Tuition for this Roman coin education is only $40

I got these 54 Roman coins for $40. That equates to $0.74 each. They ought to teach me something while I struggle with all these coins & my Sear book.

None of these coins had any attribution from the seller. What you see is what I got. As you can see they are all rather incomplete & low grade. There appears to be a wide variety of designs. Having never purchased an ancient bulk lot before, I can only assume that this is typical.

I may be playing with these 54 coins all summer. Time permitting, I’d like to post some of them occasionally in this thread.

 

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Need to start someplace

Beginning at the upper left coin, here are close-up photos depicting the obverse & reverse of the first few coins.

 

#1 is 18 mm diameter and weighs 2.42 grams. The obverse depicts some guy in what appears to be a soldier’s helmet facing left. It could be VRO and ROMA on the obverse. The reverse seems to depict the wolf suckling the famous twins Romulus and Remus with 2 stars above & KIOS below. [Should be able to attribute this one OK]

 

#2 is 18 mm diameter and 2.00 grams. The legend indicates that it might be Crispus. A quick check in Sear indicates Crispus might be from 317 - 326 AD. The reverse is a wreath with what looks like VOS over an X. The reverse legend is legible. [Should be able to attribute this one OK]

 

#3 is a little smaller flan at 16 mm and 1.76 grams. The obverse could be one of the Valentinian’s. The reverse appears to depict a victory advancing to the left holding a wreath and it looks like ALEГ in exergue. [Should be able to attribute this one OK]

 

The legend on the first is VRBS ROMA, meaning the city of Rome. It's a commemorative issued by Constantine I, and the reverse does in fact portray the she-wolf suckling Remus and Romulus.

I think you did very well for 74 cents per coin - you've got a number of pieces in at least Fine grade.

 

I think those are decent coins for under a buck apiece. Half the fun is sorting through them and trying to ID or attribute them. And at the end of the day, you're still holding a 1600+ year old piece of history in your hand. You can't buy entertainment like that for under $40 any more. In my collector's opinion anyways .

 

Collect89: Would you like help in the attributions or would you like to try yourself first and only ask for help when you stuck? Like RB said, half the fun is the attribution.

 

great buy collect! you'll have a blast with those.

 

Learning through osmosis

Help is always welcome.

The coins will force me to do a little research learn something about Roman coins. If you could recommend some Websites or books that would be most helpful. I only have this one Sear book on Roman coins.

 

You can download the Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins, 1st edition here, free, legal download...

http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com/eric.html

On the same site, you can buy the 2nd edition for $5 per volume - very cheap!

Rasiel Suarez is a member of this forum, and he's currently working on the 3rd edition.

 

Good call on the David Sear book ... yah, I know that people have varying opinions on buying ancient coin books (whether you buy the greatest hits version, or whether you buy the whole set, etc) ...

=> I actually own "8" books by David Sear ... ummm, and I've had more than 50 coins authenticated by the dude ...

Eh-heh-heh ... yah, I guess if there is such a thing as an "ancient groupie", then sadly I'd definitely be tossin' my gitch onto the stage as David Sear examined my ancient coins!!

 

www.wildwinds.com
www.acsearch.info
www.dirtyoldcoins.com/Roman-Coins.html
www.esty.ancients.info
www.www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coins-ric.htm
www.tantaluscoins.com
www.tesorillo.com/aes/home.htm
www.gallic-empire.com
www.independent.academia.edu/NickWells

 

Of all the links Bing provided above, I've found WildWinds to be the most helpful for attributing Roman Coins. I always go to the "Roman" dropdown menu on the homepage then I select the "Imperial coinage by Ruler "list on WildWinds. They even have a feature that lets you peruse the Roman Imperial coinage by thumbnail/photo. Might come in really handy for you on this lot of coins since you may not even know the specific emperor/ruler to begin with.

 

I find that very useful as well, but be aware that the Roman pieces on Wildwinds represent only a part of the coinage - there are many gaps, especially among the provincials.

 

Fool-proof strategy => check Wildwinds, CNG and then Vcoins ... oh, and don't forget to ask the rest of the rock-stars on this site!!

Cheers


:cheers:

 

When you go on any of the web pages I mentioned, type Ctrl F. This will give you a search line where you can put in partial legend or type of portrait, or mintmark in order to narrow your search.

 

All are easily identifiable at least to ruler. Most have enough mint mark showing to get the city. I see a range of about 120 years starting in the 260's and nothing that should give you trouble given all the references suggested here. I suggest you post your ID and ask people to correct you if wrong rather than encouraging people to take the fun out of it by doing it for you. If your definition of ID requires a catalog number, it will take a lot longer. As far as the price, These look like a lot of education for the price and you may even want to keep some of the coins if you decide to become a full fledged ancient coin student.

 

Sweet. :thumb: Thanks muchly.

 

Yeah, the Ctrl F function makes life much easier. I use Excel spreadsheet for my coin catalogs and this function works on it as well. Like Doug said, try to identify the coins on your own. The more you do, the easier it will become. You will become familiar with portraits, portrait styles, mints, legends, and much more. If, and when, you have trouble, then post here. Someone will be able to help. But I find the identification process to be quite enjoyable. Good luck.