New Severus Alexander Sestertius - Iovi Ultori

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Julius Germanicus, Jun 6, 2018.

  1. Ken Dorney

    Ken Dorney Yea, I'm Cool That Way...

    Not tooled at all. That is what high grade sestertii of Severus look like. This one just has some contrasts due to the cleaning and removal of patina.
     
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  3. Macromius

    Macromius Well-Known Member

    Since you asked Julius Germanicus: The ear looks all wrong to me. Specifically the tragus looks deformed and unrealistic. The Roman artists were pretty damn good rendering ears, with some exceptions of course. There's a line under the chin that looks out of place to me. If this was caused by die slippage when struck you would think there would be evidence of this elsewhere on the coin. The profile looks over-defined and has a vaguely modern vibe to me. The wear to the head is not consistent with the wear to the lettering and the rest of the coin. The bridge of the nose has a hump to it. It doesn't even come close to the straighter bridges on the noses any of the Severus Alexander coins in your own thread ! Yeah, I know dies break and pieces crack off and sometimes they get re-graved. I'm also aware that there are some wild variations of style on Roman coins, but I think your coin has some dubious qualities. That's just a subjective opinion. I don't mind if anyone here disagrees with me. I'm certainly aware that I could be wrong but the bottom line is that I would not have bought that coin.

    Look at hobo nickels on ebay. There are some great precision artists out there. Ask Numismatik Lanz.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2018
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