Student Coin: Claudius Thunderbolt Roman Provincial from Macedonia

So after finishing the Iliad last week, a student came up to me and said she had a Roman coin and wanted to know if I wanted to take a look. Of course I said yes, and she brought it in today. I could read it right away, even with my limited Greek, because the legends are fairly standard:


OBVERSE:

TIBEPIOΣ KΛAYΔIOΣ KAIΣAP ΓEPMANIKOΣ; “Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus”; Bare head of Claudius facing left. Germanicus was an honorific name earned by Claudius’s father for his victories in Germania and used by Claudius on his coins.

REVERSE:

ΣEBAΣTOΣ MAKEΔONΩN; “Sesbastos Macedon”; winged thunderbolt. Sebastos was the Greek equivalent of the Roman word Augustus.

In researching the coin, I saw that Romae Aeternae Numismatics had pronounced this coin as “very rare.” Its VCoins website has it “sold” for $400, though it also says the coin was available at auction, so it’s unclear if it sold at auction for its retail price. https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ro...koinon_rpc_1610_very_rare/227658/Default.aspx


On the other end of the spectrum, Ancient Treasures seems to have sold a VG (pitted) one for $7.05. That’s quite a difference in value: http://www.ebay.com/itm/053-moneda-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I don’t have any special knowledge of provincials, so I have two questions:

1) Is this coin indeed rare? Or is Romae Aeternae hyping it a bit?

2) Is the Sesbastos of the reverse legend modifying Macedon, or is it referring to Claudius? How would you gloss the reverse legend? Does it mean “The Augustus of Macedon” (referring to Claudius) or “To/Of Glorious Macedon”?

 

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What do you teach?

 

RPC only cites one specimen and also notes that this is the largest of the three denominations from Koinon (and also rare thus). A very brief search turned up just two other examples (including the one you note).

But, the more pressing issue would be what looks like bronze disease on your example. I would treat it very quickly before it dissolves into nothing.

 

I'm an English prof at a small liberal arts school, so I get to teach courses such as world literature. Obviously I spend a good bit of time in ancient Greece and Rome, which is nice.

 

Cool coin - thanks for sharing.

 

Completely agree. Unfortunately this student is being taught by a man with a terrible track record with bronze disease. I did scrape it with my thumbnail and it was inconclusive. It felt hard, but did come off. It wasn't as soft and powdery as most bronze disease is. But it did scrape away somewhat, so I couldn't really conclusively call it verdigris. I told her we'd keep an eye on it. I don't own Verdicare, but perhaps I should invest in some for both our sakes.

 

Can you educate me on what RPC is? (I told you I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to provincials!)

I think it's rather interesting that these parents gave this student a gift of this coin, and it turns out to be quite rare. I don't think her parents were coin people. Perhaps stumbling upon a rarity is not uncommon with provincials.

 

Roman Provincial Coinage. Currently there are 5 parts (most in two volumes) and cover just about all provincial coins known (or at least when published though there is an online database for new finds). The various volumes are being published out of order as various people are responsible for various parts (Volume VII was published in French which threw a monkey wrench into my limited language skills).

They run about $300 per set, so they are for dealers and those who specialize.