I just got back into collecting a couple of months ago and I was talking to an older friend about it. Today we meet for coffee and he gives these to me as a gift. I am a US Type set collector but these are intriguing. Lord help me if I now get into ancients. I've done some looking and the Widow Mite seems fairly common. They have been stored in old plastic holders for about 30yrs so I'm guessing PVC damage on the Widow Mite. The other coin is a little tougher to find but it appears to have some value. Both will have sentimental value from this point forward but I'm looking for as much as I can find on both. Thanks for any help. I will first post the Roman. The widows might will be post #2
Both are nice coins, the augustus is worn but is scarce. I cant give a value on it but I myself wouldnt pay more then $40 for it. Widows mites I dont know anything about. They are common but some can be special.
I am not the best ancient answer guy but I can give you the following information. MAT said that your first coin is an Augustus. Augustus is the Roman ruler depicted on the coin. This link describes several Augustus coins. You can scroll through the examples & look for your coin. It looks similar to the one listed as RIC473. http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/augustus/t.html The weight & dimension of your silver coin determines the denomination of your coin. It would be nice to know the weight & dimension of your silver Roman coin. The denomination "Denarius" is the predecessor of the English Penny. This is why the denomination "D" is on so many modern English coins. LRB is a TLA which means “Late Roman Bronze”. TLA means “Three Letter Acronym”.
The Augustus denarius (the silver coin) was struck at the Pergamum mint in 27 BC. The reverse depicts the corona rostrata: a laurel wreath interwoven with the prows of ships. Reference number RIC I 473. The second coin is a bronze prutah of the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus of Judea, who reigned 103-76 BC. This is the "widow's mite" mentioned in the bible story. A mite was actually a small bronze coin of the Low Countries. The translators of the King James version felt that readers would be more apt to understand "mite" than "prutah."
Thanks for the info!! Are there value guides on these anywhere and how do they assign grades on ancients? Similar to other stuff with Fr,G,VG,F....etc? Trust me, I've been scouring web pages but I'm still struggling to locate much. Probably just unfamiliar with the terms needed to search.
Try Doug Smith's ancient coin grading webpages here: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade.html For value, you can search Ebay and Heritage when you have the proper search words.
