A friend who doesnt collect coins, recieved these from another friend and wanted to know if I could help ID them and give him an idea of value. Any help would be appreciated. One looks like a Nero of some kind, though I am guessing. Thanks!
What's the weight and diameter of the Nero? It looks like it is a denomination called an "as". I haven't checked various modern forgery archives but assuming for the moment it is authentic, it is an as of Nero; reverse shows the Temple of Janus. The temple doors are closed, a visual indicator/propaganda that Rome was at peace when the coin was issued. As for general value, of course it depends on whether you mean what a person would pay to a fixed price dealer, or what a dealer would pay an individual for the coin, or what an individual or dealer might pay for the coin at auction. Looking at auction archives and Vcoins, I'd say the coin is worth ~$75-$150, depending on the sales scenario. The other coin (D) is a sestertius of Roman emperor Gordian III. That's based on the portrait and I'm fairly sure it is him. There are encrustations obscuring details of the reverse but it looks like someone standing left. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable in this period of Roman Imperial coins can narrow it down for you based on visible portions of the legend. @Roman Collector?? A tighter ID probably won't help the value much though.
It's Gordian III. There is a PIV....AVG at the tail end of the obverse inscription and the only possibilities for a youthful, beardless bust with PIVS in the inscription would be Severus Alexander, who used IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG, and Gordian III, who used IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG. There's clearly too much space for it to read PIVSAVG, so it must be PIVSFELAVG -- Gordian. And it just LOOKS like him. The reverse type is a guess, based upon the process of elimination. It appears to be one of the P M TR P reverse legends. The combination of obverse legend "...PIVSFELAVG" and "P M TR P ..." narrows it down considerably. It pretty much has to be RIC 305a or 306a, with Gordian standing right with transverse spear and globe (depends on if it's TR P III or IIII).
TIF is right, that coin is Nero, Temple of Janus. That's a nice gift! Nero has a sestertius version of this coin, but it's a bit larger. That looks like an as to me, but diameter in mm. will tell the tale. The as is about 27-28 mm. Here are my notes to this coin: Notes: “The coins of Nero bearing the temple of Janus reverse motif are generally accepted to refer to the peace following cessation of Corbulo’s campaigns against the Parthians and the installation of Tiridates, Parthian nominee for the throne, as King of Armenia. This type is scarce; it was issued after Nero’s assumption of “Imperator” as a praenomen (mid-66 A.D.) and was probably discontinued when the Jewish war broke out in November 66 A.D., probably causing the doors of the Temple of Janus to be opened once again. Harvey Shore writes about these interesting coins this most engaging observation (from Australia, September 1999): “I have before me now a Roman sestertius of the emperor Nero. On one side his portrait. Carved by a Greek in the year A.D. 66, it shows the fleshy bust produced by fleshy living. This bust tells a story for anyone with eyes to see. Then there is the legend - titles for an ill deserved imperial reputation. Each one speaking of a specific senatorial decree - those poor craven men fearing for their lives and their wives - both of which Nero was wont to abuse. So many stories. And on the reverse of this big coin is the Temple of Janus - a beautiful reverse picture reeking of history. The great temple, whose doors were never closed while there was war anywhere throughout the empire. The doors had only ever been closed three times in the past. Nero closed them. The legend around the reverse says (in Latin) [“The peace of the people of Rome having been brought forth on land and sea, he closed (the Temple of) Janus.”]” In this As version, the legend varies from the sestertius: “There are many variations on these things but the one I like best is the as variation that shows the reverse legend as used on the sestertius PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT rather than the usual as legend PACE P R VBIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT. The smaller flan caused them to change ‘on land and sea’ to ‘everywhere’.” –Doug Smith
The A coin is medieval, silver, it would be great to have an image of the obverse The B coin looks like a 2 centesimi from Italy with Victor Manuel II...
