I'm Interested In Buying A Trajan Dacia Conquest Coin

I didn't really expect our new member to dive straight into the pool at my suggestion.
But all in all I do believe he did well enough.
There are some similar bronzes selling in the same price range but they do lack the impressive green patination that this one has.

Thick patination of this nature on bronze can only be found on a genuine ancient coin. While the coin is less than perfect it is a good example of the type and it is the more desirable denomination.
He didn't exactly steal it ....... but I don't think it was a bad price either.

One word of advice though
Coin dealers are like rug merchants !
It never hurts to make them an offer ...... they often will take it !
If not ..... so it goes !

In the early 3rd century a new coin (double denarius) came into being during the reign of Caracalla which has been given the name of antoninianus or sometimes 'ant' for short. No one actually is certain of the original name.
It was an inflationary coin as it was tariffed at 2 denari yet weighed only 1.5
The sestertius was also reduced over this period. For convenience think of the sestertius (originally 'brass' 30mm 28gr) as a dollar. The dupondius (brass 27mm 13-14 grams) a half dollar and the as (copper 27mm 10 grams) as a quarter dollar).
By the 250's the denarius had vanished. The 'ant' had been debased and reduced in size. The sestertius had been reduced to between 15 or 20 grams (no longer brass but now bronze) and both the as and dupondius were almost unknown (dupondius distinguished by radiate crown).
I see many listings on Wildwinds described as being the as denomination but a look at the weight (between 13-15 grams) shows me that they are actually a reduced sestertius. That is how inflation worked in the bad old days. The money literally got smaller !

At 24mm and 7.9 grams this coin can only be an as. You won't find too many of them as the reduced sestertius had replaced them and in fact for a few years a double sestertius (radiate crown and weighing around 25 grams) was produced.
The period was a downward spiral as bad money always chases out the good. By the 270's the chaos had created an economic system that relied on the debased (virtually bronze) 'ant' with gold and occasional silver produced for the elite alone.
By the 290's Diocletian threw out the ancient system and attempted to start over with a new system based on the "billon" follis.

It worked for around ten years before the downward spiral started all over again and the money grew visibly smaller nearly every year

My coin arrived and as FVRIVS suggested it is much nicer "in hand" at certain angles the definition is very crisp and sharp...an inanimate object for sure but the link to the past is very tangible and real.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ancient-Rom...&pid=100102&

Thanks again FVRIVS! I'm curious as to why the letters on the reverse are randomly placed DAASC and don't really spell out anything...why is that?

Thanks arnoldoe! The C and the I are a little less defined but now I can see them...even other variants online are rough around the edges so it wasn't jumping out at me.