As I look deeper into Roman coinage I decided to buy a roman denarius as my first non copper roman. I figuerd I'd go ahead and share it here. It is a 138-161 Antonius pius pax 1 denarius; bought on the bay.
Nice, hope you got a sweet deal. A. Pius coins are nice and affordable ways to get into Roman silver.
that's a nice one!.. i've been collecting 14 years and still have yet to get one of A.P.. but i will for i'm not done yet! and welcome to the (silver)dark side.
Tyche head- Left is not so common. BTW..@ ACH. Can't you manage to "enlighten" the photo or make it brighter and more visible? Thank you.
Sure, I'll give it a shot. Black patina can be a bit tricky esp. if you are a photo newbie like me. I'll see if I can adjust it in Google photos.
Nice pickup. You may find ancient silver habit-forming. It isn't necessarily all expensive, either. Many of the antoninianii of the middle empire are also impressive for the money, and can be found in decent grade with good - sometimes excellent - eye appeal, still for under $50 per coin. It's all relative, of course - fifty bucks might sound steep to someone who's collected late-Roman bronze - but if you ask me, any ancient silver in that <$50 pricerange is worth a look. You can still find denarii in the <$25 range, too, if you look hard enough, though of course the quality won't be so great.
BTW, this was the Antoninus Pius denarius from my first Roman collection (2007-08). It cost me something like $35-40 at the time.
Congrats! I sure do love holding ancient Denarii Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD). AR Denarius (18 mm, 3.39 g), Roma (Rome), 153- 154 AD. Obv. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XVII, laureate head right. Rev. COS IIII, Vesta standing holding simpulum and Palladium. RIC III, 229b.
RI Antoninus Pius 138-161 BCE AR Denarius RI Antoninus Pius 138-161 BCE BI Tet Alexandria Egypt Dikaiosyne Scale
Now that we have seen many denarii of Antoninus Pius we can ask beginners (only) a trivia question: What will you never find written on a denarius of Antoninus Pius? Hint: This is common to find written on coins of Caracalla and Elagabalus. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/acmpius.html
Since this thread seems near its end, it seems appropriate to add my posthumous issue of Antoninus Pius, which shows his funeral pyre on the reverse:
Congratulations on you're newest ancient! My first silver issues were: Septimius Severus , AD 193-211 AR Denarius, 3.3g, 20mm; 1h; Rome, AD 209 Obv.: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right Rev.: PM TRP XVII COS III P P; Neptune standing left, holding a trident, foot on globe Philip I, AD 244-249 AR, Antoninianus, 3.7g, 21.5mm; 1h; Rome, AD 247 Obv.: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG; radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right Rev.: P M TR P IIII COS II P P; Felicitas standing left holding caduceus & cornucopia. Those two coins pushed me into collecting ancients nearly full time...except for the odd token.
Also you can get some very cool bronze issues...my only one: Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161 AE, As, 27mm, 9.3g; 2h; Rome, AD 148-149 Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XII; Laureate head right, aegis on left shoulder Rev.: MVNIFICENTIA AVG; elephant walking right with trunk raised In Ex.: COS IIII SC MVNIFICENTIA AVG refers to the games he held during the celebration of his vota decenallia (AD 149)