Where to start with the ancient unknown?

[Jack-the-Lad]

As mentioned elsewhere, I got roped into looking at a bag of inherited coins, looking in vain for treasure.  I think the whole lot might fetch $400 on a good day!

But this got me to looking at some coins I've had since I was a child, coins that have been given to me by relatives or that I inherited. 

Most of them are 1700 or more recent, with (mostly) clear markings making them easy to identify. There are 3-4 which are from around 300 AD (Emperor Constantine) but others are apparently older and in far less than perfect condition.

Where do you start with seriously old coins that have no writing on them at all, some of them may be Roman or older?

 

[JKK]

14 hours ago, Jack-the-Lad said:

As mentioned elsewhere, I got roped into looking at a bag of inherited coins, looking in vain for treasure.  I think the whole lot might fetch $400 on a good day!

But this got me to looking at some coins I've had since I was a child, coins that have been given to me by relatives or that I inherited. 

Most of them are 1700 or more recent, with (mostly) clear markings making them easy to identify. There are 3-4 which are from around 300 AD (Emperor Constantine) but others are apparently older and in far less than perfect condition.

Where do you start with seriously old coins that have no writing on them at all, some of them may be Roman or older?

 

BORTE. Bust, Obverse legend, Reverse legend, Type (reverse), Exergue (and fields). Along with metal, size, and denomination, those are for the most part how we tend to identify ancients.

First, measure each ancient's diameter and weigh it (mm and g), and make a guess at the metal. They didn't use nickel back then, but they did use brass varieties. Write that on a slip of paper. Then wrote BORTE on five successive lines, and write down on each line the best rendition you can make of each. If a letter is too fuzzy, use an underbar in that spot.

Once you have that information, you are ready to start sifting through the references. On Roman imperial, the obverse legend will typically give you the emperor, which narrows it down quite a bit. However, if you do not have O, but you have R, you can search and narrow it down to those emperors with issues of that dimension and metal that used that reverse legend.

On busts, expect distinguishing draped/cuirassed to be a flaming pain, but you can always identify radiate (looks like he has an open bear trap on his head). Diadem of pearls is also common. Look for beards; few had them. Look for wavy hair, which usually means an Augusta.

You could also post the pictures here. If you do, both sides please as well as weight and diameter. Anyone who takes time to do that deserves the best help the forum can offer.

[Jack-the-Lad]

6 hours ago, JKK said:

BORTE. Bust, Obverse legend, Reverse legend, Type (reverse), Exergue (and fields). Along with metal, size, and denomination, those are for the most part how we tend to identify ancients.

First, measure each ancient's diameter and weigh it (mm and g), and make a guess at the metal. They didn't use nickel back then, but they did use brass varieties. Write that on a slip of paper. Then wrote BORTE on five successive lines, and write down on each line the best rendition you can make of each. If a letter is too fuzzy, use an underbar in that spot.

Once you have that information, you are ready to start sifting through the references. On Roman imperial, the obverse legend will typically give you the emperor, which narrows it down quite a bit. However, if you do not have O, but you have R, you can search and narrow it down to those emperors with issues of that dimension and metal that used that reverse legend.

On busts, expect distinguishing draped/cuirassed to be a flaming pain, but you can always identify radiate (looks like he has an open bear trap on his head). Diadem of pearls is also common. Look for beards; few had them. Look for wavy hair, which usually means an Augusta.

You could also post the pictures here. If you do, both sides please as well as weight and diameter. Anyone who takes time to do that deserves the best help the forum can offer.

Thank you for that advice, although that same advice assumes I know a lot more about coins that I do!

So, I'm going to go with suggestion 2, which was to post photos, which I will do for the eight coins. 

At risk of boring a large number of people, I'll make it a separate post for each coin.

 

[JKK]

6 hours ago, Jack-the-Lad said:

Thank you for that advice, although that same advice assumes I know a lot more about coins that I do!

So, I'm going to go with suggestion 2, which was to post photos, which I will do for the eight coins. 

At risk of boring a large number of people, I'll make it a separate post for each coin.

 

Okay. Be patient. This can take a little time. Happily, we have people here who know more about ancients than I do.

[Jack-the-Lad]

16 minutes ago, JKK said:

Okay. Be patient. This can take a little time. Happily, we have people here who know more about ancients than I do.

They've been in my possession for better than fifty years, so no point in rushing things now;)

[Just Bob]

40 minutes ago, JKK said:

Okay. Be patient. This can take a little time. Happily, we have people here who know more about ancients than I do.

Honestly though, JKK, the ones who are as eager to help as you are are few and far between.

[Mohawk]

46 minutes ago, Just Bob said:

Honestly though, JKK, the ones who are as eager to help as you are are few and far between.

I wish I could help.....but, as I stated in an earlier post, my ignorance about ancients is absolutely stunning!  I'd likely just make things worse on this one........

[Just Bob]

52 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

I wish I could help.....but, as I stated in an earlier post, my ignorance about ancients is absolutely stunning!  I'd likely just make things worse on this one........

Actually, your name is at the top of that list, too, Tom. 

 

That's the "helpful" list, not the "ignorant about ancients" list. 

 

[JKK]

 

10 hours ago, Just Bob said:

Actually, your name is at the top of that list, too, Tom. 

 

That's the "helpful" list, not the "ignorant about ancients" list. 

 

No doubt of that. You and he are often who I'm thinking of when I look at a newbie post and think: I have no *spoon*ing idea how to answer this question, sure hope someone else on the crew does.

[Mohawk]

12 hours ago, Just Bob said:

Actually, your name is at the top of that list, too, Tom. 

 

That's the "helpful" list, not the "ignorant about ancients" list. 

 

I love it!  However, I do belong on both lists

[Jack-the-Lad]

To my huge surprise, it turns out that a few of my coins (half pennies from around 1790 or so) are in considerably greater demand than very old ones.

It's not much of a collection - on a very good day they might be worth $1200-1500 in total!

[JKK]

7 hours ago, Jack-the-Lad said:

To my huge surprise, it turns out that a few of my coins (half pennies from around 1790 or so) are in considerably greater demand than very old ones.

It's not much of a collection - on a very good day they might be worth $1200-1500 in total!

I am not terribly surprised. Decent late Roman bronzes get $10-20 for many issues. Silver, $35-90. I can easily imagine 1790s half pence running more than that.

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

I get help from a great man in Texas...I send all my ancient stuff to him, I like certain ones but the gold ones are extremely expensive...I wish I could of spent more time learning about the ancient coins...I'm kinda ignorant on them and get scared like a fool to do much business with them...I'm pretty much no help on this and shouldn't of even posted here....