Some Serious Coin (Denarii Serio)

The stock market has been up lately so I've been thinking about coins. And not the inflation-hedgy gold ones that the bunker-dwelling Branch Davidian types around here have been hoarding lately. No, I'm talking about coins from antiquity, the kind that they don't make anymore.

Or do they? On this link about halfway down, see if you can spot the two real ones (hint, they are die struck so there are barely perceptible flow marks, and they have a few other tells).

Old coins like this found at archaelogical sites help identify the timeline of the site being excavated. Many the museums don't want them so they end up in private collections, sometimes even through EBay I'm extremely happy to say. *Doing the little antiquity collector's secret jig*

With some of these provencial coins, the inscriptions are a great source of information on provinces with a lesser known history and their praetors (leaders, typically retired military).
The coin pictured above was a tribute to soldiers that conquered Egypt and then settled around Nimes, France.

Before striking my own coins, I think I have need of a homemade foundry to mix up the copper, antimony, and tin in the correct proportions for the blanks. Here's a guy that made a foundry using a coffee can and a few other household items. Use caution if doing this inside, outside, or at all.

Italia: Monete antiche sono interessanti... se non posso comprarli, cercherò di renderli!!!