After 2 hours of referencing the attribution website wildwinds .com, I think I have narrowed this down to the following. Antoninus Pius AE As, Rome, AD 147-148 AD. 25.8mm, 9.54 g. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XI, Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder / COS IIII VOTA, Emperor togate, standing left by altar, holding patera and scroll. S-C across fields. BMCRE 1814 note; RIC III 852 var (drapery). RIC 852 var BMC 1814 note The one I have is a little light owing to the VOTA part at the bottom of the reverse being missing. Also it is a little elongated. 7.85 g. gram. 23 x 28 mm. The black outline on the bottom of the reverse is where it didn't crop correctly.
I think I would call that "RIC 852a Var" [edit -- you're right, the drapery makes it a "var"! cool] based on what I see from the ANS's (American Numismatic Society) OCRE (Online Coins of the Roman Empire). That's a better, more comprehensive tool. Wildwinds can be excellent, but lots of coins are missing, so it's worth it to double-check/verify on OCRE. It also shows more examples for comparison. (For this type you can see about 10 examples with weights and diameters.) https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.852A?lang=en BTW, for something to look at, here's an Antoninus Denarius of mine... No idea what the reference is! And a big Drachm from Egypt, Alexandria with a Griffin (Nemesis) on the back:
If we’re piling on with Antoninus Pius (and why not? ), here’s my sestertius. Note the similar reverse to the OP’s coin.
I don’t want to be weird, but, there’s almost literally no reason to spend as much as TWO HOURS on a single attribution unless you have all the time in the world, or have a top dollar coin. Just my 2 denarius communi.
I tend to agree, but respect those who have the stamina for it. I’m sure it’s educational. Remember this is only @expat ’s third ancient, and he’s growing fast with his new enthusiasm. So that’s not wasted time. It’s tuition.
Good point, my Lord. I admit I did spent about an hour on my first ancient. These days it’s 10 minutes max before I give up and lost it on eBay as “provincial coin of….somebody”
@expat - I am a bit envious of you. You see, back in ‘07 when I was new to ancients, my newfound enthusiasm knew no bounds, and those were heady days indeed. I remember them fondly. So much so that I wish I could tap into that feeling again, if you know what I mean.
It has opened a whole new world. I am sure the skills and knowledge of attributing the coinage that I learn will lessen the time taken to ID a coin. Problem is, this is so new that I get sidetracked by all the other beautiful coins.
Trying to be disciplined. More research, education and hopefully some knowledge before I purchase any more. The only reason I bought three at once was the seller/dealer lives only 3 hours from me and gave me a good price. Plus, paying late Thursday and receiving the coins (trackable post) Monday morning was a nice bonus.
When I started, I took off like a cat with its tail on fire, and had quite the buying frenzy! LOL No regrets, but I did pay a lot less attention to quality then than I do now.
Take your time. Typically persons seeking identification help get mildly scolded for not going far enough before they turn to this board. I appreciate both the enthusiasm and the legwork prior to posting. You got skin in the game. And good attribution help too thanks to a solid starting point.
Since VOTA is not apparent, this coin might be 851. Without being sure, I would catalogue it like this RIC Rome 851/ 852 [VOTA?] What you are interpreting as a bit of drapery, is actually the laurel tie falling across the back.
As you might have noticed, this is a whole new learning curve for me and I appreciate your input. After looking at images in wildwinds, OCRE etc it seemed to match. It is listed in Dinsdale (no. 032580) with images which, to me, seem to match. Could even be an obverse die match, but I will of course bow to greater knowledge and experience. All learning is important to me.
