thanks for looking!

 

The workshop is Γ (gamma)

 

Thanks. I thought the "T" looked a bit off. Just assumed it had taken a hit over the years

 

You are close! It is not Amisos but Amastris (in Paphlagonia) and it is not Roman. The coin belongs to the the last Greek ruler of this city (until it fell into Roman hands), he is quite famous and was a strong rival against the Roman Republic, check if you find him, that is the time range the coin comes from

 

The coin type you call Amisos was issued by several different cities. Each wrote the genitive on the reverse splitting the word on either side of Nike. When you are working with hard to read coins, you might have more trouble finding which city you have. There have been several old threads on these on Coin Talk because Stevex6 specialized in these and showed most of what there were. Of course, many are off center or otherwise lose some letters. Below are two different town; neither is Amisos. The second one is harder because you really have no way to tell that it is missing a K at the left. I know you like mysteries so I'm not telling these. See if you can find out what cities issued these and which one fits the letters on your coin.



I'm 100% sure your last one is Trajan but much less sure it is not perfectly genuine but just abused terribly. It has plenty of evidence to allow an ID. Start by reading the reverse legend (first 10 clear letters show) and see which of the many types Trajan used with that legend fits the large and small figures shown.

I have no idea about the two portrait coin.

The sestertius is squared off quite a bit which is a lot more common after the mid 2nd century. I think I know who this is but I can't prove it. What do you see on the portrait that would rule out some rulers?

Keep up the good work. It is easier to ID better coins but miracles do happen and some of these might come with luck. You are already better at this than many people.

 

I think it is Commodus.

 

The tight hair curls make Commodus a reasonable choice. The reverse is a female figure standing left holding a patera. There are many different women just standing there.

The Trajan would seem easier but you might have to decide between the small figure being a child or a way of showing a defeated enemy supplicant.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=608438

 

I've looked at coins from both cities and I can't see what you see on mine. I will keep looking for more examples though.

 

Commodus seems to be a good choice for me. He seems to have the same hair style and nose profile. At least as much as I can tell. The reverse is so hard though. Like you said, it is definitely a female figure standing left and holding something. It doesn't give me much to go on. At least with my minimal knowledge.

I've looked through so many coins trying to find the one with 2 busts. I still can't narrow it down to save my life. I am rather interested in it though. Would it possibly be brothers? Or father/son? I'm just guessing at this point.

 

The goddess standing facing, head left, holding patera and scepter is probably Felicitas.

 

I can read IMP on the double bust and both are bare headed and unbearded. My guess would be Octavian and Agrppa or a similar early Imperial coin. Maybe even from Spain.

Something like this but not this...

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1626623

Size and weight will help.

 

Sorry, should've posted weight and size.
Size is approximately 27mm. Weight I will have to check when I get home.

On the right bust, it looks to me like it might be laureate? I'm basing that off of what look like the little strings hanging off the back of the neck and the "bump", for lack of a better word, at around 12 o'clock. I could just be seeing things though. I also see what "maybe" looks like "COS" above the forehead of the right bust. Again, I'm probably just seeing things.

 

The legends on the two head seem counterclockwise base out. The side with bare head seems to start IMP AVGV so I suspect there will be a missing F for filius making this a coin showing a son or adoption. The side with laurel could start TI making me want to start looking at Tiberius and heirs. Is this more than a guess? Well, we have to start somewhere.

 

Another possibility on the two-headed coin is that the young side is Commodus and the older side Marcus Aurelius. The slope of the noses is close to right.

 

Everything I've seen with Marcus Aurelius, he has a beard. This guy definitely doesn't have a beard

 

He doesn't even have a chin or a cheek. There are pits on those parts of the coin. Whether he had a beard before the corrosion is uncertain.