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Can anyone help identify these ancient coins?

oilers99oilers99 Posts: 204 ✭✭✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum
A friend inherited a bunch of coins and these were found in a bag. Thanks.

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    STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭
    Clockwise from upper right:

    Roman Republican denarius stuck by M. Junius Brutus, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar, altho this type was used a decade before in BC 54, a much better type nonetheless.

    A denarius of Hadrian with what looks like a Liberalitas (distribution of money) reverse. Don't have my references at hand, but his reign was 117 - 138.

    A denarius of Lucius Verus, colleague of Marcus Aurelius from 161-169.

    Hard to authenticate from pix, but nothing immediately appears amiss on any of these. Overall, a very interesting group of coins that most collectors would be happy to have (including me) and there's enough left on these that you can probably tie them down with Wildwinds.com

    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
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    SapyxSapyx Posts: 2,010 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Top left: Roman Republic, denarius struck by moneyer M. Junius Brutus (the same Brutus who helped assassinate Julius Caesar) in 54 BC. A very common, yet very popular coin owing to the person named on it. Wildwinds page.

    Top right: Roman Empire, denarius of Hadrian, reverse type is Felicitas holding cornucopia and caduceus I believe;see this page and scroll down to the coin labelled "RIC 83".

    Bottom: Roman empire, denarius of Lucius Verus, reverse type Aequitas seated; the reverse inscription translates to a date, between Dec AD 167 and Feb AD 168. Scroll down to RIC 595.

    Edit: Too. Slow. At. Typing. Must. Speed. Up. image
    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
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    NiceCurrencyNiceCurrency Posts: 885 ✭
    I'm skeptical on authenticity, they look "off" to me but I want to hear from the actual experts as I'm merely an amateur collector of ancient coins.
    =Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award 4/28/2014=
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    STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Top right: Roman Empire, denarius of Hadrian, reverse type is Felicitas holding cornucopia and caduceus I believe;see this page and scroll down to the coin labelled "RIC 83".
    >>



    Looking at the reference you cite you're right. The caduceus is sufficiently worn to look like a tessera.

    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
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    oilers99oilers99 Posts: 204 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Top left: Roman Republic, denarius struck by moneyer M. Junius Brutus (the same Brutus who helped assassinate Julius Caesar) in 54 BC. A very common, yet very popular coin owing to the person named on it. Wildwinds page.

    Top right: Roman Empire, denarius of Hadrian, reverse type is Felicitas holding cornucopia and caduceus I believe;see this page and scroll down to the coin labelled "RIC 83".

    Bottom: Roman empire, denarius of Lucius Verus, reverse type Aequitas seated; the reverse inscription translates to a date, between Dec AD 167 and Feb AD 168. Scroll down to RIC 595.

    Edit: Too. Slow. At. Typing. Must. Speed. Up. image >>



    Thanks for the feedback. I will pass this information along. One last question - are they worth much??
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    WeissWeiss Posts: 9,935 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Another non-ancient ancient collector, but I see a group of coins 100 years apart but which are the same color and the same degree of wear = red flags. I'm always cautious about ancients.
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
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    STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Another non-ancient ancient collector, but I see a group of coins 100 years apart but which are the same color and the same degree of wear = red flags. I'm always cautious about ancients. >>



    I truly don't see anything suspicious about these coins short of seeing them in hand. Actually they're 200 years apart and the Republican piece is substantially more worn than those from the 2nd century (and the Verus is by far the nicest of the 3). Also, the color is very, very typical of middling grade, good silver denarii. In fact, its so typical that I named a merle shelty "Denarii" because the base color of her coat was basically this gray.

    The Brutus initially gave me a bit of a pause, due to the popularity of the type, so I checked the fake coin reports (starting on pg 3 here:FAC. Several fakes of the type listed but they look nothing like the coin here.

    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
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    AutomanAutoman Posts: 85
    A grade is an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgement by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a coin corresponds to an undefinable level of an unattainable state of preservation. - Never tell me that grading is science.
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    AutomanAutoman Posts: 85
    Agree with STLNATS that there is nothing obviously off about the coins. Strike, wear pattern, color, fields, devices... nothing gives me cause to condemnd them. This, of course, does not mean that I would authenticate them from the images. That can only be done through personal inspection.

    Cheers,

    Auto
    A grade is an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgement by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a coin corresponds to an undefinable level of an unattainable state of preservation. - Never tell me that grading is science.
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