Ancient Roman Coins

A Roman silver denarius is a small object that carries a disproportionate amount of evidence. Three grams of silver. A portrait struck from a hand-engraved die. A Latin legend abbreviated into the space of a fingernail. A patina that took seventeen centuries to form. None of it is replicable, which is why authentic ancient coins still circulate at all.

This collection lists every ancient Roman coin currently held by Aurora Antiqua. Twenty-four pieces. Most are silver denarii from the high Imperial period and the Severan dynasty. A small subset is the silvered antoninianus coinage of the mid-to-late third century, struck under Philip I, Philip II, Gordian III, and Probus.

Each entry on this page has been catalogued against the standard reference: Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), the ten-volume Mattingly and Sydenham series that is the working bibliography for every museum and auction house dealing in Imperial coinage. Where an OCRE record exists, the coin is cross-referenced to the Online Coins of the Roman Empire database maintained by the American Numismatic Society. Both references are published in the individual product description, with the volume, page, and catalogue number written out in full.

The standard of evidence we apply to every coin

RIC and OCRE are the bibliographic layer. The physical layer is the seven antiquarian markers we apply before any coin is photographed for the shop: flan shape, surface patina, manufacturing technique, legend epigraphy, portrait die style, weight tolerance, and magnetism. A modern cast forgery fails the manufacturing test before anything else. A modern struck forgery, of which there are very few outside the museum-quality study series, will fail the patina test or the weight tolerance test. A genuine ancient coin will pass all seven. The full procedure is documented in our pillar page on how Aurora authenticates a Roman coin.

An independent numismatist, one who has no commercial relationship with Aurora, reviews and signs off before any coin is listed. We keep that review on file. The lifetime authenticity guarantee Aurora ships with every coin is a written commitment: if a piece is ever shown to be inauthentic, we refund it, without time limit.

What the coins in this catalogue actually say

The Latin legend on an ancient Roman coin is short and formulaic. The obverse names the ruler and lists their titles in abbreviation. IMP for Imperator. CAES for Caesar. AVG for Augustus. P M for Pontifex Maximus. TR P for the year of tribunician power. The reverse names the personification or the event being commemorated, and often a mint mark. Once you learn the dozen abbreviations that recur on Imperial coinage, you can read most denarii in seconds. Our companion guide covers what the Latin on the obverse means piece by piece.

This matters for buyers because the legend is itself an authentication marker. Forgeries copied from low-resolution photographs almost always reproduce the legend imperfectly: spacing wrong, letterforms wrong, mint marks invented. The legend is part of marker four in the seven-marker check.

How Aurora's catalogue differs from the alternatives

The two reasonable alternatives to this collection are a high-end specialist auction (CNG, Roma, Künker, Heritage) and an unvetted marketplace listing. The auction route delivers comparable quality with provenance often documented to the 19th century, at a price that includes a buyer's premium and excludes the work of finding the right piece. The marketplace route delivers a much lower nominal price, but transfers the entire authentication burden, and the entire risk, to the buyer.

Aurora occupies the position between those two. Quality and provenance approaching the auction houses. Pricing closer to direct sale. Authentication carried out before the coin is listed, not after the buyer commissions it. Provenance published when we have it, and stated honestly when we do not.

Every coin in this collection is fully legal to own and to ship to the address you enter at checkout, under the legal framework for private ownership of ancient coinage in the European Union and most other jurisdictions. Provenance documentation accompanies the coin. Worldwide insured shipping is included in the price. EU VAT is included for EU destinations.

The current twenty-four pieces are listed below, with the highest-quality Severan denarii at the top of the default sort.

→ Read the guide to buying ancient Roman coins

Denominations, emperors, grading and what a fair price looks like are all worth understanding before you buy. See our beginner's guide to buying Roman coins for types, dating and what to check before buying.