Roman? Greek? What kind of coin?

[GrumpyEd]

As some of you know, I've moved to ancient coins since I have been pretty much been cut off from roll hunting. It's nice to see both of my worlds merge
What you have Sheila, is a coin of Constantius II minted in Cyzicus which is in modern day Turkey:
Constantius II AE3.
Minted: 341-346 AD.
Obverse: D N CONSTANTIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed head right
Reverse:VOT XX MVLT XXX, 4 lines within wreath.
Mintmark SMKZ
Link to your coin: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/c...C_viii_048.jpg

I thought you would ID it!

I wonder why that mint isn't on the site I listed?

http://www.romancoins.info/Mintmarks.html

[Sheila ruley]

Exactly! Thank you!

[VAB2013]

Congrats Sheila! What an incredible find! In a roll! Unbelievable! I still can't believe it... how in the world did this go through circulation without being snagged already?

[Sheila ruley]

I don’t! But, it is rather interesting.

[GrumpyEd]

Congrats Sheila! What an incredible find! In a roll! Unbelievable! I still can't believe it... how in the world did this go through circulation without being snagged already?

LOL, it did not circulate for 2000 years.

Most Roman coins are not that rare because the empire lasted long, made tons of coins in many places, lost tons of coins. At times they paid Roman soldiers one coin a day so when the army moved they carried payroll. If they fought they buried jars of coins. If they fought the soldiers lost their coins. People also lost coins wherever the empire was which was many areas. So today, they still find big groups of coins. They were not zincolns so they last well. Another weird thing is, it was tradition that when people died they put a coin in their mouth so when they find graves from that time they find coins.

You can buy them pretty cheap maybe retail $1 a coin, that's why it's fun to collect. You can find grab bag deals of uncleaned ones for very cheap. Some are rare but most are not.

You can also see the history and a sad analogy to modern time. The coins started out substantial, thick metal with higher denominations in silver or gold. Then you see inflation, (like us making zincolns and no silver or gold) the coins get thin then instead of silver they change to "silver washed" which was a cheap way to plate things.

[furryfrog02]

I thought you would ID it!

I wonder why that mint isn't on the site I listed?
http://www.romancoins.info/Mintmarks.html

I'm not sure why it isn't on that site. I have had a few mint marks that haven't been on there before though. Not an all encompassing reference I guess..

[jfines69]

That is an awesome find... Thanks for the links to all the cool info!!!

[furryfrog02]

Sheila was kind enough to offer to send this coin to me. It arrived this afternoon by way of another person who has the same numerical address as us but lives about half a mile away...Way to go USPS... As soon as my son saw it he laid claim to it. I was barely able to take a picture before he whisked it off to his room to put on his coin shelf. Thanks again Sheila, for the kind gesture. My son loves it!
Coin from sheila.jpg

[Sheila ruley]

Sheila was kind enough to offer to send this coin to me. It arrived this afternoon by way of another person who has the same numerical address as us but lives about half a mile away...Way to go USPS... As soon as my son saw it he laid claim to it. I was barely able to take a picture before he whisked it off to his room to put on his coin shelf. Thanks again Sheila, for the kind gesture. My son loves it!
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You’re very very welcome! I’m just so glad that it made A child so happy! It still melts my heart!

[jfines69]

That's awesome Sheila... I'm a kid too You ROCK!!!