I am looking for info on these two ancient bronze coins. They were found in Jerusalem. I believe they are from the Roman era. How are the conditions of the coins? How old are they? What is the value? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Top one is: Constantius II AE2 Centenionalis. 348-351 AD. DN CONSTANTIVS PF AVG, diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right / FEL TEMP REPARATIO, soldier spearing fallen horseman, Gamma to left, CONSI* in ex. Constantinople RIC VIII 81,I Looks great! The 2nd is a Bronze prutah from Judea, but thats about all I know. edit: and dont clean them they look great as they are!
Thanks you! So the above coin was minted in Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, Turkey and made its way to Jerusalem. It makes me ponder on the hands it must have gone through on its journey. Very interesting, Thank you again!
I don't think that is what Randy was saying at all. Constantius was the emporer portrayed on the coin. Constantinople was named for Constantine.
Like I said in the other thread, the Jewish coin was made by Herod Agrippa, grandson of herod the Great. Can anyone read the date who knows these coins? I know they were struck around 40 AD. Chris
I thought he was saying that the "CONSI" on the bottom of the reverse stood for Constantinople, which I thought would be the place of mint. Thank you for clarifying that
Legal currency of the Roman Empire was struck in many mints and traveled a lot farther than Constantinople to Jerusalem. This was struck in Constantinople in the tenth workshop (Greek number I = 10). There were mints closer but it is in no way unusual for trade and redeployed soldiers to carry cash anywhere from Britain to Egypt. That is part of the ridiculousness of the claim by certain modern countries that coins of the ancients belong to their cultural heritage but not to the rest of us. The Roman Empire included most of Europe and the money was spent even beyond its borders. It is like saying that all the US currency currently located in Europe should be sent back to Washington DC where it was printed.
Exactly, that is the great hypocrisy. I got so mad hearing about Greece that I called all of my 3 Congressmen again. The Senators in MN are worthless, (feels like they were cheerleaders for the State Department), but my Rep was great. Hopefully he may make some noise.
OK, obviously (as I said above) I only know enough about ancient coins to be dangerous. I misread the question and thought you were asking about the obverse legend CONST. I will now crawl back under my rock.
Fallen horsemen are my favorite Roman coins -- I've hoarded many dozens (perhaps hundreds) of them over the years. But that one is remarkably attractive. It would certainly be one of the nicest in my collection! Also a great Herod Agrippa! Those seem to be the iconic or archetypal prutah, in my view. Very nice example. and as Randygeki said, don't clean them! They both have absolutely beautiful desert patinas (doesn't get much better than those)!
Ummm...I hope it wouldn't hurt to take a few swipes with a wire brush over it..........JK! I would NEVER in my right mind clean or otherwise alter any old coin, or artifact for that matter. I understand the value of the patina as part of its history, originality and what makes it individually different from the other similar coins. I view it kind of like a fingerprint. Rest assured no one has to worry, but thank you for the concerns! I just recently researched on e-bay for these coins (I would never dream of selling these coins, by the way) and honestly could not find a better example of the fallen horseman coin. Many also seemed to be a completly cleansed of any patina. What would be an estimated value of the coin in this condition?
Theres some seriously over priced fel temps on ebay, IMO. vcoins.com would probably be better for a comparison in price.
