I acquired this recently. My first fouree and first Republican. I like the way the silver has worn away around the hole. It really makes me wonder how this coin came to be, and what happened to give that hole. It probably happened in Spain. 20mm, 3.3g
Probably done at the trial of the forger. "If it is copper in the center, you loose your hands." Or this coin found its way to China and felt it needed to look like all the other coins.
Losing his hands would have been a reprieve. Ancient records testify that forgers were given slightly stricter punishments: crucifixion and torture with hot coals, being fed to the beasts in the arena, and sundry other such unpleasant chastisements.
Lol, I noticed a few people "liking" and then "unliking" my comment. Haha that's funny, wait no it isn't. Somebody's going to think I'm a psycho.
Crucified nailing the coins into your hands. Interesting. That would let all know why a person was crucified eh?
I agree with Mat about the nail. I remember reading from a few different source that people they would nail coins to a door/doorway as an amulet after a death. I can't seem to find anything on it yet.
that's a pretty cool coin, i would be a fan of the hole if it was a fouree, but i like how it shows the layers of metal. i think bing has a coin like that still with a piece of the nail in it, which is pretty cool also. ( do i remember that correctly?) this short video documents the punishment handed out to a group of coin forgers as described by JA.
I wish!. I have a coin of Quintillus with a similar shaped hole though: QUINTILLUS Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP CM AVR CL QVINTILLVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right REVERSE: PAX AVGVSTI, Pax standing left, holding olive branch and transverse sceptre, A in left field Struck at Rome, 270 AD 2.2g, 20mm RIC 26
hu...well darn. doesn't someone have a coin with a chunk of nail still in it? or am i going (or have already gone) crazy?
Seems like Doug has one or had one. Here's a webpage about holed coins and it shows one with remnants of the nails:
Wow, doucet => that's a super-cool L. Thorius Balbus fourree (very nice!!) Ummm, I don't have one of those, but I do happen to have a couple of his coins and I do have one example of a fourree ... this seems like a good opportunity to show my "stuff", eh? (thanks, coin-brother) L. Thorius Balbus L. Thorius Balbus - brockage error Kings of Macedonia (Philip III) - fourree
Here's a photo that shows the color of the core a little better. I didn't realize this morning the first pic had so much blue in it. Thanks folks for the comments and all. @ stevex6... I gotta get an official one like yours as a companion. Even though they are common, a good one is still pretty high (for me). This one was 25.00 and 5.00 shipping.
