Tiberius Authentication Help

Obolos by Nomas is the auction. What are the pull mark looking stuff in the magnified area? Is that normal?

Described as: Tiberius, 14-37. Denarius (Silver, 19mm, 3.78 g 2), Lugdunum, circa 15-18. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS Laureate head of Tiberius to right, with one ribbon of his wreath on his shoulder. Rev. PONTIF MAXIM Livia (as Pax) seated right on a chair with ornamented legs, holding a long inverted spear with her right hand and an olive branch in her left; her feet set on footstool; single line below. BMC 48-60. BN 33-34. Cohen 16. Lyon 154. RIC 30. A lovely example. Some marks in the reverse field, otherwise, good very fine.

 

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It's the result of die deterioration. Completely normal. You can sometimes see this effect on US coins, too.

 

Flow lines. Silver coins often have them radiating out from the centre.

IMHO, the coin is authentic.

 

100% authentic. I really like the portrait. Although, I do not like him.

 

Tiberius was one of the true scumbags to walk the planet. I'm trying to collect some of them. I like Tiberius old with the ugly nose and Nero old and fat. Caligula I'd like to find a young version but having trouble finding one. I have this one below but it's had for me to enjoy for the price I paid, $660.

 

Authentic!!

 

Once again, ouch on the $660, but I'm very happy you finally decided to join us here. Feel free to PM me any time you are considering buying anything. I'm far from an expert, as I've only been collecting ancients for a year, but I'm happy to give you any advise I can on any coin, and if I don't know then maybe I can refer you to someone that can.

And about Tiberius, sure, he would be a pedophile, a mass murderer, and a third world dictator by today's standards, but by ancient standards he was a capable Emperor. Yes, his semi-retirement and poor choice for head of the praetorian guard were huge errors, and his reputation suffered greatly for that. But he maintained the empire stable and prosperous, and managed military and fiscal affairs with great skill and talent. I don't think it's fair to judge ancients or medieval people by today's standards. Even great Emperors like Hadrian or Trajan would be savage warlords and dictators if you compared them to the things we expect of our modern leaders. Things were very different in a pre-industrial world with no concept of human rights, no global institutions, and no international political frameworks that we now take for granted, so you have to judge them based on how they were for their times.

 

Now that you mention it, he does sometimes look positively sinister...

 

That's a great one. Look at this Nero. I love the wrinkles in his fat neck! Man I wish I could find one like that.

 

Here are my Tiberius portraits and a fat Nero.

 

Orfew - That's a great fat Nero! Really cool. Look how big his neck is. lol

 

Let's play guess the grade (incorrect for sure) assigned by NGC. Players need to post the NGC grade on the label and also how they grade it personally.

Just the grade w/o the other qualifiers. Bet we'll be surprised how we all agree w/NGC! Each answer to post like this: 62/55 or UNC/AU signifing the poster's opinion of the NGC label is Unc but his grade is AU. What about it @Michael Clarke Good idea or not? Let's see how well NGC did. I'll post after the first player...or is this boring or too challenging?

 

Haha! "Pet the dog it don't bit" Your question is just as dangerous.

Slabs of Ancients is for friends and family to look at. Grading gives them something to easily read and adds content that impresses them. I do have one friend that will barely look at slabs and loves feeling the raw ones.

 

MS65

Tiberius

 

Oh, and Michael Clarke => here is an example of mine with some sweet flow-lines

Arcadius

 

This is still the funniest thing I ever saw in the coin world. Hey @Insider NGC mistake. The Strike is clearly a 4 and the surface is a 3,

 

Collectors who like slabbed coins will be eager to play along. Assigning such grades to ancient coins for the rest of us is an act in futility.

 

That certainly seems to be a VERY attractive example of Tiberius @Michael Clarke and since the 'flow lines' have been mentioned I'll move on to that 'RAI Stone' slab....Did it go over or under estimate?? I think I may have bid on it one late night

Terrific posts guys!!!

I easily understand your preference for a sinister Tiberius and a fat Nero and I think I have a budget denarius of Nero that clearly shows he was frequenting too many all night banquets....a bit chunky but not nearly as obese as @Orfew wonderful coin depicts:

 

As portrayed in the TV series I, Claudius, Tiberius is a somewhat more sympathetic character than some histories portray him. Forced to divorce a wife he loved (Vipsania) in order to marry Augustus' daughter Julia, Tiberius was constantly goaded by his mother Livia to be the next Emperor, while Tiberius really only wanted to be a soldier and warrior -- something at which he was quite skilled. I suspect much of his excesses were a result of his rejecting the role into which he was forced.