Roman Republican Coins
Enjoy this exceptional selection of the thousands of Roman Republican issues we have available at VCoins:
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Weekly Highlights
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The Roman Republican period began after the Roman Kingdom was overthrown by Roman nobles in 509 BC and lasted until the establishment of the Roman Empire by Octavian/Augustus in 27 BC. Although coinage began in the Greek world before the beginning of the Republic, sheep and lumps of bronze were used as vehicles of trade. The lumps of bronze had to be weighed during each transaction to determine their value and these are called aes rude and considered proto-money and very collectible. Near the end of the 4th Century BC, some began to make flat bronze bars with or without a design on them, roughly weighing five Roman pounds, or libra. A libra weighed 328.9 grams. These flat bars are called aes signatum and are another form of proto-money. The city of Rome began producing its own aes signatum, inscribed with ROMANOM, c.300 BC. The beginnings of Roman coins came in the form of aes grave – heavy, cast bronzes, in distinct Roman style, with marks of value and 12 unciae to the libra. During c.270 BC, the light libral standard of 10 unciae was developed, which gave way to the semi-libral standard of 5 unciae c.225 BC, which lasted until the 1.5 to 1 uncia standard around 211 BC. While the bronze issues were being worked out, silver issues were also being produced. According to Crawford, the first silver coin, a didrachm, was minted in 281 BC, and was Greek in style – a helmeted head of Mars on the obverse with a horse head and ROMANO on the reverse. Silver and (very rarely) gold coins were needed to finance military campaigns abroad. The first silver coin minted in Rome was a didrachm, likely in 269 BC. The denarius, introduced in 211 BC, was the silver workhorse of the next four centuries – through Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius, Marc Antony and Cleopatra – well into the Roman Empire.
Enjoy this exceptional selection of the thousands of Roman Republican issues we have available at VCoins:
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Celtic Coins
Tribal kingdoms existed across Europe for centuries – the Greeks calling them Keltoi and the Romans referring to them as Galli, but both meaning “barbarian”. They spoke various Celtic languages and many produced coinage. Some of the art styles are very similar to those they were imitating, where others are extremely abstract. Sometimes the tribes were hired as mercenaries and other times they waged war on the large civilizations trying to settle the areas. And still other times, they warred with each other. Then the Celtic Coins are a great Coin Collector Category.
The dealers on VCoins have a wide variety of Celtic coins for your consideration, including these featured items:
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Women in Ancient Rome
Women in Ancient Rome often had a great deal of influence over how the Empire still lives with us today. Sometimes the devoted husband truly loved his wife and declared a long mourning period and had monuments built to his deceased, as in the case of Antoninus Pius and Faustina I. Other times, the wife was complicit or even assisted in the murder of her husband, as in the case of Claudius and Agrippina. Sometimes the royal ladies were deified and celebrated on coins, such as Trajan’s wife, Plotina, sister, Marciana, and niece, Matidia. Besides celebrating the ladies themselves, the coins also serve to show popular styles of the period. Here is a selection available on VCoins, showing a wide variety of this very popular collecting area.
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Egyptian Coins
Egypt was the personal property of the Roman Emperor and the grain supply from Africa was critical to the massive empire. Although the Egyptian pantheon was changed after the pharaohs were no longer in power, some of the gods remained and some were merged with Roman and Greek gods.The coins produced in Roman Egypt are widely collected and it is here you can find many of the old gods.
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Gold Coins
Gold Coins has been viewed as something valuable since the dawn of coinage. Gold has been used as money for many reasons. It is fungible, with a low spread between the prices to buy and sell. Gold is also easily transportable, as it has a high value to weight ratio, compared to other commodities, such as silver. Gold can be re-coined, divided into smaller units, or re-melted into larger units such as gold bars, without destroying its metal value. It’s a store of value, a commodity to trade and something kings and queens have lusted over for millennia. Thankfully for collectors today, many of the ancient cultures used gold to produce breathtaking works of art we are now able to collect, study and treasure. Enjoy some of these diverse ancient cultures available through VCoins.
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Paper Money – Banknote
Paper money in local form was invented during the 7th century by the Tang Dynasty in China and was an efficient and practical way of exchanging payment for goods and services instead of carrying around heavy copper coinage. The Song Dynasty developed the practice from a centralized government in the 11th century during a shortage of copper for coins. Over the centuries, everyone from individual merchants and banks to rebel and recognized governments issued currency to pay for their needs. Although our name is VCoins, our dealers also carry a beautiful selection of paper money from around the world. Also known as Banknote
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“Et tu, Brute?” – Brutus Coins
Brutus Coins: It’s not often collectors have the opportunity to acquire one of the most famous, and infamous, coins ever produced in the history of mankind. However, the only known example from Die H of the Eid Mar denarius, minted under Brutus and celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar by his hands on the Ides of March, 44 BC is now available on VCoins, along with a selection of other coins related to the cast of characters from the tumultuous Roman Imperatorial period.
