Gordian III and Philip I are very common (despite their short rules) because of the massive devaluation of the coinage shortly after their rules. People hoarded away the "good silver" when faced with the newer plated coins. You can say the same about Volusian and other very short lived emperors of the period. Despite their short reigns we find their coins very readily available, and the thing they have in common is that not long after their reigns the coins were grossly devaluated, which lends weight to the hoarding hypothesis. Also keep in mind these were turbulent and violent times, and there was a lot of political instability, which is another factor that encourages hoarding of coins.
Oddly enough I don't have a GIII denarius. The only ones I have are a couple sestertius and this drachm.
Sign up for secret santa this year. I'm giving my secret santa a Gordian III denarius this year. That's right, a denarius instead of a more common antoninianus.
I didn't realize that there were GIII denarii. Everything I see out in the wilderness looks like an antoninianus. I just searched Vcoins for the denarii and everything looked like antoninii. Am I doing this wrong? Do know how to pluralize the names of these coins?
They're less common than his antoninianii, but still common. https://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.as...cords=100&SearchOnSale=False&Unassigned=False
Just write Denarius and Antoninianus. An Antoninianus is easy to tell from a Denarius because the portrait has a radiate crown. While the Denarius, besides the smaller size and weight, has a portrait with a laureate crown.
I'd agree. Mostly I would think a silvered ant.. But when searching references, RIC, RSC, Cohen, ect.... I let that determine how I cataloge them. Otherwise I'd have them all in the antoninanus column. Editted- of course Sallents reply works. I actually hadn't connected it. But it's better than my idea.
Just look at the crowns. That's how the Romans knew what coin they had. Different crowns on the busts in an Antoninianus and a Denarius
Thanks but that's a long wait lol. There are lots of Gordian coins I like, but I've been buying too many other types right now.
Thanks Sallent, Smojo and Zumbly. I'd tried searching it in Vcoins but hadn't noticed the laureate bust and, and now I've got another target to aim money at!
Not sure about rare, scarce maybe. They seem plentiful online atleast bronze anyway, until I'm ready to buy one. Then there won't be any, lol.
@Sallent I was looking at references, there are 2 of my 4 listed as denarius 1 of the 2 is a double denari but yet all 4 are radiate crowns. Two are plainly silvered ants though.
The feature to watch for here is whether the singular ends in -us or -ius. Denarius forms the plural by dropping the -us and adding -i but that will be in addition to the -i that was already there so the plural is denarii. Sestertius and dupondius work the same way yielding sestertii and dupondii. However, antoninianus did not have that i before the -us so when you drop -us and add the -i you only have one -i, therefore antoniniani. The one most often mixed up is aureus which follows the rule and ends up aurei NOT aureii. Just to make things difficult we have as which forms its plural asses. There are several declensions of Latin nouns with their own rules and it is not necessary for every collector to learn them all. This is not the place to tell you why but you have one quadrans and two quadrantes. Those who have been here more that a few weeks are undoubtedly tired of seeing my same old coins but my favorite Gordian III is this sestertius issued when he was Caesar under Balbinus and Pupienus. They also come in denarii. If you think there are a lot of Gordian III antoniniani, just wait until they publish the RPC volumes for Gordian's provincials. Save your pennies. They will be huge and expensive because there are thousands and thousands of types. I have very few. Marcianopolis Nicopolis Antioch, Pisidia Tarsos Alexandria
PM me about that, with pictures and measurements. I'm sure there has to be a miss-atribution somewhere. I'll search through my coin catalogs and get to the bottom of it. Every source I've ever read on the matter, plus every coin I've owned, has backed up the assessment that all radiate crowns are antoninianii, and all laureate crowns are denarii, and that's the easy way to tell them apart.
Ok, give me some time Sunday is my only day off this week and thats only if I'm lucky. Being the type of work I do I don't bring any information with me. Look up the 2 Jupiters though on wildwinds there's a few on vcoins. I haven't looked at any CNG sales & ect... And catbikes is another. Deep down it doesn't matter to me I'm honored to hold these coins no matter the denomination.
You've been working too hard, @Smojo . Grab a handful of coins and let's go visit the taberns of the Suburra, and bet on the gladiator fights. Live a little. What good is a pouch full of antoninianii and denarii if you can't spend it.