Please welcome our latest Roman Imperial collector!

Without warning, I crept up on him. I reached out as @Randy Abercrombie was contentedly strolling along, collecting his US Type coins, and I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off the path into the deepest, darkest woods!

The new side road he's agreed to travel is Roman Imperial coins. More specifically, he decided on The Twelve Caesars. That's a bit of an ambitious undertaking for a novice with ancients to start out with (I think most folks go the late Roman bronze route). But Randy said he could get his head around that time period between Julius Caesar and Domitian, and the compact parameters of a 12-coin set, even if a bit more financially challenging, appealed to him, I think.

He's just at the beginning of his journey, so do please help him as best you can, with your knowledge. I told him I could tutor him in the absolute basics, but since I am at best only an intermediate-level collector in this field myself, he'd need to get plenty of advice from those far more experienced than I. Please try not to overwhelm him with too much specialized terminology, abbreviations, etc., until he asks about it. Rather I suggest you help him with the basic fundamentals, as I have promised to do.

Randy- this can be the place to ask your questions. I'm sure you'll have plenty, and I'm also confident that you'll get some good advice here.

So, folks, this was how I lured him into our camp. My Christmas gift to him came with a hidden agenda, you might say. A challenge to try out a new endeavor.

The bait gift coin was this denarius of Vespasian. Kind of a middling example, but decent enough, and it can always be upgraded later, if desired. I got it from Marc Breitsprecher.

Vespasian (AD 69-79) AR Denarius / Pax
Attribution: RIC II 772 Rome
Date: AD 75
Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head right
Reverse: PON MAX TR P COS VI, Pax seated left, holding olive branch
Size: 18.42mm
Weight: 3.29 grams
Description: good Fine+
​

Welcome, Randy. I'm really excited to see you set out on this new adventure. I think you will enjoy it.

~RWS/"LM"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

GENERAL REFERENCES
(y'all can suggest more; particularly numismatic references)

History of Rome
Roman Currency (Imperial period)
The Twelve Caesars (numbered below)

1. Julius Caesar (dictator perpetuo)
​

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty

2. Augustus
3. Tiberius

>The Tribute Penny​

4. Caligula
5. Claudius
6. Nero​

The Year of the Four Emperors

7. Galba
8. Otho
9. Vitellius
(Vespasian ↓ )​

The Flavian Dynasty

10. Vespasian
11. Titus
12. Domitian
​

Common abbreviations:

AE: bronze, copper, brass, orichalcum, etc.
AR: silver
AV: gold
​

Roman Imperial Coin Denominations
(Roman Provincial coins had other denominations)

Quadrans
Semis
As
Dupondius
Sestertius
Quinarius
Denarius
Antoninianus (not issued during the 12 Caesars era)
Aureus​

NumisWiki info site
.

 

I still walk in both worlds (and a good many others besides).

 

Just pray I don’t offer you a bait coin someday!

See what can happen, if you’re not careful?

 

Let me repost that coin and its description. I was about to try to explain something to Randy about it, and ended up getting confused myself!

Vespasian (AD 69-79) AR Denarius / Pax
Attribution: RIC II 772 Rome
Date: AD 75
Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head right
Reverse: PON MAX TR P COS VI, Pax seated left, holding olive branch
Size: 18.42mm
Weight: 3.29 grams
Description: good Fine+​

The detail that I was attempting to explain was (since Roman coins don't bear any direct "dates" on them like we're used to seeing on more "modern" coins), how this coin could be dated to one specific year: 75 AD.

I was about to say the key was in the inscription, where it gives the tribunician (TR P) and consular (COS VI) titles of Vespasian; and how those can be used to determine the exact year a coin was minted. I was going from what's in the dealer description cited above.

But then I looked at the picture again, and I noticed that the TR P and COS VI are in this case missing- they're not on the coin! Looks like those letters ended up mostly off the flan on the right side of the reverse (and what little portion of them that might have hit the flan was subsequently worn away).

So how, if that is the case, would Marc Breitsprecher be able to determine that this coin had the TR P COS VI inscription? Is this a type that is only known with that particular legend?

@David Atherton - would be nice to hear your opinion of this particular Vespasian (as a “starter” coin, anyway) and anything else you had to add, since you’re our resident Flavian Fanatic.