Brutus is a cognomen of the Roman gens Junia, a prominent family of the Roman Republic. The plural of Brutus is Bruti, and the vocative form is Brute, as used in the quotation “Et tu, Brute?” (“you too, Brutus?”), from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.
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Byzantine Empire. Byzantine Coins
The Byzantine Empire spanned for nearly 1000 years, or more depending on where you start. Some numismatists mark the beginning at 330 AD, when Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople. Others use the death of Zeno and the reign of Anastasius I in April 491 to signify the official transformation. Even the name “Byzantine” is still not universally accepted – some preferring the term “Romaion” instead. The empire fell with Constantine XI Palaeologus, on May 29, 1453, when the Ottoman Empire laid siege to Constantinople. Here is a selection of Byzantine coins we have available, representing eight of the main periods.
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US Coins
US Coins. Although VCoins is very strong in the Ancients market of the Hobby of Kings, we also have excellent offerings for collectors of US material as well – and it keeps growing daily! From Colonial to modern issues, graded gems to errors, paper money to books and supplies, check back often with our VCoins family of dealers for all of your US collecting needs.
Coins of the United States dollar were first minted in 1792. New coins have been produced annually since then and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Today, circulating coins exist in denominations of 1¢ (i.e. 1 cent or $0.01), 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1.00. Also minted are bullion (including gold, silver and platinum) and commemorative coins. All of these are produced by the United States Mint.
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The Twelve Caesars
Twelve Caesars Coins. Although the beginning of the Imperial period of the Roman Empire kicked off with Augustus in 27 BC, numismatists call the first period the Twelve Caesars. Gaius Seutonius Tranquillus wrote a set of twelve biographies titled “De Vita Caesarum”, commonly called the Twelve Caesars, which includes Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors. A very popular collecting theme, you can find coins from all twelve famous rulers here on VCoins.
Among the many collections of ancient coins that can be assembled, one of the most challenging and desirable is that of the “Twelve Caesars.” They can be collected in copper (and its principal alloys), silver or gold; the latter is the most difficult to complete. Thus, it is a rare opportunity indeed to present this set of “Twelve Caesars” gold aurei.
The popularity of these rulers as a group derives from one of the great literary works of antiquity — Suetonius’ De vita Caesarum, today commonly known as The Twelve Caesars. It was composed in the early second century A.D. by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, who focused on 12 rulers of Rome, a group comprised of the dictator Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors.
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Ancient Architecture
Although the civilizations have been gone for many centuries, you can still see what some of the structures once looked like through the coins of the time. This can be found in many denarius coins.
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but grew so different from Greek buildings as to become a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and even more so under the Empire, when the great majority of surviving buildings were constructed. It used new materials, particularly concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well-engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the empire, sometimes complete and still in use.
Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture. Almost no substantial examples survive from before about 100 BC, and most of the major survivals are from the later empire, after about 100 AD. Roman architectural style continued to influence building in the former empire for many centuries, and the style used in Western Europe beginning about 1000 is called Romanesque architecture to reflect this dependence on basic Roman forms.
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Consecration issues commemorated the deification of the Roman emperor
In many cultures it is common for some rulers, politicians, or generals to achieve (before or after their deaths) the status of folk heroes. In some cases the process is encouraged (and exploited) by governments, but it may also occur spontaneously. In antiquity, as well as today, the outward signs o f personality cults (monument s, Statues, coins, and paintings) are more prominent in totalitarian societies. Rome was no exception . The most numerous and grandiose relics of this type were built during the Empire, in honor of the emperor and his family.
In spite of the high visibility of Imperial personality cults, the concepts which promoted them can be traced back to Republican, and even prehistoric time. The Romans were predisposed to such cults through their tradition of ancestor worship. Through inscriptions, coinage, and ancient literature, it appears that ancestor worship reached an apogee during the Republic. The benefits in prestige certainly encouraged wealthy and powerful families to honor their illustrious ancestors, but even in poor families the departed continued to exert a continuing (if shadowy) influence on the surviving members of the family. This belief is illustrated by the Lemuria festival and other funerary customs.
Taking advantage of this tradition, the first emperor of Rome (Augustus) took the process one step further by having his adopted father (Julius Caes.1f) declared a god. This, of course, made Augustus the son of a god. Curiously enough, Augustus also made preparations for his own consecration. These ceremonies, in turn. became the blueprint for successive emperors for the next three hundred years (see Figure I). From the amount of publicity given to these deifications, it is clear that they were meant to be taken seriously, at least by the masses. The authority of a body of men (ostensibly the Senate) to elevate a deceased person to godhood did, however, chal...
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