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Please Help Me With Identification Of This Coin | Gratian Ae

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meckl9's Avatar
United States
326 Posts
 Posted 05/17/2009  2:17 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add meckl9 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Does anyone know what this coin is or where it originates from? It is about the size of a dime.

Please-Help-Me-With-Identification-Of-This-Coin-|-Gratian-Ae
Please-Help-Me-With-Identification-Of-This-Coin-|-Gratian-Ae

Moved to Ancients forum - Sap
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Peter THOMAS's Avatar
Australia
2830 Posts
 Posted 05/17/2009  5:11 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Peter THOMAS to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
G'day, it seems to be an off-centre strike.
The reverse resembles Britannia ... and probably quite a few other figures.
The obverse effigy appears to be laureate, rather than crowned.
I cant make out much of the legend, sorry.
A tough one ...
Peter in Oz
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16870 Posts
 Posted 05/17/2009  7:41 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Well, it's definitely ancient Roman. Looks like emperor Gratian (obverse legend DN GRATIANVS PF AVG), reverse looks to be Emperor standing, holding banner and dragging captive; the reverse legend for this type is normally GLORIA ROMANORVM. The mintmark appears to be Siscia.

Now that Wildwinds is mostly back online, I can say it's like this example on Wildwinds.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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echizento's Avatar
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23731 Posts
 Posted 05/17/2009  8:01 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Yup, It's the emperor Gratian.
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meckl9's Avatar
United States
326 Posts
 Posted 05/17/2009  8:21 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add meckl9 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
What year is it from around?
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16870 Posts
 Posted 05/18/2009  02:59 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Emperor Gratian ruled from 375 to 383 AD. I don't think the date can be narrowed down any better than that; the Romans rarely put dates on their coins during this period.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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meckl9's Avatar
United States
326 Posts
 Posted 05/18/2009  3:57 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add meckl9 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Does it have any "value"?
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16870 Posts
 Posted 05/18/2009  8:03 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Late Roman bronzes are one of the cheapest series of ancient coins you can buy; uncleaned and unidentified, they go for a dollar or two each, and are sold in bulk lots. Fully identified, they're worth a little more.

Gratian isn't the commonest emperor, but he's not particularly scarce either. My old (1981) Sear catalogue gives it a value of £12 in "typical" condition. In the condition yours is in (and your coin might benefit from a bit more cleaning - I can't tell) I'd guess it's worth about $10 to $20.

You may have noticed nobody's given it a name, like "denarius". That's because nobody really knows for sure what the ancient Romans called these particular coins - they didn't leave any contemporary records which named the coins. Numismatists call it a "small bronze" or "AE3"; AE stands for "bronze" and 3 is the size, where 1 is "large" and 4 is "tiny".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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