Harry G

That's a fascinating coin - my guess is that it was originally an antoninianus of Claudius II from Milan mint (specifically RIC temp #34), minted in late 268 - mid 269, that made its way to Cologne, only to be overstruck by a mint worker striking coins for Tetricus I (which would account for the silvering.). The worker did a poor job though, and intentionally or not, did not overstrike the reverse properly, only leaving a weird "extension" to Victory's hand. They also didn't heat the coin up enough before striking (hence the raggedy flan). Anyway, here's my lot! Laelianus - VICTORIA AVG Marius - VICTORIA AVG Postumus - PROVIDENTIA AVG (double struck) Aureolus - PAX EQVITVM Victorinus - COMES AVG Tetricus I - VIRTVS AVGG Tetricus II "as Cesar" - SPES AVGG

I like the concept, but I just gave it a try and it wasn't exactly successful... With any luck, it'll get better as the AI gets more training. For example, Google reverse image search used to be terrible when trying to identify coins, but now it works almost all the time for me

Thanks for checking! I just emailed Sam Moorhead after your reply, and he said: "This is an interesting coin. It does appear to have no mintmark. I think the reverse legend is LEGIONI V[ ] hence the dative case, honouring LEG VII or VIII. I have never seen the use of the dative like this. The legend is normally just LEG. I will try and enter it in a footnote of my forthcoming RIC volume." Looking closer, it does indeed look like a V after the last I of LEGIONI. So it seems the coin is unique as the only Carausius antoninianus to use the extended form "Legioni"!

If I remember correctly, he was only under control of a small number of legions directly (3 sounds right). I think he minted coins for the other legions to try and gain the respect of the legions themselves and, more importantly, to try and gain favour with Diocletian and Maximian, which is also evidenced by his famous "Carausius and his Brother Emperors" coinage. (Not my coin sadly)

Hi all! I just thought I'd share my latest pickup, and was wondering if anyone recognised the type! Carausius - LEGIONIS [...] IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG - Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust r. LEGIONIS [...] or LEGIO NI [...] - Bull standing right London (?) I am intrigued by the reverse of the coin. Legionary antoninianii of Carausius are quite rare, although I've never seen one spell out the full word "LEGIO" ("legion") on a coin before; normally they only use the abbreviation "LEG". The legend appears to read "LEGIONI[..]", but the letter after the second "I" could be an S to make the Latin word "LEGIONIS" ("of the legion"). Carausius minted coins after 9 legions from London and Colchester mint, with each legion operating in a specific area with a different symbol (usually an animal/creature) representing it. London: LEG I (Minerva) - Lower Rhine: Ram LEG II (Augusta) - Britain: Capricorn LEG II (Parthica) - Italy: Centaur LEG IIII (Flavia) - Upper Moesia: Lion LEG VII (Claudia) - Upper Moesia: Bull LEG VIII (Augusta) - Upper Rhine: Bull LEG IIXX (Primigenia) - Upper Rhine: Capricorn LEG XX (Valeria Victrix) - Britain: Boar LEG XXX (Valeria Victrix) - Lower Rhine: Neptune Colchester LEG IIII (Flavia) - Upper Moesia: Centaur LEG VII (Claudia) - Upper Moesia: Bull This would make my coin either Legion VII from London or Colchester mint, or Legion VIII from London mint, although that's as far as I can get with identifying it. I've check RIC, but couldn't see a match in their either. Does anyone have an idea?

Nice glossy patina on that one! You actually have an antoninianus of Tetricus I, not Victorinus 🙂

Hi all! For the last few years, since I've been aware of the scarcer antoninianus types of Victorinus, every time I have seen either a Victorinus obverse or a COMES AVG reverse side of a coin pictured on eBay, I have checked the other side of the coin to see if it is the rare COMES AVG antoninianus of Victorinus. Finally, my checking has paid off! So here is my new COMES AVG antoninianus of Victorinus. Victorinus - COMES AVG IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS P F AVG - Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust r. COMES AVG - Victory standing facing left, holding wreath and palm Trier Mairat 564 (3 ex.) (The green deposits are not bronze disease) This type was minted very early in Victorinus' reign - Mairat states mid to late 269AD. It was also the first appearance of this version of Victory on a coin with the legend COMES AVG, which was used extensively by Tetricus I and Tetricus II later on. Mairat suggests that Victorinus' type was copied itself; "[Victorinus / COMES AVG] is reminiscent of coins of Marius issued at Cologne [Marius / VICTORIA AVG]. Although these reverses are classic, it suggests that the engravers of Trier copied the designs used a few months earlier at the mint of Cologne". It is exactly the same type as my other COMES AVG example of Victorinus, but is in significantly nicer condition. Post your coins of Victorinus, COMES, or any deceptively rare coins!

