First of all, I'd like to say hello to all of you as I'm new here! A coin fan myself, I adore the "art" of
numismatics.
After this short introduction, let us cut to the chase. The reason I'm here is actually a funny story; I found this coin a long time ago trapped inside of a rock. It was a sunny, summer day and I was hiking near a cliff where I picked up a peculiar looking rock. Examining it, I couldn't figure out what was so special about it, but it was one of those flat pieces that kids would throw at the river and watch them bounce of the surface of the water. So I inadvertently tossed it in that fashion and as it bounced of the hard surface it made a metal-kind of noise, as you would assume, a coin would make if it hit the ground. Thus I picked it up again and brought it
home where I extracted and cleaned the coin. To my surprise, it was actually in a
very good state considering it
had been trapped inside of calcium carbonate for a long time. I would go as far as to say I'm probably the first owner of this coin in about two millenniums, and I imagine the last one was some
roman peasant, because I live in a country that was formerly
part of the
Roman Empire. Here is where my story ends and ours begins. I want to find out what coin this really is.
I didn't come unprepared and without doing my own research first, but I want to be sure I am correct. What I've got so far on this coin is that it's a
sestertius (maybe even a
DACIA, assuming that that's a letter D under the S), probably made during the reign of
Antoninus Pius. Best guess is that on the back there is
Aequitas or
Moneta standing right (as I think she's holding a
scale in her right hand). All I can make out of the lettering on the front is SAVG. The
bare head should belong to
Antoninus Pius, but whilst on other coins he is seen sporting a beard, on this coin it's hard to tell if the beard was damaged or was never there. We can also see him wearing a civic crown. That's about it...
The picture was scanned and I
hope a keen eye has enough details to really put a date on this coin. Thank you for your time!
