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Modius As A Dry Measure

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Sweden
2124 Posts
 Posted 11/04/2022  4:13 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add erafjel to your friends list
A really nice coin, @Novicius. I am not familiar with these coins, but I wonder if that modius should make people think of the numerous modii of grain that were distributed freely and regularly to many of the inhabitants of Rome? Just to remind people that they had a benevolent emperor to thank for that little extra ...
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Spain
2752 Posts
 Posted 11/04/2022  5:37 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Palouche to your friends list
Very nice coin Jim, well centred with full legends.
There are coins of this type I think it's Domitian with a rhino on the obverse
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United Kingdom
1168 Posts
 Posted 11/04/2022  9:11 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list
Thanks Bob and Jbuck.

Quote:
Incidentally, I could never take the modius obverse seriously because that cylindrical tripod always looked like an alien spacecraft to me.
(an alien spacecraft, in a bottom-up view that makes it particularly modius-like; it's normally supposed to have a propeller on top)

Nice one @january1may.

Quote:
Just to remind people that they had a benevolent emperor to thank for that little extra ...

He did indeed appear to be benevolent @erafjel, especially with the winter grain shortages. The paragraph below appears on many different sites, including Wikipedia.
"The port at Ostia was part of Claudius' solution to the constant grain shortages that occurred in winter, after the Roman shipping season. The other part of his solution was to insure the ships of grain merchants who were willing to risk travelling to Egypt in the off-season. He also granted their sailors special privileges, including citizenship and exemption from the Lex Papia-Poppaea, a law that regulated marriage. In addition, he repealed the taxes that Caligula had instituted on food, and further reduced taxes on communities suffering drought or famine."

Quote:
There are coins of this type I think it's Domitian with a rhino on the obverse.

Cheers, Paul. It would be nice to have one of these huge animals in the menagerie, but my pockets aren't deep enough for the huge price tags.
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United States
4971 Posts
 Posted 11/05/2022  6:35 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add chrsmat71 to your friends list
That's a cool quadrans novicius! I purchases one a few years ago for exactly the same reason you got yours. I read somewhere that mine hands and scale had something to do with Claudius restoring the weight standard for some coin that were changed by Caligula. Mine isn't quite as attractive as yours.

Modius-As-A-Dry-Measure

Claudius, AE Quadrans , AD 42. O: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG, hand holding scales, PNR in field; R: PON M TR P IMP PP COS II around S C. RIC 91, Cohen 73. 17 mm, 3.2 g.
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United Kingdom
1168 Posts
 Posted 11/05/2022  7:33 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list
Thanks for posting your quadrans chrsmat71. It is also a pretty cool coin, and adds weight to Claudius being a benevolent ruler. The more I read about him, the more I realise that there was a lot more to him than first meets the eye.

I did wonder what the PNR stood for, and found this on the augustuscoins web site:
"PNR might abbreviate "PONDVS NVMMI RESTITVTVM" (weight of the [gold] coins restored) which refers to restoring the weight of the gold coins to the higher standard used before Caligula reduced it."
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United Kingdom
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 Posted 11/08/2022  08:11 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list
I've been pretty fortunate and now have a Claudius coin with an animal reverse. It should be up in the animals thread soon.
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Australia
21788 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  08:55 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add sel_69l to your friends list
The very first Roman coin that came into my collection was a denarius of Antoninus Pius in in EF condition, with a modius on the reverse as the only design feature. I bought it for AUD $4, waaay back in 1964.

Alas, I sold it as part of my entire collection of about 80 Roman coins as part of a much larger collection 12 years later, in 1976, which by that time, included a two Roman gold coins.
I needed the cash at that time to provide 10% of the valuation of our first home, to start a mortgage.
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United Kingdom
1168 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  11:27 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list
It must have been quite a wrench to part with your collection, @sel_69l. I wonder what your AUD $4 Antoninus Pius denarius would be worth today?

I remember well the recession in the 1970s UK, and all that we had to give up just to keep our heads above water at the time. Of course the family and the home had to come first. The (not so) good old days!

Jim
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United States
11898 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  2:21 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add numismatic student to your friends list
That is a lovely looking coin. Congrats!
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS
THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
My coin website:https://fairfaxcoins.com
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Australia
21788 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  4:55 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add sel_69l to your friends list
Started another collection 1976, never sold a coin since then.
My first numismatic love from 1976 until now has remained ancients.
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United Kingdom
1168 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  6:54 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list

Quote:
That is a lovely looking coin. Congrats!

Thank you, @numismatic student.

Quote:
Started another collection 1976, never sold a coin since then.
My first numismatic love from 1976 until now has remained ancients.

Wow, it must be quite a collection you have now, @sel_69l.
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  7:36 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add sel_69l to your friends list
My avatar was coin my first Greek coin acquired in 1978.. It came from Spinks in London, after buying advice after a personal appointment with the Coins and Medals Department of the British Museum.

A that time, although I was reasonably versed in Roman coinage, I felt that I didn't know nearly enough about Greek, so I had to trust those with the highest reputation.
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United Kingdom
1168 Posts
 Posted 11/08/2022  10:40 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list
Trust is the key without a doubt. The only way to learn and advance is to take advice from those with the knowledge.

I have gained so much confidence since joining the CCF forums, knowing that if I make a mistake it will be corrected in a friendly manner. With there being experts in every area of numismatics willing to share their knowledge and offer advice, this is the place to be.
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United States
2246 Posts
 Posted 11/09/2022  06:52 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add livingwater to your friends list
The first coin show I went to was at Lincoln, Nebraska in 1987. A dealer had a few ancient coins. I new nothing about them. I did not know they were available to collect. The dealer told me the name of a local guy who collected/sold ancient coins/artifacts, Bart Lewis. I met Bart. He helped me a lot, taught me about collecting ancient coins, Roman, Greek, Egyptian artifacts, let me use his reference books. It was good to have a mentor, especially back then with no internet yet to search for info.

I bought this nice Claudius quadrans from Bart for $30 in 1988. I still have it along with the other coins, several Roman oil lamps, two Ushabti, etc. I got from him.

Modius-As-A-Dry-Measure
Edited by livingwater
11/09/2022 07:45 am
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United Kingdom
1168 Posts
 Posted 11/09/2022  09:00 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Novicius to your friends list
An impressive coin with super detail, and an interesting back-story. Thanks for sharing, @livingwater.
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