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Ancient Greek Coin ID Help?

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Serbia (Srbija)
66 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2016  08:39 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Makanudo to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
This is the coin I got today and I would appreciate your help in identification.
Thanks!



Ancient-Greek-Coin-ID-Help?

Ancient-Greek-Coin-ID-Help?
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Kamnaskires's Avatar
United States
7066 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2016  09:21 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Kamnaskires to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Roman, not Greek. Looks like it might be a Constantine I follis from Sisia.
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Finn235's Avatar
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 Posted 07/20/2016  12:42 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Finn235 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Agreed, IOVI CONSERVATORI type. Officina gamma?
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echizento's Avatar
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 Posted 07/20/2016  1:38 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Valued Member
Serbia (Srbija)
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 Posted 07/20/2016  1:58 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Makanudo to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks people.

What does officina gamma mean?
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Kamnaskires's Avatar
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 Posted 07/20/2016  2:13 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Kamnaskires to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The Greek letter gamma is in the reverse right field. It represents the "officina" or mint workshop that produced the coin.
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Finn235's Avatar
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 Posted 07/20/2016  2:19 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Finn235 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
An officina is basically a workshop of a mint. They would be under separate management, and so required to put their ID mark on a coin so that the manager could be hunted down if he was removing the trace amount of silver (about 5%) from the bronze coins for personal gain.

Officina numbers would be alphabetic in order, e.g.

1=A=Alpha
2=B=Beta
3=C=Gamma

Latin speaking areas would use Latin letters, and Greek speaking provinces would use Greek letters.

Collectors like to know it, but it very rarely makes any difference in price.

In (roughly) descending order of value, regardless of true rarity:

1. Rare emperor, usurper, or wife
2. Rare reverse type
3. Rare bust type
4. Rare mint for the type
5. Rare officina for the mint and type.

The sheer number of varieties in late bronzes preclude any real efforts to "collect everything", thus even varieties in the R4-R5 range (less than a dozen known) will rarely fetch more than $20 if it's for a common emperor, type, and mint.
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Serbia (Srbija)
66 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2016  2:47 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Makanudo to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks for the explanation.
I just started my interest in ancient coins and I enjoy reading about some details of roman coins. I know its a world for itself. These coins are in abundance in my part of the world.
For now I just enjoy having some in my posession.
I collect 19th and 20th money on a more serious basis, at least my areas of interest.
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