My 1st ancient. I want more!!!

ormandh

This is a Septimius Severus Denarius AD 210. It is graded by ICG, AU-55. Sorry for the pics. I do not know how to take pics of slabs. -Dan

dfxman

thats a good coin.

JZrarities

Nice!

How much was that one? (if you don't mind me asking)

ormandh

I paid $60. My main problem is that I buy without knowledge. I basically buy what I like. Sometimes, I make out like a bandit, but lots of times I pay retail. -Dan

Bailathacl

Welcome to the wide world of ancients. I've been dropping too much of the coin budget lately on Roman Imperial coins too. A great way to get a rough sense of the market is to check out prices at VCoins, which has a neat cross-dealer search function. DirtyOldCoins.com has good info on the relative rarities of various emperors, and Wildwinds.com has a wealth of information on attribution, prices, etc. You certainly feel like you're getting your money's worth in the history department when you pick up a coin like the one you've shown here....!

ormandh

Thanks Bailathacl!! I will add those links to favorites and peruse through them tonight. I often have come across ancients in the past and passed them by because of the lack of knowledge. I have seen you all post ancients lately and decided that I feel more comfortable jumping in. I really like the way LM has been posting his collection. -Dan

JZrarities

I think you did GREAT for $60

Nice Coin.

FilthyBroke

Nice! My first ancient was a slabbed Greek (see below). Since I've started a few months ago, I bought a couple of guide books to help in the learning process.
Icg slabbed coins are getting expensive, so you'll want to find some good trustworthy resources. I have found VCoins to be an excellent source for coins.

Oh, and Wildwinds site is awesome for reference, too.

Enjoy, as I have, this great hobby!

-William

Aethelred

There is nothing like the feeling of holding a 2000 year old coin or artifact in your hands, I never get over it!

sumnom

That's amazing! I like the beard curls.

lordmarcovan

That is an awesome pickup for sixty bucks. Sharp!

PS- here's mine, for comparison (in a rather crappy scan).

I paid Aethelred $45 for it, raw. It's not as nice as yours, but kind of close, I reckon.

(Ye Dead King later tried to get it back from me, and I refused. It's MINE now. Bwahaha!)

CIVITAS

A VERY good buy for $60.00. Nice coin.

JoesMaName

BRING OUT YOUR SEVERUS PIUS AUGUSTI-I-I-I-I !!!



I don't have many Roman coins but I did think that bust looked familiar...
Interesting reverse theam going on, all different designs with different numbers.
Mine is: XVII (17)
Ormandh's: XVIII (18)
and LordM's is: XIII (13)

Ol' Severus must have been issuing the equivalent of our state quarters!
I have no clue but would guess each is a different year of his reign, anyone know for sure?

Joe V.

Forgot to add how much I liked Ormandh's purchase. I paid about the same for mine and
it's not at all as nice. Great relief on all, and I'd also guess those are the Roman gods:
Poseidon, Hera? (fertility?), and Jupiter or Pluto?

WillieBoyd2

Septimius Severus Denarius - Victory
Obverse: Laureate head right, SEVERVS AVG PART MAX
Reverse: Victory flying left holding open wreath, PM TRP VIII COS II PP
Catalog: RIC 150 RSC 454 - Struck AD 200
"PART MAX" = Parthicus Maximus

Pictures of the ancient Roman city of Leptis Magna, the birthplace
of Septimius Severus in 145 AD, taken from the 1957 John Wayne film
"Legend of the Lost":

Leptis Magna pictures

Hussulo

Nice coin and great buy for that price.

BS

Congrats, that looks like a nice one.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>I don't have many Roman coins but I did think that bust looked familiar...
Interesting reverse theam going on, all different designs with different numbers.
Mine is: XVII (17)
Ormandh's: XVIII (18)
and LordM's is: XIII (13)

Ol' Severus must have been issuing the equivalent of our state quarters!
I have no clue but would guess each is a different year of his reign, anyone know for sure? >>



Joe- you are correct that the "TRP" and "COS" abbreviations with the numerals after them are dates... sort of. The first was the Tribunal power of the emperor, and the second his Consulships. Because Septimius Severus was one of the longer-reigning "good" emperors, he was Tribune and Consul many times, hence the numerals on the backs of our coins, which indicate the number of times he'd held each office. Because of these specific dates, it is possible to date these coins much more closely, quite often to one particular year.

I think Doug Smith's page answers both questions in a bit more depth.



