Regular contributors to this forum may recall a thread I started a few weeks ago called "A consistent set of Roman denominations from one emperor" I received great advice from you experts and decided to go for Trajan. I bought a nice silver denarius with a view to progressing to other denominations of his in due course. That is still the plan HOWEVER I thought that given his legacy in Britain it would be good to have a coin of Hadrian as well. I'm tempted by this silver denarius from a UK dealer: By comparison with http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s3462.html#RIC_0301 it looks like we have Laureate bust right; HADRIANVS AVG COS III PP ASIA; Asia with foot on prow holding hook and rudder I'm unfamiliar with 'Asia' on coins so can anyone tell me the connection with ships? Wildwinds doesn't give a year or a mint so any idea which mint, and does the COS III make it dateable? Other coins of Hadrian (117-138) with COS III seem to vary re date but would appear to be towards the end of his reign. As always, all contributions gratefully received ...
Cobbler, Hadrian was famous for his travels around the Roman Empire, in fact, he spent more time on his travels than he spent in Rome. The quickest route to Roman Asia was via ship. See the above map.
For comparison here is an example of an Asia denarius of Hadrian from Sphinx Numismatics, 18 mm, 3.47 gm.
Here are some examples : - eBay well-known fake seller : http://www.tesorillo.com/fakes/08/08a.htm Many of his prices are derisory. Moreover, there are some invented coins : https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Tres-rare-piece-dargent-francaise-a-identifier-SILVER-ARGENTA/263980896477? The legend is 2 times HENRICVS III D G FRANC ET POL REX instead of this legend on one side, and a motto on the other side. - http://www.denarios.org/falsas/TARRACO.htm - http://www.tesorillo.com/fakes/08/08a.htm Hoping you'll find these links useful if you don't know them soon.
Sorry, for eBay seller: https://www.ebay.fr/sch/scipion-sea...TRK:MEFSXS:MESOI&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2654
Hi guys, how scary is that! I'm not going to get myself into trouble by naming names but the Hadrian denarius I posted is from an established dealer, not from eBay. However I'm astounded by the similarity of the Sphinx image and I'm no longer tempted. This is the Trajan denarius I bought recently. I hope you're not going to tell me that this is also a fake! I am also looking at these two coins on another site, another Hadrian denarius and a Trajan as. Sorry that these images are rather small but they are taken off the websites of established dealers. Should I be avoiding these as well? I never buy old coins from eBay but my confidence has nevertheless been badly shaken
I am a bit surprised Sphinx sold a fake but the only way to avoid this is if the two coins are the same specimen. If the Sphinx example was sold first and then polished a bit, it might look just like this one. Otherwise, I see two fakes. I see no reason to doubt the Trajan from the photo but a photo is not a great way to expertise coins. You can often state with no doubt that a coin is fake just from seeing a photo but the converse is not true. For example I can not start to say that the second Hadrian or the Trajan as are genuine from those little photos but I see no reason to doubt them either. I really get tired of pointing out rule One as stated by Joe over on Forvm Ancient Coins: Either know the coin or know the seller. Seeing a photo can go a long way to convincing me that a coin is worth the risk unless that photo came from a source I know better than to trust. That means I would love to know where you got that as photo. I would love the coin if it came from someone I trust but I would not touch it with a ten foot pole if it came from a known fake seller. TIF used to say, "I am not an expert." Now she is "Always learning." I find myself forgetting at about the same rate as I am learning so I will take TIF's quote and expand it a bit: "I am not an expert, never was an expert and never will be an expert." I'll go one further. 99% of the self styled experts I have met not only were not experts but were not smart enough to know that "Always learning" is a considerable step better than being an "expert". It was common for emperors, especially toward the beginning of their reigns, to include their predecessor's name in their coin legends as a way of establishing their own right to power. It is always good to read every letter and assume nothing. We all make mistakes. I am going to a coin show tomorrow. I plan on making mistakes while there and second guessing the decisions I make right or wrong.
