My First Ancient - Trajan Denarius.

[markn]

Because I just needed something else to be interested in I decided to buy my first ancient just to see how I liked it.  And the answer is I LOVED it.  Oops.  I looked at a few dozen ancients in Unico and at the Downies auction last week before settling on this one.  I liked the surfaces and the flan cracking and the fact that the reverse is a little off center made it a bit more affordable.



Trajan Silver Denarius, Rome mint circa 98-114AD.

3.48g

RIC 147

Obverse: IMP TRAINO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate head right.
Reverse: COS V P P SPQR OPTIMO PRINC

Armour, shields, spears on a stump/frame.

[serial]

Nice!

[Robster]

Wonderful coin Mark.!!

[Nevol]

Nice one Mark! :drooling: :drooling:

For a long time I've been hankering after an Ancient Greek tetradrachm, one of the ones with the owl,  but as I know nothing about them I'd probably end up buying a fake, so I just have to cry in my soup whenever I think of them. :angel:

[Sapyx]

A very nice Imperial Golden Age denarius. And a nice welcome into ancient numismatics. :ok:

[Goldseeker]

Nice coin if you are into that sort of old time coinage.   Nice detailed scan of the coin.

Is it silver or what?

[markn]

Thanks everyone.  Yes Goldy, it's silver.

[Sapyx]

The denarius was the standard Roman silver coin of the late Republic and early Imperial period. Its fineness during the Republic was as fine as the technology of the day could make it, around 96%. Nero was the first to debase it; Domitian tried to undo the damage but by the time of the Trajan denarius shown above, it had fallen to around 90%. It was still technically a "silver" coin up until the reign of Valerian, circa AD 250; his capture by the Persians and the resultant fragmentation of the Empire saw the Imperial economy collapse and the denarius debased until it was basically a bronze coin with only a trace amount of silver in it.