How genuine do you guys think this is? The seller had a dozen “ancient looking” coins all priced at $16 each. I’m certain he purchased the entire lot earlier that morning from another dealer for about $4 each. Each coin was attributed on its holder as “Ancient Roman coin”. :rollling: I cheerfully paid the dealer $4 for this one $16 coin just so that I could post this photo at CT and satisfy my curiosity. Is this is a fantasy piece or something real?
A genuine antoninianus of Emperor Gallienus. Rome mint. 1st officina. 10th emission, AD 267-268. RIC V 282; MIR 36, 712b
This. It is from his "menagerie" series of various animals. This series is very popular with a subset of collectors trying to collect all of the animal types. Too bad about the softness around his eye and lettering, other than that its a truly nice obverse example. Still a nice coin, very nice style.
At $16 buy a few; at $4 buy the bunch. These are regularly part legend, ragged edged and poor surfaced. This one is at least average for the type. The zoo series in better shape can bring higher prices so there is a market for decent, average coins.
