Roman coin

silverpop

well this is my only roman coin in my collection, the coin dates from 70 A.D bought it at the local coin shop here in town some years ago, not in the best shape but still overall a nice coin

lordmarcovan

It's pretty rough, but also pretty evident that the portrait is of the emperor Hadrian, so it would date from 117 to 138 AD rather than 70 AD (in which case it would have had the portrait of Vespasian).

NiceCurrency

good eye to peg that as Hadrian

silverpop

so what would be the correct date for this coin?

NiceCurrency

these weren't dated, we figure the year or range of years based on titles the emperor acquired over time that get added to his full name engraved on the coin, this is too worn to make any words out in my opinion

lordmarcovan

<< <i>so what would be the correct date for this coin? >>

Sometime between 117 and 138 AD.

In the second century, when that coin was struck, the emperor portraits were still realistic enough that you can ID them individually by the portrait alone.

Later on, when the portraits became more stylized and "cartoonish" (i.e., like a stock image reused over and over), it's not so easy to tell the emperor from the portrait.

Sapyx

Roman coins often do not bear dates, but they can nevertheless often be dated to a surprisingly narrow date range, by archaeological means. I believe this is the correct type. This coin type with reverse inscription PM TRP COS III has been dated fairly narrowly to AD 122.

silverpop

thanks for the info guys

lordmarcovan

Wow, count on Sapyx to nail it down even further.

To tell the truth I had no idea of the scale of the photo and no inkling that it might be a sestertius. I couldn't make out any of the inscriptions and actually was wondering if it was a fourree denarius since I didn't know how big it was.

This is a pretty large and chunky bronze, right, silverpop?

STLNATS

<< <i>Wow, count on Sapyx to nail it down even further.

To tell the truth I had no idea of the scale of the photo and no inkling that it might be a sestertius. I couldn't make out any of the inscriptions and actually was wondering if it was a fourree denarius since I didn't know how big it was.

This is a pretty large and chunky bronze, right, silverpop? >>



The denarius wouldn't have the SC in the fields, only Aes.

lordmarcovan

Ah, yes. Of course. The S C is about the only lettering I can make out.