Just another random sestertius thread
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,887 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have only three. Here they are. I welcome your commentary on them.
Feel free to “pile on” with some of yours.
5
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The Claudius has a really nice look.
Those really are impressive coins!
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How were the Sesterius valued, compared to a denarius? Is there a book that discusses the relative values of the Roman coins?
I knew it would happen.
For most of the Imperial period, I believe the ratio was four sestertii to the denarius.
As to the book, yes, if by "relative value" you mean compared to each other and not a priceguide.
https://whitman.com/whitman-handbook-of-ancient-greek-roman-coins-by-klawans-color/
Thanks lordmarcovan! I took Latin many years ago and I've started accumulating some of the Roman coins. Most of the sestertii that I've seen seem to have had a rough life, being bronze etc.
I knew it would happen.
Nice ones, LordM.
I only have one, and it’s my only Roman coin. I had been planning to make a short set of the so-called Five Good Emperors, but it hasn’t materialized. The more I learned about the era the more the set expands in my head: for instance would it not be proper to include Lucius Verus? The Faustinas? A Commodus coin to show the end of the era?
I bought this from a Goldberg auction 12+ years ago. This is Marcus Aurelius as Caesar during the reign of Antoninus Pius. It’s still one of the finest portraits of Marcus that I’ve seen in my opinion.
It’s a great coin. NGC XF. 4/4, 4/4. However, it’s a single piece languishing in my collection. Maybe it’s time to let it go?
Phil Arnold
Director of Photography, GreatCollections
greatcollections.com
I remember that one, Phil. I think you should hold onto it.
The more I study ancient Greek & Roman coins, including the provincial issues, the more intriguing it gets. Argh.
I knew it would happen.
Just this Trajan - purchased at a show in 1975.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
Identifying this coin has turned into an adventure.
I bought this coin on Ebay in April 2007. The seller only described it as a "Antoninus Pius Sestertius".
Roman Empire Antoninus Pius Sestertius
Obverse: Laureate head right, ANTONINVS AVG PIUS
Reverse: Figure standing, D in lower left, S C in field
Brass, 31 mm 23.58 gm
The coin was heavily pitted with corrosion and was hard to identify.
I could not find the coin in the internet data base Wildwinds or in RIC ("The Roman Imperial Coinage") but there was a similar coin listed as RIC 581 for the Roman province of Dacia.
The coin was part of a set issued in AD 139 depicting Roman provinces offering presents to the new Emperor.
An employee of an ancient coin dealer referred me to a catalog of Antoninus Pius coins written by Paul L. Strack, published in Germany in 1937, the coin was number 786.
Strack stated that there were examples in the Vatican and Leningrad Hermitage collections in the 1930's
My coin is now in the Wildwinds data base as RIC 581 var Strack 786.
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The Claudius is very nice! Great portrait, centering, strike and color!
Yes; compared to the ancient Greek coinage series, we know a lot about the ancient Roman coin series, not only from the inscriptions on the coins themselves but from surviving written records.
After 141 BC, so the later Republic and early Imperial period, the denarius was tariffed at 16 copper asses. The sestertius was a quarter-denarius, or 4 asses.
Note that the name "sestertius" literally means "two-and-a-halfer", as it was originally tariffed at 2.5 asses; back then, the denarius was worth 10 asses (which is also the literal meaning of "denarius"). We have corroborating evidence for this from the coins themselves: early denarii often had the denomination-mark "X" (for 10). After the revaluation in 141 BC, denarii began to appear with a new denomination-mark, resembling a six-armed asterisk "*" and being intended to represent the letters "XVI", for 16. The symbol for the currency unit of the sestertius was HS, being evolved from IIS (2-and-semis). The similarity between the HS symbol and the modern "$" symbol is purely coincidental.
As a trivial aside, the Romans had the world's first decimal currency, though this was largely by accident rather than premeditated intent. There were 4 sestertii to the denarius, and 25 denarii to the gold aureus - thus the aureus was worth 100 sestertii.
The sestertius was also the "money of account" of the time period, not asses or denarii. Thus, a wealthy Roman would have reckoned their net worth not in aurii or denarii, but in sestertii.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice.