Two more World & Ancient newps: Roman denarius & Saxony thaler

lordmarcovan

Roman Empire: silver denarius of Julia Domna, ca. 196-202 AD

German States (Saxony): silver thaler, "Three Brothers" type, 1596-HB; Dresden mint

Stork

Nice newps! What is the reverse on the Roman?

lordmarcovan

@Stork said:
Nice newps! What is the reverse on the Roman?

Concordia.

Stork

Okay, LOL to me, it's written right there May I point out it was pre caffeine? And it looked like CONGO. Which of course made no sense. Nice look though. Plus, it looked like a frog lady which I was sure was wrong too.

lordmarcovan

CONCO [...] there does kinda look like CONGO.

lordmarcovan

Zooming in, she - yikes! - really DOES look like a "frog lady"!

(Concordia, that is, not Julia Domna.)

I shall henceforth be unable to unsee that now.

Bob13

I like the 3 Brothers Taler. So many of these have been cleaned white - I like the look of yours.

291fifth

Are you certain the Julia Domna piece is authentic. I don't like the look of either the surfaces or the quality of the portrait. Portrait quality remained high in the period that coin would have been struck and that portrait looks to be very poorly done.

lordmarcovan

@291fifth said:
Are you certain the Julia Domna piece is authentic. I don't like the look of either the surfaces or the quality of the portrait. Portrait quality remained high in the period that coin would have been struck and that portrait looks to be very poorly done.

I do not see any reason to doubt it. The style looks totally consistent with a late 2nd century denarius to me.

And I purchased it from Künker, not some rando on eBay.

What is it about the surfaces that bother you? (Other than the dark toning, which was a selling point for me.)

Comparisons:
https://www.ma-shops.com/shops/search.php?submitBtn=&searchstr=Julia+Domna&lang=en&catid=

291fifth

The granularity of the surfaces makes me think it may have been cast rather than struck. Long ago I used to have a very nice collection of Roman denarius pieces. Unfortunately, it is long gone and I only have the memory of what they looked like.

Maybe I am just mistaken.

lordmarcovan

@291fifth said:
The granularity of the surfaces makes me think it may have been cast rather than struck. Long ago I used to have a very nice collection of Roman denarius pieces. Unfortunately, it is long gone and I only have the memory of what they looked like.

Maybe I am just mistaken.

There may indeed be some trace microporosity to the surfaces. That could account for the granularity you speak of. I wouldn't claim the coin has perfect surfaces, and it certainly isn't a top-grade example, but I like its appearance with that toning. Any granularity there looks to be within acceptable ranges to me, at least based on this set of photos.

I very highly doubt it is cast, but when I get it, I'll check out the edges under a loupe.

numismagram

The portrait of Julia is consistent with those done at Loadicea, an eastern branch mint (as opposed to Rome). That's why the overall style, including the 'frog lady' Concordia, is a bit bizarre. Here you'll find some others of this reverse type, with the style falling in line.

lordmarcovan

@numismagram said:
The portrait of Julia is consistent with those done at Loadicea, an eastern branch mint (as opposed to Rome). That's why the overall style, including the 'frog lady' Concordia, is a bit bizarre. Here you'll find some others of this reverse type, with the style falling in line.

Thank you.

Swampboy

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