Nero (A.D. 54-68), As Very Good

Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) was one of the most able and conscientious Roman Emperors. He spent his reign visiting the vast majority of his provinces. Consolidating and strengthening the Empire’s defenses after the expansion by his predecessor, Trajan. The most famous example of his work was Hadrian’s Wall! Which spread from the River Tyne in the East to the River Solway in the West: at 73 miles (117.5 kilometers) it is the largest Roman monument anywhere in the world! Own a Roman bronze coin of Hadrian called an ‘As’. These are well circulated, I.E. Very Good grade, and at a very reasonable price. The coins have his portrait visible but please don’t expect a lot more at this price.

This is something you will not see often. These bronze coins from Greek colony city of Olbia in Thrace were cast in the shape of a dolphin! They were made to honour their god Apollo Delphinios. This name is linked to the story of Cretan sailors in a storm who were guided to safety by Apollo shaped as a dolphin, landing at Delphi they became his priests. It also likely that the people were imitating what they saw, there were large numbers of dolphins in the Black Sea and still are today! Playful and intelligent, they would have been as friendly then as they are now. These were cast in bronze in the 5th to 4th centuries B.C., and because of this process do not have a tail. They show the body, the vast majority have the dorsal fin and some will even have eye pellets. As always the first to order will get the best, in this case the shape and features!

Late in the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’ Britain & Northern France did not have enough regular coinage so the locals took matters into their own hands! Recent research shows the new, superior silver coin of Aurelian were being saved and not used, so for about 11 years (A.D. 275-286) crude, bronze coins were made locally to ‘top up’ the coins in circulation. They copied old types from Gallienus, Postumus, Claudius II (to name a few) but the quality of the designs varied hugely as they were made by normal people risking death for ‘counterfeiting’. We have a group of these ‘Barbarous Radiates’ that all show a head on the obverse and different reverses, but as they are crudely made, the first to order will get the best. Add to your collection an ancient coin of the people who risked death just to help out their local area, a local coin for local people!