Some people ask Santa for gold, I'm asking him for a limes denarius...

A little chapter in the annals of collecting off the beaten path. I came across a lot of very ratty denarii, in which was thrown this black coin of S. Severus - basically a lot of throw-away coins.

Now, if it's just a darkly-toned AR denarius, fine, it's still a nice coin. But if it's bronze, it's one of the damn finest limes denarii I've ever come across. They are typically quite ratty and poorly struck.

I extracted the image of the coin from the rest of the lot, and this is all I've got to post. But I'll update when I receive it. It looks to me as if the reverse has some minor roughness typical of bronze, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Please Santa, make it bronze!

 

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How do you plan to tell? The black surfaces could meet in the middle. If you want a sure one, go for brown. I know it is not nice but it is yours free if you want it.


I have this black one with similar questions. I suspect it is just very oxidized silver.

 

Well, I was going to clean a few millimeters of the edge and see if any silver showed through. Thank you kindly for the offer, but I've got a handful of specimens which look like your first coin, which is typical. I was hoping for a bronze denarius that looks like your second. However, as I said, if it turns out to be dark silver, I'm OK with that.

 

Can you explain, why were some denarii Bronze at this time?

 

I think your chances are good. It has something of a cast look that you see on some of the so-called limes.

 

In the outlying territories of the empire, denarii were occasionally minted of bronze, presumably because of a lack of silver. Since official silver types were used to strike these coins, it's also assumed that they traded at the same value as the silver coins, but only locally. In Latin, the word limes (pronounced leemehs), denotes "path, track; limit; strip of uncultivated ground marking boundary."

I have a secondary interest in the OP coin being a limes denarius. During the time of SS, the Limes Arabicus was expanded and fortified.

During the Severan dynasty (AD 193–235), the Romans strengthened their defences on the Arabian frontier. They constructed several forts at the northwest end of the Wadi Sirhan, and improved the roads. One important fort was Qasr Azraq, another was at Humeima (Latin: Auara), from the late 2nd C AD, on the Via Nova from Petra to Aila, where up to 500 auxiliary troops could have resided. It was probably abandoned in the fourth century. - wiki

It's possible that some of the Severan limes denarii circulated in ancient Arabia, which is my primary collecting focus. It's also possible that we are looking at coinage minted for military pay and intra-military trade, at least in my opinion.

 

Good luck with your gamble. I hope Santa is kind to you.

 

changed my mind about posting...

 

I wish you hadn't. I respect your scholarly opinions very highly.

 

i had no idea it wasn't pronounced, just...limes.



if i heard someone say "leemehs", i think i brain would here this..



do i have a lemurs denarius? no, i didn't know there was a lemurs denarius. how interesting.

 

I've always figured it was lee-mehs. One because "limes" (like the fruit) denarius sounds ridiculous and two limes (lee-mehs) sounds kind of like "limites", limits in Spanish, and Spanish is descended from Latin.

 

Prove it. I have seen nothing that can properly attribute these to the border areas. The true "limes falsa" are actually cast asses, dupondii, and sestertii of the 2nd century AD that are found in the Rhine forts and periodically in Britain.

I suspect these come from inside the Empire, as do most of the imitations we see. (Which is why I hate the term barbarous. Barbarians rarely had anything to do with it.) Two reasons: 1) these are commonly found in lots from Eastern Europe and 2) I saw a bronze "denarius" with the reverse of a Marcianopolis provincial bronze.

 

I suspected as much. I've been looking for any hoard evidence where Severan bronze denarii occur in the ME, and I've come up empty handed. It really makes you wish that all hoards were cataloged before being dispersed. I suppose if you want to collect the limes denarii, you just have to embrace the mystery.

 

Well I didn't get my wish. A cleaning of a few millimeters along the edge reveals silver. It also has the weight and general feel of silver in hand. That's ok though - it turns out to be a very attractive example of the RESTITVTOR VRBIS types with Roma seated. I've never come across such a black denarius that looked so good in hand. I don't believe it should be cleaned...



That's a Palladium that Roma is holding, not Victory. Read all about it on Numiswiki here. This engraver was obviously trying to put a lot of detail into that element, but I'm not sure he managed to convey it - it rather looks like some sort of bird to me, like a chicken? Sometimes less is indeed more.

 

I love the jet black silver. I even pay a small premium if it's an ebay auction or something. True it's hard to know if it was natural or liver of sulphur routine but I just love it over the rainbow toning everyone else pays high prices for.

 

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS RESTITVTOR VRBIS/Military dress

My only "limes" denarius.