Posted 04/28/2013 09:05 am
It is indeed ancient Roman. It's one of a class of coins known as "late Roman bronzes", dating from the 300s-400s AD. This one has on the reverse a Roman soldier spearing a fallen horseman - a fairly common design in those times, one which several emperors used; the reverse inscription that went with this design read "FEL TEMP REPARATIO", which somewhat loosely translates to "happy days are here again". There's not much left of the obverse legend and the portraits at this time were somewhat cartoonish and non-distinctive; my best guess would be emperor Constantius II.
In better condition, it would look something like this one. Alas, in this condition, and with emperor and mintmark unknown, it's not particularly valuable - coins like this are sold in local dealers here in Australia for $5 to $10 each.
In better condition, it would look something like this one. Alas, in this condition, and with emperor and mintmark unknown, it's not particularly valuable - coins like this are sold in local dealers here in Australia for $5 to $10 each.
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
