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Eight Roman Sestertii

Tonight I had a few minutes of downtime, which is rare for me. I used the opportunity to look at some of the ancient coins in my collection and as is often the case I was drawn to the large Roman Sestertii coins. There is just something about a huge, heavy lump of almost 2000 year old bronze that captivates my mind in a way few other things can. While I was looking at them my son wandered into the library and I called him over and showed him a few, he showed polite (but not genuine) interest. A little later my wife came in and I did the same thing with her, expounding a little on each emperor, she showed the same polite (but not genuine) interest.

You are my last hope. I snapped a quick (and not very good) photo, I can do better and a good photographer could do a lot better. In addition the coins are modest, you will find much more rare and much nicer coins in other threads, but this is what I have to offer you:

image

The coins are from (starting at the top left):

Claudius Caesar
Nero
Vespasian
Titus
Nerva
Trajan
Hadrian
Marcus Aurelius

The first one was minted in AD 42 and the last one in AD 177. When these coins were in use it took four of them to make a Denarius (which was considered a days wage, so if you think of each one as being like a $20 Bill you would not be too far off). By way of scale the coin of Claudius is 35mm in diameter and has a weight of 27.1g
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Comments

  • I love these big bronzes as well, these were the workhorses of commerce and as such and as they had such a large canvas to work with, I thought I'd read that these were where propaganda to the plebs really shined

    I only have one sestertius but it's a beauty (to me) it's my Hadrian where on the back he's torching a bunch of debts empire wide and it looks like he's inventing baseball image

    everyone should have at least one of these big coins, sure the US dime sized denarii are what most go for, but you get one of these in hand and it's really something like you said

    coins and paper money that were created and then barely to never used and just sat somewhere forever before becoming a collectible are neat, but stuff that actually did what it was created to do and has the wear to prove it and survived the melting pot/shredder to th is day is entirely different and really enjoyable to collect in its own right
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  • IosephusIosephus Posts: 872 ✭✭✭
    That's a nice, attractive group! I've had a passing interest in these early imperial bronze coins, though I've so far resisted the urge to acquire any. It's nice seeing them together in a group shot like this, where one can easily observe the reduction in diameter for the coins struck in the second century.
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    This is why I love large types. I was actually discussing this with CoinKat earlier today in fact. Low numismatic value should not be as important as design, historical significance, and (in my case) size. We both agreed the biggest issue with our hobby today is the low importance many collectors place on low-value pieces.

    Now regarding their street value ...


    << <i>When these coins were in use it took four of them to make a Denarius (which was considered a days wage, so if you think of each one as being like a $20 Bill you would not be too far off). >>

    Four $20 is a day's wage? Working 360 days a year, that's still shy of $30k gross! I think they are worth more than $20 per. It may be more accurate to say $50 per, which puts the Denarius around $200/day or about $60k gross (if you worked 300 days). Obviously many folks earn less than this but if we took an average income ... I suspect this would be closer to the average.

    Here's a radical idea. What if we categorized our collections based upon the coins' original buying power. For example, a Denarius would fall under the "day's wage for average citizen" category. If we did this, coins which were never before seen side-by-side would suddenly become peers. That would be an interesting display. And quite educational, IMO.
    ANA LM • WBCC 429

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    image
  • Of course they will get the love they deserve here! That's a great assortment of hefty Roman coins image

    Now you've got me singing I Like Big Bronze à la Sir Mix-A-Lot.

    I like big bronze and I can not lie
    You other coin nerds can't deny
    when an auction pops up with a bid unplaced
    and a big round thing in your face
    you get sprung, wanna pull out your tough
    cause you notice that flan was stuffed.

    what a sweet reverse it's wearing
    I'm hooked and I can't stop staring.
    i love em when they're plumper
    wanna get your sear number
    my homeboys tried to warn me
    but that big coin makes me...
  • AethelredAethelred Posts: 9,288 ✭✭✭
    I wonder what song is gonna be stuck in my head all day?image
    If you are in the Western North Carolina area, please consider visiting our coin shop:

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  • STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭
    Interesting group of sesterti (shorthand designation of HS). The large size really show off the portraits on these and even modestly valued coins can be a nice addition to any collection; I wouldn't mind having any of these in mine.



