Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gavin Richardson, post: 2847009, member: 83956&quot;][ATTACH=full]674945[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>So after finishing the <i>Iliad</i> 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:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>OBVERSE:</b></p><p><br /></p><p>TIBEPIOΣ KΛAYΔIOΣ&nbsp; KAIΣAP&nbsp; ΓEPMANIKOΣ; “Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus”; Bare head of Claudius facing left. <i>Germanicus</i> was an honorific name earned by Claudius’s father for his victories in Germania and used by Claudius on his coins.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>REVERSE:</b></p><p><br /></p><p>ΣEBAΣTOΣ MAKEΔONΩN; “Sesbastos Macedon”; winged thunderbolt. Sebastos was the Greek equivalent of the Roman word <i>Augustus</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>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. <a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/claudius_i_ae30_thunderbolt_macedonia_koinon_rpc_1610_very_rare/227658/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/claudius_i_ae30_thunderbolt_macedonia_koinon_rpc_1610_very_rare/227658/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/claudius_i_ae30_thunderbolt_macedonia_koinon_rpc_1610_very_rare/227658/Default.aspx</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>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: <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/053-moneda-De-Bronce-Romano-Claudio-AE-30-Koinon-Macedonia-con-Alas-T-Perno-/192153672099?_ul=VE&amp;nma=true&amp;si=4%252FJbln%252BI2%252F6KoAHXlAG4HI35R%252Bc%253D&amp;orig_cvip=true&amp;rt=nc&amp;_trksid=p2047675.l2557" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/053-moneda-De-Bronce-Romano-Claudio-AE-30-Koinon-Macedonia-con-Alas-T-Perno-/192153672099?_ul=VE&amp;nma=true&amp;si=4%252FJbln%252BI2%252F6KoAHXlAG4HI35R%252Bc%253D&amp;orig_cvip=true&amp;rt=nc&amp;_trksid=p2047675.l2557" rel="nofollow">http://www.ebay.com/itm/053-moneda-De-Bronce-Romano-Claudio-AE-30-Koinon-Macedonia-con-Alas-T-Perno-/192153672099?_ul=VE&amp;nma=true&amp;si=4%2FJbln%2BI2%2F6KoAHXlAG4HI35R%2Bc%3D&amp;orig_cvip=true&amp;rt=nc&amp;_trksid=p2047675.l2557</a></p><p><br /></p><p>I don’t have any special knowledge of provincials, so I have two questions:</p><p><br /></p><p>1) Is this coin indeed rare? Or is Romae Aeternae hyping it a bit?</p><p><br /></p><p>2) Is the <i>Sesbastos</i> of the reverse legend modifying <i>Macedon</i>, 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”?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in