Studying and Collecting the Coins of Rome and Her Cities

...And They Brought Him a Denarius, and He Asked Them "Whose Image and Superscription is This?"

Click the image to the right for information on the coins illustrated there.

-- Coin Articles --

A Fascinating and Affordable Hobby
The Beautiful Lady Who Started It All
The Author's First Mailorder Ancient Coin Purchase
Imperial Propaganda on Reverses of Roman Coins
Many Languages and Cultures Within One Great Empire
Using Compact Symbols to Broadcast News and Ideas

A Gallery of Reverse Images and What They Symbolize
- A Coin Article Mini - Series

Portraits of the Emperor and His Family
Diocletian Reforms the Money System and the Coinage
The End of Imperial Coinage in the West and a Brief Revival Under the Ostrogoths
A Glossary of Coin Collecting Terms

-- Virtual Art Galleries and Coin Collections --

The Copper and Brass Coinage of the Early Empire - Large quantities of copper asses, brass sestertii, and brass dupondii were struck from the reign of Augustus until the middle of the Third Century. These large coins offered plenty of room for the artist to display his talents and were often well preserved and beautifully patinated. Large Roman copper coins have been favorites amongst coin collectors of every era.

Coins from Roman Spain's Turbulent Early Years
- Struck from c. 200 B. C. until the reign of Augustus. Several of the Spanish cities are represented here, and some fine Celtiberian horses grace the author's collection.

A Magnificent Pageant of Roman Ladies in Copper and Orichalcum

- Some of the most skillfully excuted art on Roman coins was reserved for portraits of the Ladies. The lovely plump face of Faustina the Younger, the elegant hair style of Julia Domna, the hard, stylistic features of Severina and Galeria Valeria, and the enormous pearls about the neck of Evdoxia are all preserved here for the enjoyment of the art student, coin collector, and armchair scholar. Imperial beauties though they are, modern American tastes would find their noses are too big! Because of the excellent education often afforded noblewomen in Roman society, behind these faces lay the brilliant mind of a competent government administrator more often than not. It is worthwhile for the student of history to read the stories of these womens' lives as they study their portraits.

The Military Standard on Parade
- From the Legionary Denarii of Marc Antony to the radiates of the late Third Century soldier emperors, the military standard on the reverses of Roman coins served to recognize the contribution of the legions to Roman peace and security. At times, the striking of FIDES MILITVM types was but a pathetic and unsuccessful gesture by a weak emperor to inspire the army's loyalty. Please note that the GLORIA EXERCITVS small bronze types of the mid Fourth Century showing soldiers with one or two standards are showcased in a different gallery.

The Roman Imperial Denarius
- Approximately eighty coins in this collection span the late Imperatorial Period beginning with Julius Caesar and concluding with the last regular issues in quantity under Gordianus III

*** Please Note *** The images of these coins as well as the other coins are not rendered to the same scale. The denarii are actually smaller, on the average, than most antonininianii but are shown here at an average diameter of 325 pixels while the images of antoninianii, published earlier, average only 300 pixels. Also, the sestertii are much larger than the denarii but the images here are of comparable size.
A Collection of Third Century Antoniniani
- This gallery of over 120 coins begins with the silver Antoniniani of Gordianus III in AD 238 and concludes with the reform radiates of the Tetrarchy in about AD 301

Follises of the Tetrarchs and the Constantinian Period
- These large, beautiful coins were introduced by Diocletian in AD 301 to replace the radiates of the last century, which had shrunk to the size of a US Cent by the end of the Third Century

A Small Group of Later Third Century Roman Egyptian Tetradracms
- This gallery of about 16 coins begins with a Roman Egyptian Tetradracm of Salonina and concludes with an example of the last of these coins struck under Maximianus prior to the monetary reforms of Diocletian in AD 301.

An Inexpensive Collection of late Roman Bronze Coin Reverse Types
- This is a growing collection of virtual coin image galleries and informative articles for both the beginner and the advanced collector. This is one of the author's favorite topics, and the group of articles is likely to grow.

Small Bronze Coins With Two Soldiers Holding One or Two Standards Reverses
- These coins are small bronze types varying from 22mm down to 15mm (AE 3 to AE 4) size all bearing the legend GLORIA EXERCITVS, meaning, "Glory of the Army". They were struck at many different mints throughout the empire and are quite common in even superb condition. You can also visit some earlier pages of the author's showcasing these types.

Strange and Unusual Coins of the Romans, Byzantines, and Barbarian Kingdoms
- This is another topic the author finds fascinating. It is also an area in which the collector on a budget can find inexpensive rarities, if he or she is willing to do a little library research and digging through dealers' bargain boxes. You may go straight to the contents page and bypass the introduction by clicking the appropriate link.

A Portrait of the Horse in Antiquity
- These images were chosen for the powerful way they portray this magnificent creature. The Romans' fondness for the horse is clearly evident in the fine horse and mounted rider portraits seen on their coins. They had as great a love affair with the horse and the sport of chariot racing as modern Americans have of automobiles and football.

Jerome E Faux - Virtual Coin Dealer
- This series features a collection of beautiful high grade coins struck under the emperor Probus. This special coin image gallery is modeled after the author's idea of how a quality coin dealer Web page might look.

How Did the Romans Plate Their Coins With Silver?
- This article is part of the Roman Engineering series. Please Use the Return To Collecting Roman Coins Table of Contents link at the bottom of that page to return here.

-- Links to Other Excellent Roman Coin Sites --

One Roman coin site considered by this author to be of the most eccellent quality is Doug Smith's Ancient Greek and Roman Coins site. Doug has written over one hundred coin articles that explore a particular coin or series of coins of interest to both the beginning and advamced collector or scholar. Doug's in depth articles explore such subjects as variations of style at different mints, tracking the products of a mint or officina over a period of time through die links, the characteristics of an ancient coin's fabric, a beginner's guide to late Roman bronze coins, and other subjects too numerous to mention. One other nice feature is that Doug's site is organized quite differently from this one and he takes a considerably different approach to the body of numismatic knowledge. His work is truly a rich and widely varied resource for anyone interested in ancient numismatics.