Both of these coins have a common mistake: the exergue, or dotted border, has come off-center of the blank disc.įor more information, go to “How Ancient Coins were Made,” The Art Institute of Chicago. Such mint errors can be seen in two of our coins: one of the 3 Constantius II coins and the coin of Augustus and Mercury/Apollo. Unfortunately, though many coins were perfect, this process led to some mint errors. The Romans were so efficient that upwards of 20,000 coins could be produced in a single day. A hammer would be used to strike the image on the die to the coin. A blank piece of metal (silver, bronze, or gold) was put between two engraved dies. Striking, or hammering, is what the Romans used to produce their coins. Casting was popular among Eastern civilizations. This was, unfortunately, time consuming and expensive, because a cast had to be broken to retrieve a coin. Casting involved pouring molten metal––most often bronze––into an engraved cast of the coins, oftentimes making beautiful coins. This collection is a cache.Īncient Romans buried their coins for one of three reasons: as offerings to the gods, to store life savings in times of turmoil, or, in the late Empire, to simply dispose of worthless coins.Īncient coins can be minted in two ways: casting or striking. A hoard is any collection of valuable artifacts-like coins and jewels, while a cache is one that has been hidden/buried. This collection of ancient bronze coins are all together in what is called either a cache or a hoard. Gods, heroes, and other mythological figures are a common motif among ancient and classical coins. A bust of the Greek Goddess Athena appears on the obverse (heads) with a hippocampus, a mythological creature that is a composite of a horse and a fish, appearing on the reverse. The oldest coin in our collection, this Greek bronze predates our earliest Roman coin by about 300 years.
Minted between 393-423 C.E.––also the time of his reign over the Western Empire––this coin shows the bust of Honorius, Arcadius (his brother, Emperor of the Eastern Empire until 408), and Theodosius II (Emperor of the East from 408-423). The as was originally bronze, but by the late Empire, was switched to copper. This coin of Emperor Honorius is unique in our collection––it is a copper As, the lowest coin denomination of the late Empire. Fel temp reparatio seems to be a rallying cry of sorts, representing feelings of nostalgia for earlier eras of long peace.Īrcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius II standing Side by side Instead of religious figures on the reverse, these coins have a soldier on horseback conquering a kneeling captive with the inscription fel temp reparatio (restoration of good/happy times). Soldier advancing, left spearing fallen horsemenĮach of the three bronze coins above are of Constantius II, who reigned from 337-361 C.E. Soldier advancing I, spearing fallen horseman Soldier advancing, spearing fallen horseman The Reverse has either a portrait of Mercury or Apollo, known to us because of the presence of the lyre and the helmet. Octavian, later known as Augustus, is the first Emperor of Rome. This coin, minted between 31-29 B.C.E., shows a bare-headed Octavian on the obverse. Uncertain Italian mint, possibly Rome, 32-31 B.C.E. Nude male figure (Mercury?) seated right on cloak on rocks, petasus slung behind, holding lyre with both handsĪ good exemplar of this very scarce and interesting issue, in VF+/VF condition, conserving complete details, including a nice portrait of Octavian, future Augustus. Reverse: CAESAR | DIVI F - Mercury or Apollo seated right on rocks, holding lyre. Group I, Uncertain Mints (Brundisium and Rome?) These items are common on coins of both Augustus and Julius Caesar.Īugustus (Octavian), AR Denarius, 32-29 B.C.E., Several interesting items are on display on the obverse, including ritual/priestly items of the simpulum and lituus. This coin was made in a military mint travelling with Octavian in c.37 B.C.E. īare head of Octavian right wearing slight beardĪugustus 91 Crawford 538/1 Sydenham 1334 The reverse shows a seated woman, with ears of corn and a cornucopia––most likely an image of the goddess Ceres.
This particular coin was minted sometime around 71. and established the second Imperial Dynasty, the Flavians.
Ĭeres (?) seated left, corn ears and poppy in right hand, cornucopiae in left
Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPAS AVG COS III TR P P P.
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