kevikens

Is it unlawful for a collector to have such unmarked copies/fakes in one's collection in the US? If so, does that mean keeping a Black Cabinet of probable fakes is unlawful?

I wish the article had mentioned more about the coin found, but my guess is that any small denomination coin would have sufficed.

The Greeks had easy access to "obols" but not so likely to be found among the Romans. They must have had their own equivalent and I world guess a copper As would do. Archaeologist ought to have been able to discover some of these coins in grave sites, perhaps some in situ among skulls. Anyone know if certain coins were found in such excavations?

Unless you live in Greece I don't think you will have much success in actually acquiring antiquities like this. There are other areas where antiquities can be gotten without running afoul of paper work regulations, licensing and shipping problems.

Looking at the Seaby publication I see that it does list a half penny for Edward II (Seaby 1472, Coins of England and the UK ), Weighing the coin should settle the matter. The silver penny of his reign should be close to 22 grains) and a half penny of about half that weight. There are about 15.4 gains to a gram.

AussieCollector, is "Barbarians" a movie or TV series?

Superbus, et, fur meine Freunden aus Germania, wunderbar. Excellent and realistic production with respect to all the impedimenta of soldiering circa 65 AD, though i have trouble following the Classical pronunciation of the Latin. Still for those interested in what it probably sounded like, a trip back in time. And it seems Agrippa is smiling, too.

I am a bit confused on this story. Were the troops paid in Roman denarii or in drachmas and if the latter, were they produced at a provincial mint, a travelling mint or were they minted in Rome itself? If the latter, would these drachmas pass current in trade in the West or would they have to be exchanged forf denarii?

Amazing. I never knew there were so many varieties of the hexagram or that they were issued frequently as a kind of commiserative coin and that the holed coins were common. Thanks for sharing.

One of the interesting things about these hexagrams is that we know with a high degree of certainty where the bullion to strike these coins came from, something not common for most ancient or medieval coinage. Of course we know that most of the silver that the Athenians employed came from the famous Laurion mines in their own back yard. But the reason we know where most of the bullion came from for the hexagrams is from literary and historical sources which tell us. Heraclius and sons were up to their eyeballs in invaders and desperately needed cash, as in precious metals, not more bronze, to pay for the forces putting down the invaders, especially the Sassanian Persians. The Byzantine Church had already made contributions to the treasury but it was not enough. The Church was reluctant to contribute more. Heraclius persuaded, some would say extorted, more with vague threats of what he might do to get the needed money if the Church did become more forthcoming. They did and handed over an enormous contribution in the form of ecclesiastical bric-a-brac made mostly of silver. So, if you have one of these coins it may be from a candelabrum from Hagia Sophia. Here is my only hexagram, this one of his son, Constans II. It weighs 6.49 grams and has the common, DEUS ADJUTA ROMANIS and apparently a B officina mark on it.

May I suggest that when in Athens you take the frequent ferry service from the nearby port of Piraeus (pronounced something like Pireefs in modern demotic Greek) to the island of Aigina. You can get to the docks by cab or subway from Athens. It's a beautiful boat trip., and cheap for an Aegean cruise. You'll pass right over the sight of the naval battle of Salamis and at the island dock in Aigina you can get the bus to the temple of Alphaea which is a columned temple in an excellent state of preservation. The view from the mountain top is breathtaking and the town below where the docks are is a more leisurely and slower paced shopping experience. May Tyche be your guide. Below are two coins, one of Athens, a tetradrachm of 17.1 grams, Athena and owl, probably ca. 430 BC start of Peloponnesian War with a reverse test cut. The other is a stater from Aigina, the eyesore of the Aegean according to Athenians who could see it on a clear day from Piraeus,with turtle on the obverse and an incuse design on the reverse. It weighs 12.0 grams and is Sear (1978 edition) 1851

I have one of these but never particularly liked their appearance, which is usually grainy with at least light porosity. A glowering facial visage on the coin does not help either. This one is from Sidon, I think, with some kind of "Cart of Astarte" and is said to be a scarce variety.

Supply and demand. Thanks to metal detecting the market is awash with medium grade silver coins and saturated with lower grade late imperial bronzes. It does not help that increased counterfeiting scares off potential collectors. In addition I think demand for Ancients is down as a percentage of the population as school students are much less likely to study Ancient and Medieval history or to study Classical languages both of which create interest in all aspects of those periods of history. Also there is nagging fear, whether rational or not, that one's collection of today may be seen as unlawful cultural appropriation tomorrow. with attendant problems of selling it later on..

Bronze coinage issued by official Roman mints are found all over the Empire, far from where they were minted and seem to have been accepted all over the Empire whereas bronze coins' issued by provincial mints with koinon status did not normally circulate that far from the issuing mint and were probably accepted only at a discount, if at all. Coins with intrinsic value, gold and silver, circulated everywhere because their value came from the metal itself and did not need some kind of legal sanction to have commercial value. Roman, Byzantine and Arab silver coins are not at all unusual in Medieval Scandanavian finds, their bronze counterparts, not so much.

I got this story on my newsfeed a few hours ago and shared it, with comments, onto my FB page. No replies yet. I sure hope my friends read it so that they will see that the Romans were very good at doing things beside racing chariots and throwing wild parties. Trajan's column. Still there..