    << <i>The first one was minted in AD 42 and the last one in AD 177. When these coins were in use it took four of them to make a Denarius (which was considered a days wage, so if you think of each one as being like a $20 Bill you would not be too far off). >>



    Here's a good discussion of this topic from the Forum Ancient Coins site: link

    I've seen a lot of discussions of buying power over the years and the most common and I think most useful benchmark I've seen is that a denarius was approximately a day's pay for a laborer during most of this period and there's even a couple of Biblical references to this. By comparison, the annual base pay for a "common" legionary over this period was 225 denarii (900HS) less stoppages for food, equipment, a burial fund, etc plus occassional bonuses (new emperor, anniversaries, etc). And, if one were lucky enough to be in a war zone, there was always the opportunity for loot and booty. But converting this to $ is completely based on one's frame of reference; today a daily wage in the US is many, many many multiples of that in many parts of the world where subsistance is more of the rule. For all of its "glory" even in this period the Roman world was substantially more of the latter than the former: lots of peasants (and urban poor) who probably rarely saw a coin of any kind and relatively few prosperous city dwellers, professionals, tradesmen, artisans, etc. And the range of things to buy was radically different, metal more valuable (would you work in the fields for a day for the silver in a denarius equal to ~ 2 US silver dimes?).

    A "typical" roman with these 8 in his purse (no pockets at the time) would have probably felt pretty good since he and his family would be assured to have something to eat for several days. One of the relatively few romans of means might have wondered why he was bothering to carry around these clunkly things.

    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
  • bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lovely bronzes. I only have a few. I tend to go for the silver of course. There is alot of fake bronzes or worse, tooling...so I tend to avoid them unless I know its OK.
  • savoyspecialsavoyspecial Posts: 7,267 ✭✭✭✭
    >>I wonder what song is gonna be stuck in my head all day?>>


    Something has to flush out that Three's Company theme song image

    Awesome big bronzes!

    www.brunkauctions.com

  • SwampboySwampboy Posts: 12,876 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image collection.
  • AethelredAethelred Posts: 9,288 ✭✭✭


    << <i>>>I wonder what song is gonna be stuck in my head all day?>>


    Something has to flush out that Three's Company theme song image

    Awesome big bronzes! >>



    Urgh!
    If you are in the Western North Carolina area, please consider visiting our coin shop:

    WNC Coins, LLC
    1987-C Hendersonville Road
    Asheville, NC 28803


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  • SmEagle1795SmEagle1795 Posts: 2,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Beautiful coins!! There's nothing quite like holding a sestertius. Your family doesn't know what they're missing - keep sharing them with us and some day they'll come around too image
    Learn about our world's shared history told through the first millennium of coinage: Colosseo Collection
  • AethelredAethelred Posts: 9,288 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Beautiful coins!! There's nothing quite like holding a sestertius. Your family doesn't know what they're missing - keep sharing them with us and some day they'll come around too image >>



    I hope so!
    If you are in the Western North Carolina area, please consider visiting our coin shop:

    WNC Coins, LLC
    1987-C Hendersonville Road
    Asheville, NC 28803


    wnccoins.com
  • AethelredAethelred Posts: 9,288 ✭✭✭
    Does anyone else have any Sestertii they would like to show?
    If you are in the Western North Carolina area, please consider visiting our coin shop:

    WNC Coins, LLC
    1987-C Hendersonville Road
    Asheville, NC 28803


    wnccoins.com
  • AethelredAethelred Posts: 9,288 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I tend to go for the silver of course. >>



    Of course (says the guy with bronze right there in his forum name).
    If you are in the Western North Carolina area, please consider visiting our coin shop:

    WNC Coins, LLC
    1987-C Hendersonville Road
    Asheville, NC 28803


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  • bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I tend to go for the silver of course. >>



    Of course (says the guy with bronze right there in his forum name). >>



    That is true, but I collected mainly copper world and U.S. before ancients.


