CPK

Of course, the moral of the teaching doesn't depend on the exact type of coin it was...but that doesn't mean it's not an interesting question from a historical/numismatic perspective. It isn't very often that a specific coin is mentioned in an ancient narrative, so when it does happen, we are naturally curious to try to figure out which coin type it might have been.

Lovely medals!

When you said the Gospels were "not history, not biography, not journalism" I took you to mean that they didn't have value as history, i.e., that they weren't historically accurate.

I disagree with your opinion on the Gospels. Whether or not you accept their religious message, they clearly have enormous historical value. There is no reason to doubt the authorship or authenticity - they speak in great detail of the times, peoples, places, and events with a precision of knowledge that could only have been obtained firsthand. For example, Luke, in addition to writing the gospel which bears his name, also wrote the book of Acts, which is almost a travel guide to the 1st century Roman Mediterranean world. The level of detail he records (which has been corroborated by other sources and archaeology) is astounding - cities, rulers, laws and customs, etc. To quote one authority on the matter: "To a large degree, archaeological discoveries have supported Luke's historical accuracy. For example, we now know that his use of titles for various kinds of local and provincial governmental officials - procurators, consuls, praetors, politarchs, Asiarchs, and others - was exactly correct for the times and localities about which he was writing. This accuracy is doubly remarkable in that the use of these terms was in a constant state of flux because the political status of various communities was constantly changing." - Dr. Robert H. Gundry, A Survey of the New Testament (p.334) In fact, there are a great many evidences demonstrating the historicity of the Gospels and Acts - a fact which should be of great value to anyone, religious or not, who is interested in ancient history.

A beautiful example, @Salomons Cat. I read an article not long ago about the "tribute penny" and I agree with the authors that the most likely candidate for the coin is indeed the Tiberius/seated figure denarius. They pointed out that Matthew, who wrote one of the Gospel accounts of this story, being a tax collector would have been quite familiar with the different coin denominations and their values - and indeed he showed this familiarity by mentioning a number of distinct coin denominations by name throughout his Gospel. He would not have called this coin a denarius if it were actually a tetradrachm, for example. The question of which denarius is a little more muddled, but in my opinion the account gives the impression that Jesus is talking about the current emperor (Tiberius), not a deceased ruler. The Pharisees' question was certainly about the current ruling emperor, and it makes sense that Jesus's response was in the same spirit. As for the question of circulation, I think many people greatly underestimate the degree to which these coins flowed and circulated throughout the ancient world. This denarius had upwards of ten years to cycle through the Roman Empire - through the hands of soldiers, travelling merchants, etc. before the time of the Gospel account. Surely it is not that unlikely that a sizeable number of these types made it to the Holy Land in that time. At any rate, one of them could have. 😉 Here is my own specimen: TIBERIUS, AD 14-37 AR Denarius (18.61mm, 3.72g, 12h) Struck AD 16-21. Lugdunum mint Obverse: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius right Reverse: PONTIF MAXIM, female figure seated right, holding vertical scepter and branch, on chair with plain legs above double line References: OCRE I 26, RCV 1763 Old cabinet toning. Some corrosion pits on reverse. Fine portrait of Tiberius. From the A.K. Collection. This coin was published in the numismatic journal Money Trend (Jan. 2008 issue), in Dr. Wendelin Kellner's article "Ungewöhnliche und irreguläre Römermünzen" (page 135, abb. 2)

Interesting specimen! Were the Spanish-issued AEs for Vespasian typically underweight, or do you think this one is an outlier? Congrats on the acquisition!

Great looking coin, and interesting little write-up! Thanks for posting. Those little dioramas are pretty cool!

Very nice! 👍

I think you are right. Metal detecting find? Welcome to the Forum!

Congratulations! It looks very well-done. I can only imagine the effort it took to create and organize such a mass of information!

Congratulations! That is an awesome coin for the money. 👍

I'm in the same boat - I've been selling off a lot of coins lately. It's been nice to have more funds available for fewer, but higher quality coins.

Best of luck with the sale @thenickelguy! I might add, these two coins are also ex-CPK Collection (How's that for a fantastic provenance! 😜) as well as ex-CNG (group lot), sold as from the collection of Kermit C. Smyth (never found out who he might (have?) been.) (320-321 AD) Ancient Rome Aquileia Constantius II AE3 Nummus Lot#HZ531 19mm | eBay (321 AD) Ancient Rome Constantine I AE Nummus Lot#HZ534 19mm | eBay

Looks great! 👍

One thing I wish HJB would do differently is update the auction listings when a coin is sold. I had a number of coins on my watchlist on biddr, then happened to go to HJB's own website only to find that a lot of them had apparently already been sold. Yet they were still listed on biddr/Numisbids at starting price. How does that work?

May not be worth $30k but wow, what a stunning coin! Looks like it was minted yesterday.

I've done this too many times. And I suspect I've done it again - last night I bid on a coin that I probably shouldn't have, I think it might be a fake, but I'm not sure. If it's genuine it will be a great acquisition. Oh well, I didn't bid all that much. Here's my own "why exactly did I buy that?" coin I won a little while ago in an auction. I bought it for the interesting reverse type, but since I've been trying to sell off superfluous coins this one will probably go soon: TRAJAN, AD 98-117 AR Denarius (19.21mm, 3.09g, 6h) Struck AD 113. Rome mint Obverse: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate head of Trajan right, slight drapery on far shoulder Reverse: SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Annona standing facing, head left, holding corn ears and cornucopiae; child standing left at feet, ALIM ITAL in exergue References: OCRE II 243, RCV 3117. Lightly toned with good detail. "The alimenta was a scheme under which needy children were provided support through the investment in agriculture of funds donated by wealthy philanthropists (including the emperors Nerva and Trajan)." - David R. Sear (Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol II, p.95)

Ha! That coin didn't take long to disappear off my watch list. 😉 Great score!

Nice coin. I just sold this one: PHRYGIA, AEZANI Time of Claudius AE (18.70mm, 4.81g, 12h) Struck AD 50-54 Obverse: ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ, laureate head of Claudius right Reverse: ΑΙΖΑΝΙΤΩΝ, Zeus standing left, holding eagle in outstretched right hand and staff in left References: RPC 3100. Dark patina highlighted by faint earthen deposits. A good portrait.

Very nice. It must be quite satisfying to be able to have such rare weapons in your collection!

I think you are right, @kirispupis. As others have noted, it certainly doesn't look like a lionskin headdress, and it does match the Roma coin extremely closely in my opinion, to the extent that I wonder if the two are obverse die matches? I could be wrong but the angles do seem to match very well. The presence of the letters behind the bust seem to match your attribution as well.

I don't normally collect small, semi-autonomous AE's from the Levant. But the combination of good general strike/condition, historical interest (struck around the time and place of the New Testament), rarity, and cheap price, was too good to pass up. Plus, it is now the illustrated specimen - the only one pictured, actually - for RPC Online PHOENICIA, TYRE Time of Nero AE (13.75mm, 3.06g, 12h) Struck AD 54/5 Obverse: Veiled head of Tyche with palm right Reverse: ΤΥ ΙΕΡΑ ΑΣΥ, 𐤋𐤑𐤓, ΡΠ, palm tree References: RPC Online, Vol. I, 4739 (this coin) A scarce type with good surfaces and detail. RPC I, 4739 (ox.ac.uk)

Ah, that makes sense!

Interesting! Has it been repaired at all, do you think? Looking particularly at the ding at 12 o'clock on the reverse, and the gouge at the top of the palm branch.

Great coin and interesting story!