Please Help Me With Identification Of This Coin | Gratian Ae

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 3,488
meckl9 Valued Member United States 326 Posts	Posted 05/17/2009 2:17 pm Does anyone know what this coin is or where it originates from? It is about the size of a dime. Moved to Ancients forum - Sap Report this Post to the Staff

Peter THOMAS Pillar of the Community Australia 2830 Posts	Posted 05/17/2009 5:11 pm 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 Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16845 Posts	Posted 05/17/2009 7:41 pm 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 Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 05/17/2009 8:01 pm Yup, It's the emperor Gratian. Report this Post to the Staff
meckl9 Valued Member United States 326 Posts	Posted 05/17/2009 8:21 pm What year is it from around? Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16845 Posts	Posted 05/18/2009 02:59 am 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 Report this Post to the Staff
meckl9 Valued Member United States 326 Posts	Posted 05/18/2009 3:57 pm Does it have any "value"? Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16845 Posts	Posted 05/18/2009 8:03 pm 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 Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 7 / Views: 3,488

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