Yesterday I posted a picture of Titus sestertius..After cleaning, I saw strange lines on the coin..After a little research, I came up with information, new to me.. 1st century coins were re-valued by Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths..I must mention that there was a very large Gepid and Avar settlement on the field where I found this sestertius.. I would like to hear your opinion, is this Titus re-valued?
I don't know anything about that. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in. They look a lot like scratches that one would see after the coin was hit with a field tiller or something though. It certainly cleaned up nice. An interesting coin to add to your collection!
I am not sure but I think it is on the lines of removing the person on the coin from history called Damnatio Memoriae.
Excellent coin and thanks for sharing it! Since there was never a Damnatio Memoriae on Titus, my best guess is that it is either what you have surmised or else a citizen with a grudge against the sadly short lived emperor. (possibly of Jewish ancestry, just a hunch)
To be a revalued coin you should be able to distinguish a numeral to stand for the number of nummii this coin would be valued at. The scratches here do not make up any distinguishable pattern.
I agree with everyone else. I think someone in antiquity hated this emperor. There was not a Damnatio that I recall, but looks like what a coin under a Damnatio would look like. The Ostrogothic retariffed coins usually are uniformly done, with the new denomination clearly laid out on the coin, usually 40.
The coins revalidated by the Ostrogoths express Roman numerals generally placed in line with the legends, not usually on the emperor's bust. Asses and dupondii, with value XLII (42 nummi) and sestertii (much rarer), with values of LXXXIII (83 nummi) were used.
Definitely an awesome find but also definitely not revalued. Here is an Ostrogoth example I was able to pick up on the cheap, the seller thought it was graffiti.
It is unlikely a Damnatio Memoriae would have lines through the SC, too, unless someone was angry with the entire Roman Empire. Furthermore, the lines look relatively recent--say, within the last 50-100 years or so; I can't see any evidence of corrosion in them. I would guess some unfortunate mishap. Poor coin.