Hello everyone, I recently picked up this ancient at my local coin shop. I personally think it is a decent buy for 6$ but don’t know much when it comes to this part of numismatics. What are y’all’s thoughts on this particular coin? Was it a decent pickup?
Do you have any idea what it is, other than an ancient coin? Would you like for me to tell you more about the coin, or are you planning on researching it yourself? That's the fun part so I don't want to spoil it for you if you are wanting to learn about ancient coins. As for it being a "decent pickup", that depends on your goal. Six dollars is not an excessive amount to pay, if that is what you're asking.
May I first ask why you bought it? Also, I still don't know from your response if you are asking us to help you learn how to identify your coin or if you are asking us to identify it.
I’m asking for others to give their thoughts on what they think of the coin. Nothing really in specific.
In case you change your mind and want to learn more about the coin, take a look at the letters. They are in Greek. The style of the coin is Roman (emperor portrait on the obverse, something else on the reverse). This coin was struck by one of the Roman provinces of the time. Your images are blurry but you can still make out many of the letters-- enough to read the emperor's name and the city name. The emperor's name will be spelled out on the coin's obverse along with various other letters which abbreviate his titles. The reverse will have the city name. Here's a thread you may wish to read and bookmark. It contains helpful links for beginning ancient coin collectors : https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-coins-beginners’-faq-thread.324858/
I ask no one reading this post the ID for this coin here. If you wonder if you got it right, Conversation TIF or I. We would not want to force information of those who do not care.
I think you got an excellent deal on that coin, because what other hobby would allow you to get a genuine ancient artifact to hold in your hand for the price of a value meal at McDonald's? Moreover, there is a lot of fun and education to be had if you spend some time answering questions this coin raises. Here are a few. I will answer some of them in order to get you going in the right direction. The obverse of the coin reads K ΠO KOP BAΛЄPIANOC; that's Greek, right? Yes, it is. Who is this K ΠO KOP BAΛЄPIANOC? I can't expect you, being just new to the hobby, to know this, so I'll tell you. K stands for KAICAP, which is transliterated into Caesar. ΠO KOP is a Greek abbreviation for Publius Cornelius. BAΛЄPIANOC is transliterated into Latin as VALERIANUS. An interesting aside is that this inscription indicates that in the time and place where this was minted, when used as a consonant, the Latin V was pronounced more like our modern V, rather than the classical W sound. That's why it's spelled with a B. In a city a few hundred miles to the west, the name of this person is spelled OVAΛЄPIANOC, indicating it was pronounced like Walerianos. Really? Isn't he a Roman? Wouldn't this be a Roman coin, then? What's it doing written in Greek? Yes, he is a Roman and this is a Roman coin -- a Roman provincial coin. Why is it in Greek? That's the question first-year students ask at seminary when they learn that all 27 books of the New Testament as well as all of the letters of the church fathers (even to and from the church in Rome) are written in Greek, not Latin. When did K ΠO KOP BAΛЄPIANOC live? Is this BAΛЄPIANOC I or his grandson, BAΛЄPIANOC II? What role did he play in Roman history? Does he look old enough to have a grandson himself? I seriously urge you to read about this historical figure and his family. The reverse of the coin reads KAICAPЄΩN BAΓHNΩN; is that the name of the place that issued the coin? Yes, it is. Even experienced collectors might have trouble identifying this city, so let me Google that for you. Where is that? Why is this in Greek? Don't they speak Turkish there? If you Googled that, you'll see that it's in Lydia, in modern Turkey, on the south side of the Hermos River. I'll let you research the language issue. Who is that on the reverse and what's he doing? I'll show you the example in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris, which is more clear: You'll see it's a male deity holding an eagle and scepter. He's an important figure in the Greco-Roman pantheon. Are there other examples of this coin? Does it appear in any catalogs or references? Well, obviously there's the one in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, because that's the one in the photo, above. Mionnet, writing in Volume 4 of his Description de Médailles antiques grecques et romaines, describes that same exact coin as this: And the British Museum's catalog of their coins from Lydia describes it like this: Is it common? Scarce? Rare? Worth $6.00 or a fortune? Does that matter? Yes, what a fascinating artifact that is, isn't it?
We cross-posted, @dougsmit and @TIF . You wrote your replies while I was in the process of writing my answer. I leave it up here for those who ARE interested, because I think it'll be of interest to some of the regulars here, particularly those who are just getting started in the hobby.
But as to your original question, I think that's a no-brainer. Look at all the ancient history wrapped up in your coin--the sad story of the emperor, the spread of Greek and Roman civilization, Roman political and economic policies in the conquered territories. Imagine who might have held your coin in their hands, what they might have used it for. And all this for $6? I think we snagged another one.