I don't like it either. It's pretty much unregulated, so lots of scams exist to con "investors", and it's hard to trace specific transactions so it's used a lot in scamming regular people too. On the Numismatics side of things, I was surprised to learn that "Physical bitcoins" exist (despite that being the very thing cryptocurrencies are trying to remove), and there are specialist auctions for them. I'm not sure what makes it fetch significantly more than the "face value" of the token, but apparently some people are into that kind of thing... https://coins.ha.com/c/search/results.zx?dept=1909&sold_status=1526&archive_state=5327&mode=archive&auction_name=3112&auction_year=2023&type=https://www.ngccoin.com/

It's one of the many fake "coins" from Temu

That is a very interesting coin! The lines are a bit blurry when it comes to barbarous / official issues of Carausius, and this looks like it is a bit of both. The legend is blundered, and the style is quite crude, but it looks like it's made of silver, which barbarous issues typically aren't. Perhaps it was overstruck on an earlier denarius to make sure it has good silver quality? I don't own any Carausius denarii (unfortunately), but here are a few of my "barbarous" antoninianii of Carausius. IM[P CARA]VSIVS P F AVG / Radiate bust of Carausius facing right [PTO(?)]IIIIC, σ+∩ in exergue / Wolf facing right, suckling Romulus and Remus IMP CARAVSIVS [AVG] / Radiate bust of Carausius facing right PA[X A]VG / Pax (?) standing, facing left, holding spear and shield.

Thank you! After using that in my searches, I found a match! Louis XII Douzain Au Porc-épic De Bretagne, 2e Type N.d. Nantes

Hi all! This coin came to me recently as part of a group lot, and I've been trying to research it, but have had no luck. I can read: "[...]VX ↑ LVDOV (or LVBOV?) [...]" on the obverse, and "[...] M:N:↑:SITRO[...]" on the reverse, so I'm guessing it's of one of the Louis. The closest match I can find is this Grand Blanc of Francois I from Nantes & Rennes: although mine has something below the shield on the obverse (a griffin?) My coin weighs 2.02g and has a diameter of 25mm. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the info, everyone! It's great to hear it's probably genuine. Looking at it closer, I think it was definitely in a mount (so the edges are filed in places), and there are spots of darker metal around the edge of the coin, which I'm guessing is probably solder. When I was looking at the auction photos after I bought the lot, I saw the "earring" and was trying to find other owls with something similar lol. It was only when I received the coin I realised it wasn't! The whole group was only £50, so I think it was a good deal! I don't plan on grading it, as the edge is damaged and I doubt it would receive a straight grade. That's fascinating - yes, it definitely looks like the eye is angled a bit lower. I'll research that die discovery!

Hi everyone! I recently bought this coin as part of a large lot of mostly modern coins at auction. The pictures were quite blurry, but I've now received the coin and have taken better pictures of it. The edge of the coin is concerning me. It appears to have been filed down at several points, which could mean that either it's been cast with the edge filed down to hide the casting seam, or that it's ex jewellery, and has been filed to fit in a mount. There are also some prominent deposits on the reverse, and a drilled "dent" on the obverse (to check if it is silver?). It is also quite yellow, which could just be tarnish. It weighs 16.95g and has a diameter of 24mm It was very cheap, so it's not a huge loss if it's fake - the rest of the coins in the lot should pay for it! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all! I managed to save all Roma's historical articles on The Wayback Machine, and I've also made a quick website with all the links to all the articles they wrote. https://roma-archive-unofficial.weebly.com/ Hopefully it'll be useful if/when their website shuts down!