Roman
4/18/2011 link back up to main Chapter 262 Coins
Grandpa's ancient archeological treasures of the Roman Byzantine Era
Our Granddog here is trying to make sniffing sense of these 2000 year old of 2 cent scents. Mission: could we determine what they were? Had a ball for hours cleaning with Q-tips, vinegar, probing and investigating. and being a history detective. While I never cease to amaze myself the answer became, yes. Yes, we could.
Got em on ebay from Grandpas Toy Shop in Beverly Hills, just $3 each with free shipping. He advertised them as low quality Greek, Roman or Byzantine ancients around the time of Christ, and they lived up to that representation. Probably never had so much fun per dollar spent. Grandpa may be the source of the beautiful quality pieces found at the Barakat Gallery, fine jewelry store on Rodeo Drive .
On the left my little coin revealed a slight image after extensive cleaning. Mostly I had to look through hundreds of coin images to determine a match. This guide to Vindolanda illustrates some of the complexities for just this small area in England south of Hadrian's Wall. Roll mouse over the last four emperors. If your coin headdress has the eastern empire styled diadem (the pearls on a string) it's post 4th Century. Earlier emperor crowns were radiate or laureate. Earlier coins mostly showed just head and neck. The draped warrior cape was distinctive with the large round pearled clasp. Said to be cuirassed or the wearing of the armored breastplate for battle apparently indicated by the shoulder epaulettte.
On the right is the Emperor Honorius 393-423 AD reference coin. It's image superimposes well onto my coin in the middle composite image. There are thousands of different Roman coins. There seem to be over 200 rulers in the Roman Empire and each ruler had coins made throughout his years of reign and at numerous provinces within the vast empire. Here are 94 different examples of Honorius coins that have been identified. I have 95% confidence that this is a match. A few rougher coin examples here.
DNHONORI= denarius coin denomination, honorius abbreviated. VSPFAVG= vs pf is ? augustus is ruler
Flavivs Honorivs Avgvstvs biography indicates he was a boy king. When told of Rome falling, he thought they were referring to his pet chicken, Roma. It was war, war, war then he had his father-in-law killed.
The reverse side is much less certain. The standing emperor Honorius with radiate crown holds emperor's standard and victory icon on globe with victory laurel wreath, conqueror of world. The head, knee, letter D, and conquered stepped on defeated victim may be vaguely matching to raised portions of my coin. VICTORI= roman goddess of victory, [Note: Winged Victory statue 3rd century BC removed from Louvre to avoid Hitler from stealing.] AAVGGG = a augustus leader, gg = ?, GOMOB = ?, MD = Mediolanum Milan mint, denarius denomination
There are many possibilities for my larger coin as K is merely the denomination meaning half Follis, or 20 nummi. I'll choose Anastasius 1 491-518, from the Byzantine Empire because the statue with his likeness nicely illustrates the clothing described above and the symbolism harkens back to the dragon slayer theme. It was again war, war, war then flip a coin to choose your successor.
My coin from the Eastern Roman Empire in the new capitol of Constantinople could also be from Nicomedia , Justin 1 in 527-565 518, Justin 2 and Sophia in 565-578, Philippicus 711-713, Heraclius, Constans 2, or others from a coin reference site. This will probably end my Roman coin exploration.