<< <i>TRP, TRIB POT, P - TRIBVNICIA POTESTAS: An important Republican office was Tribune of the People (plebs) with the power to veto acts of the Senate. The office was first taken on ascension and renewed annually. At first the renewals dated to 10 December (the traditional date) but some rulers used the anniversary of their ascension or 1 January so it is necessary to know which system was in use before dating each reign. Many coins are seen dated with a split year (e.g. 11/12 AD) which means the TRP numeral placed the coin from 10 Dec 11 to 9 Dec 12. From the time of Septimius Severus, 1 January was used regularly. When TRP with numeral is used, it is the best dating device found on Roman coins. TRP with no numeral was the form for the first year; TRP I was not used. Occasionally TRP was used without a numeral even though the coin was struck after the first regnal year.

COS, CONS, CO, C - CONSVL: Highest of the offices under the Republic was one of the two annually available consulships. Under the Empire, the office of Consul remained of some importance and was held by the Emperor and his family members with some frequency. Few Romans were ever allowed to serve as Consul more than twice. The exception, of course was the Emperor who could serve whenever the mood struck. As with TRP and IMP the lack of a numeral can mean the first consulship or simply that the numeral was not expressed on the coin. >>



As to the personifications on the reverses, it looks like all four of our coins posted here feature different characters/virtues on them. Interesting, indeed.

I would like to see more side-by-side comparisons of particular Roman emperors' coins like this. Not only do we get to show off a little, but it's educational.

From a design standpoint, I have to say I like the "flying Victory" reverse of WillieBoyd2's coin the best so far, but for overall looks, grade, and eye appeal, I think ormandh's coin in the original post is the best. I don't know anything about the relative rarity of the different reverses.

ormandh

I have started to read The 'Handbook os Ancient Greek and Roman Coins' by Klawans. It is pretty much an overview, but maybe I will understand more how to read the legends. -Dan

Oh yeah, I bought a Diocletian and a Licinius I coin today. I will take pics of them later. -Dan

covers

LM - What is the correct way to attribute a coin that I can't find an exact match for in Sear? I am am probably missing something simple?

Coin is
and

My description is:

Caracalla denarius, 3.8g, (Sear #238A variety, spacing) 214 A.D.
obv. Caracalla facing right; ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM
(Antoninus pius Augustus, conqueror of Germany)
rev. Apollo seated left holding branch and leaning on lyre set on tripod, PM TR P XVII COS IIII PP
(Pontifex Maximus, Tribune 17 times, Consul 4 times, Father of his counry [Pater Patraie]

Caracalla (186-217), Emperor 211-217 A.D.


The spacing on reverse is very different from all the pictures I can find of #238A in that there is a large space.

Swampboy

Here's the first two in a Severan Dynasty collection I'm working on.

Sorry for not having reverse pics for posting.

500Bay

Welcome to an addicting world!

JoesMaName

Great relief on these ancients, I wish I had more time to study them, as they’re amazing. Just thinking of the history is mind-boggling. Been around for thousands of years before me and could easily be round for thousands after I'm gone, we’re just passing through their history…

Thanks Lord M. for the reverse inscription explanation, you just got'a love this place.

svessien

Hi covers

Your coin is listed in Sear RCV II, #6831:
"Rev. PM TR P XVII COS IIII PP, Apollo seated l, holding laurel-branch and resting arm on lyre set on tripod."
RIC 238A, BMCRE 448, 91, RSC 242, CSS 1399. Rome AD 214.

covers

Svein - Thank you. I just ordered that set of books Friday.

In the interim, I set up a little page for my collection (easier for me to kept track of things in HTML).

Page here

svessien

Congrats. Those books are great. I use them all the time.
There are, however, plenty of coins from different emperors NOT listed in Sear, as I'm sure you are aware of.
I find combining the Sear books with the Seaby "Roman Silver Coins" veru useful. The RSC books have made quantity a priority, and they have more varieties listed than Sear. They are harder to use for search, though (IMO). I like the system in the Sear books better, but I often end up looking for a different obverse legend or COS number in Seaby.

Here's another Caracalla:
[URL=http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x317/svessien/DSC08802.jpg][/URL]
[URL=http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x317/svessien/DSC08805.jpg][/URL]

direwolf1972

Why not flog a dead horse.... posted this one several times before. I have several other ancients in my collection but this one just strikes my eye every time I look at it.

WillieBoyd2

direwolf1972's coin is real nice!
Looks like Elagabalus RIC 68?