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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TTerrier, post: 3386972, member: 76835&quot;]I have always wanted to get a coin from the year that Vesuvius erupted - I knew Titus was emperor during the relevant period but was uncertain of the timing of the various coins.&nbsp; About 4 or 5 months ago [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] was kind enough to share his expertise with me on the timing of these and I finally managed to pick one up.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]899644[/ATTACH] </p><p>Titus denarius</p><p>19mm&nbsp;&nbsp; 3.08g</p><p>RIC 34</p><p><br /></p><p>Its got some wear on it but I like it because the centering is good and the legends are all quite legible.&nbsp; The portrait seems to be quite Vespasian like - the later portraits look somewhat different (Titus is usually described as quite handsome which I think is a struggle for Vespasian).&nbsp; It&#039;s also interesting that on the reverse Venus is depicted holding a helmet and spear - not something I would normally associate with her.</p><p><br /></p><p>I believe the coin was struck some time between the death of Vespasian on June 23, 79 and September 9, 79 (the day Titus received IMP XV).&nbsp; This is a bit earlier than the traditional date for the eruption of Vesuvius of October 24, 79, although I believe that date has been challenged as being too early based on evidence of the types of fruit and vegetable traces found in Pompeii (they could not have been harvested until later in the year).</p><p><br /></p><p>Amazing to think that this could have been in someone&#039;s coin purse the day the eruption happened.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now I think I will try to get an IMP XV COS VII coin which will cover the last part of the year.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bring on the coins!&nbsp; It would be great to see how many coins people have that we can actually date to AD 79.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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