Neat little bronze provincial - a happy impulse bid/buy

In Savoca's recent Silver Auction (171st) there was this little Claudian bronze coin from Alexandria, Egypt. For some reason it just appealed to me, so I slapped on a low bid, and won! Apparently, I was the only bidder.





Part of the appeal for me is the excellent condition, unusual for these little Alexandrian bronze coins - the well-used, small change of Roman Egypt. More often than not they are badly worn and corroded, not to mention poorly struck. But the portrait on this one is remarkably detailed and clear, and the eagle on the reverse is equally sharp and distinct. It's well-centered, with nice smooth brown surfaces.

Additionally, this type is somewhat rare with only 4 examples cited in the online RPC and none elsewhere that I could find. The two on ACSearch.com - including this coin - are among the four cited on RPC. Of course, there's nothing more common than a rare provincial coin but I still find it interesting - and having my coin published on RPC online is a pretty cool bonus.

I'd love to get one of the little Claudius/crocodile dichalkon(s?) but they don't come up for sale very often, and even then it's rare to find a nice crocodile. Then there are the ones struck under Tiberius with a hippo. I think these little fractional bronze coins from early Roman Egypt could be a fun collecting focus.

Feel free to post up your own tiny Alexandrian bronze coins, your happy impulse buys, or anything else relevant!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

These little Alexandrian bronzes are indeed quite neat! A lovely coin.

 

Congratulations, that is a nice one! I'm not sure exactly how many Alexandrian I have now (maybe 30-40 or so, vast majority Tetradrachms, one of them a Claudius), but none of the really little ones yet.

I'd love to get one of those, though.

My smallest is also my most recent, a 4.99g Hadrian AE Obol with Khuit-Hathor on the rev., struck for the Athribite Nome (administrative district around the city Athribis, their patron deity was Khuit, local version of Hathor):



Kellner, p. 106, pl. 5, 19 = RPC III online 6466.44 (this coin [55772]). Previously AK & ETB Collections.