Help identify coin Sestertius

[Amarmur]

I bought this for $5 dollars at a flea market. Stupid yes but I decided to take the risk. I believe it is a Sestertius, it's about the size of a us half dollar. Is it a fake? 

[Prieure de Sion]

Every need for ID will need Diameter and Weight - thats very important. Can you please tell this... thanks!

[John Conduitt]

Trajan. Pax seated with Dacian kneeling? Probably genuine but portrait possibly tooled.

Edited September 17, 2022 by John Conduitt

[Amarmur]

Thank you! @John Conduitt

Edited September 17, 2022 by Amarmur

[expat]

The smooth, lighter coloured "halo" around the bust looks to be the result of manipulation in order to make the outline more defined. Doesn't look natural to me

[Mucius Scaevola]

Tooled to death. Sorry to say that.

[Amarmur]

Eh I'm still happy knowing its most likely not a fake. Even though it is tooled it is still pretty cool and I'm happy with it. Probably worth more than $5 so its a win anyways!

 

[Mucius Scaevola]

It is tooled. It's worth nothing in this condition. And a tooled coin is not cool.

[ewomack]

Though a tooled coin, nothing much was lost. Most would consider $5 a very light, if not a negligible, risk. I probably would have picked it up myself for that amount, just out of curiosity. One never knows.

[curtislclay]

A rather worn specimen, but I see no signs of tooling.

[Marsyas Mike]

I'd gladly pay $5 for that coin!  Nice find.  Assuming it is a sestertius based on the color and the laureate portrait.  

[Limes]

Lovely to be able to find such treasures! 

See e.g. this coin. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=157589

I think it might be the same? 

If Curtis Clay says it does not look tooled, I vote not tooled. 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Even if it were a toolie, it's still a bargain for $5.  And it's kind of cool that a flea market would have it.  I bought my first ancients at a decrepit flea market.

However, my advice from the other thread still stands.  Save up and get some nicer ones; you'll be happier in the long run with nicer examples.

For $5, I would have bought it, too, mainly to rescue it.

[idesofmarch01]

3 hours ago, curtislclay said:

A rather worn specimen, but I see no signs of tooling.

My issue with this coin would be the following: how is it possible that normal, symmetrical wear (due to circulation) smoothed the left edges of the bust, yet the right edges around the mouth, lips, and chin are exceedingly sharp?  Also, to my eye it appears that the entire bust has a bit of a channel re-engraved around it to make the portrait stand out.

[Romismatist]

The bottom of the bust seems too sharp as well.

[Octavius]

 As far as value is concerned, I don't think it makes that much difference whether the coin is tooled or not considering the condition.

[Mucius Scaevola]

You can barely recognize anything, but the sharp edges of the bust.

And it always makes a difference. Tooled coins are a No-Go. For me at least.

[Marsyas Mike]

The tooling debate is interesting; I inexpertly lean towards the OP being "not tooled," based only on the many very worn Trajan AEs in my collection.  My guess (only a guess) is that the central devices are often so highly struck originally on Trajan's big AEs that even after extensive wear they maintain a strong outline, even when most of the legend is worn away.   Sure, I prefer higher grade coins, but one of the charming aspects of collecting ancients is the way even very worn specimens can still display fine portraiture.  

Here are Trajanic three smoothies from my collection - of course these could be tooled as well: 

 

[idesofmarch01]

4 hours ago, Marsyas Mike said:

My guess (only a guess) is that the central devices are often so highly struck originally on Trajan's big AEs that even after extensive wear they maintain a strong outline, even when most of the legend is worn away.

Just to be clear, the issue I'm pointing out is not sharp edges per se, but rather how some edges can remain sharp while similarly struck edges are rounded, despite the very high likelihood that the wear due to circulation was symmetrical in terms of both direction and frequency.  I'm always bewildered by how these sharp edges seem to be around the features of the obverse portrait, or the reverse devices that are important to the coin's value.

[singig]

This is a hard to find reverse , even in this grade should cost more than 5$

It is not tooled at all , below I compared the OP coin with a similar one in the same degree of wear.

[idesofmarch01]

2 hours ago, singig said:

...below I compared the OP coin with a similar one in the same degree of wear.

Thanks for posting this image.  Below I have circled three similar areas in each coin to compare each area's edges (there are other areas as well):

Clearly, in the left coin, the edges are much sharper than in the right coin, even though both coins seem to exhibit similar amounts of wear on the devices and fields.  I can't think of any natural wear process that would leave the edges sharp on one coin but rounded and smooth on another coin.  Unless an expert can explain how this could happen, my tentative conclusion is that the edges were somehow artificially enhanced.

Possibly it could be argued that when the coin was cleaned, the fields near the edges in the left coin were cleaned a bit over-zealously near the outlines of the bust, resulting in the sharp edges.  But even if this were the case, I would think that such cleaning is vanishingly close to tooling.

I am open to explanations that would explain the sharp edges -- I just can't think of any myself.

[Spaniard]

@idesofmarch01...Initially I was unsure....But as I was about to post a similar diagnostic I'm pretty sure this coin has been tooled...The vertical line running down the front of the neck seems to show a definite trench ( for want of a better word)...

[singig]

The OP photo is in high resolution , if you magnify you will see no traces of tooling in front of the neck ,

there are some brown deposits and the small line connecting the aegis with the neck is not interrupted by a trench.

Edited September 19, 2022 by singig

[Etcherdude]

@singig that trough under the chin sure looks like it was dug into the metal to me.

[dougsmit]

6 hours ago, idesofmarch01 said:

I am open to explanations that would explain the sharp edges -- I just can't think of any myself.

I see no tooling but ample proof that lighting angles can make the same coin look different.  Worn Trajan sestertii seem to retain certain features long after others are gone.  This thread has shown that well.  Below are my worn out Trajans.