  • << <i>Does anyone else have any Sestertii they would like to show? >>



    I don't have many but this is my best and favorite by far: Nero / Annona and Ceres

    image
  • SwampboySwampboy Posts: 12,876 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Does anyone else have any Sestertii they would like to show? >>



    I have only one sestertius and I'm looking forward to adding a more wholesome example to my collection.
    Meanwhile, I enjoy this one as part of a set since it shares a reverse (with the exception of S-C) with a denarius I have.

    IOVI CONSRVATRORI


    Alexander Severus cleaned out all traces of Elagabulus's eastern religion from the Temple of Jupiter and Rome breathed a sigh of relief.

    image
    both reverses depict the emperor standing at the foot of Jupiter
  • SmEagle1795SmEagle1795 Posts: 2,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have relatively few sestertii but I have the two "big" coins, which are two of my favorite pieces in my collection. There are a large number of very aesthetic sestertii, several of which I have on my wantlist now as well, but I've been growing other parts of my collection first.

    The Inauguration of the Colosseum
    image

    The Port of Ostia
    image

    The Thousandth Anniversary of the Founding of Rome
    image
    Learn about our world's shared history told through the first millennium of coinage: Colosseo Collection
  • yosclimberyosclimber Posts: 4,572 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Here are a couple of Claudius sestertii from a collection I'm helping the owner evaluate.
    Big impressive coins!
    I didn't know much about identifying Roman coins before this, so it's been fun learning.
    Sorry about the poor quality photos - the light picked up extra red from the background.
    image
    image
    image
    image
  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    Aethelred, you'll always feel the love (and maybe some creepy stares too) from us here. This is a great collection in its own right much less as a part of a larger Roman or ancient collection. I truly love the big bronzes even though I don't have a bunch of large ancient bronzes yet. I did/do (as the market dictates basically) still collect Imperial Russian and my favorite coins of all in that large issue are the coppers of Catherine II and Paul I. I mean they used to say that if you dropped a penny from the top of the Sears Tower (it's been awhile since I worked a Chicago reference in here, so forgive me) it could kill a person on the ground. What if you dropped a 5 kopek piece from 1780 from the Sears Tower? Mass murder.

    Don't be discouraged by relative lack of interest by your wife or your young son. My daughter seemed indifferent to coins when she was much younger. Around the age of seven or later the interest started maturing and now I have her going to coin shows and talking to dealers on her own as well as poking around and holdering and researching stuff too. She totally knows I am the school project dream parent because I have so much old and weird junk lying around. Geology has really taken her interest too and we are always looking at rocks and doing little field trips even if it is just Lake Michigan sometimes when I am broke and she talks about being a geologist someday. I love the look of her future in her eyes. She's such a smart kid and so eager to learn stuff. My Mom just converted her subscription from National Geographic Kids (which she loved) to National Geographic (which she spent two hours reading on Saturday night) and she is very happy to get her own mail and be able to show me things that interest her.

    All you can do is expose your kids to the person you are in toto and you will be surprised at what they pick up and incorporate into themselves. I picked up cooking from my mother and a love of reading from both because I saw both parents read three papers a day and books constantly and there was always a flow of magazines into the house. Now I have a library full of books, collections and interests and most importantly, I know a little bit more about the world and am hopefully not the most boring person on earth to talk to.

    I'd really like to own the pieces that you showed as well as SmEagle with his Port and Coliseum coins. I might get there I might not. Cool designs and historical significance as well as some collector value make me as happy when I am buying $20 sesterii as when I make my "major" $100-200 purchases.
  • STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭


    << <i>
    All you can do is expose your kids to the person you are in toto and you will be surprised at what they pick up and incorporate into themselves. >>



    Very true. My daughter seriously collects wedgwood (inherited from my wife) but my son has never shown much interest in collecting. To my surprise a couple of Christmas' ago, his present to me was a Seattle national banknote (he's based at Ft Lewis) and a bunch of ephemera of exactly the type I would have bought (including a period ad of the bank building). I couldn't stop looking at it on the day; the effort and interest he put into this was about the best present ever and I still smile when I think about it.

    image
    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
  • AethelredAethelred Posts: 9,288 ✭✭✭
    Thank you for the replies!image
    If you are in the Western North Carolina area, please consider visiting our coin shop:

    WNC Coins, LLC
    1987-C Hendersonville Road
    Asheville, NC 28803


    wnccoins.com
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