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Help Identifying Ancient Coins
jbrew715
Posts: 5 ✭
Hello. I was wondering if someone could help me identify these two ancient coins. My guess is that one is Roman (because of the cross) and the other maybe Byzantine? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
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The top one is Byzantine; the large letter "I" is the Greek numeral for "10", indicating the coin is a 10-nummi or quarter-follis. The obverse is too far gone for me to ID the monarch, but the date on the reverse - "Year 26" - one of the longer-lived emperors is mandated. I would hypothesize Justinian I, which would date the coin to around AD 552.
The bottom one is not technically "ancient", nor even "mediaeval"; it's actually "modern", in the numismatic sense. It's a Hungarian silver denar, from the 1500s-1600s. The date is above the shield; I think the numerals are something like "1552". I believe the king named around the shield is a king "Ferdinand", which I would assume is Ferdinand I, who reigned from 1526-1564, which fits my date hypothesis. It has the Virgin Mary on the other side, which is presumably why it was turned into a religious amulet.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
Thank you Sapyx!