2 Roman Provincials I Like

Part of me wanted to honor the fact that this group has shown a bit of interest recently in Roman Provincial coins by posting a few I particularly like. I realize that what I like is not always what is generally popular and many of my coins have some little thing that set them apart 'to me' but probably not to many people.

I could not decide which of these is most favored of two so anyone interested can see both. Both are bronzes of Tomis on the Black Sea in what is now Romania. Both have obverse vis-a-vis facing busts of Gordian III and his wife Tranquillina and are among the relatively common coins available to represent this lady.




The first has the reverse type of Athena surrounded by the Greek legend 'City of Tomis'. What makes the coin interesting to me is that it is marked to the denomination in assaria. Cities in this region often had coins marked delta (four) or Epsilon (five) assaria but Tomis issues some coins marked 4 1/2. The half mark "<" in the right field might remind you of some coins of Licinius marked XII< a century later. A theory I have heard and have no reason to doubt is that these coins enabled money changing transactions that would not be easily done with the other common denominations.




While 4 1/2 coins are not too hard to find, the second coin here is the only one I have seen. The reverse is Tyche with the same legend as the first but the denomination mark has been erased (perhaps 'dug out' is better?) from the die. There is a raised lump of metal in the left field. I really do not know what denomination the die was before it was changed or what it became (I do not own the book on these) but I find this die alteration fascinating. A minor additional point of interest is that the obverse centration dimple (recessed) has a small raised point near it (about 7 o'clock). The small dot was in the die and used to scribe a layout circle for the beaded border. Such dots were on most dies but most were erased by cutting central devices over them. The paired portraits had nothing in the center so the dot remained. The larger recessed dimple was part of the flan manufacturing process but not on the die so it is in a slightly different position on each coin. The first coin here had the two dots fall on top of each other so only the larger pit shows. I love this coin for all it has to teach about the coining process. If my grandson sells it when I'm gone, I'll be disappointed. I would like to hear if anyone sees other die erasures (for sale or not).