Augustus or Tiberius?

[Adrian H]

Hi, I purchased this coin https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=180275 from FORVM some time ago. While the coin was identified https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/1656, I learned that Tiberius also produced coins with this reverse like https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/1657. I have come around to the idea that this could be a coin of Tiberius due to the fact that the brow on my coin's bust is more pronounced. On the example Augustus, it looks like the nose transitions more or less smoothly to the forehead, whereas on the example Tiberius there is an indentation separating the two. I'd be curious to think what more experienced people think about who produced the coin.

[Dominic T]

Very hard to tell with the wear of your coin…but if you’re very patient, try to find the more possible pictures of the two Empereurs (1656, 1657) and maybe find a die-match with your specimen…
DT

[Adrian H]

Very hard to tell with the wear of your coin…but if you’re very patient, try to find the more possible pictures of the two Empereurs (1656, 1657) and maybe find a die-match with your specimen…
DT

Hmm... aside from the images on the RPC pages, there don't seem to be many showing up on google images - but I've never had to do this before, so perhaps I don't know where to look.

[Dominic T]

When you are in RPC online, go down to « Specimens of this coin type »and then click on the number of the coins (for 1656 you have 124 examples, for 1657 also 45), for many of them you will have a picture.
DT

[Adrian H]

5 o'clock die axis, which is consistent for the RPC listing for Augustus, but that is too close to a 6 o'clock axis to really be certain.

[Adrian H]

Based on the RPC data for each of the coins, I drew up some histograms based on the data given on Joe's flip plus my own observation of a 5 o'clock die axis. The diameter is most suggestive of an Augustus over Tiberius but obviously the RPC isn't a complete snapshot of the extant population. So maybe the British museum didn't get their hands on fatter Tiberius examples or something. Curious to know what people think.

[Curtis JJ]

I like the histograms, Adrian H, that kind of data can be super interesting and useful. I'm not sure the samples are large enough or the distributions different enough to draw many conclusions, but I'm always in favor of describing whatever quantitative data is available just to see whether anything interesting jumps out.

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Yes, these coins can be confusing. And many times, the dealers can't tell the difference.

I have several examples of this type, with obverse portraits of 3 different people:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/meepzorp/rp_macedon_pt04.htm

Meepzorp