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Found a Roman coin in my grandpa's old tackle box last weekend.
He used to fish at this spot near Hadrian's Wall in the 70s and I guess he just kept it as a souvenir. Anyone know a good way to ID what emperor it's from?
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cole3561mo ago
just kept it as a souvenir" - I mean, maybe? But 50 years in a tackle box with hooks and lead weights definitely didn't do that coin any favors. Those things are soft metal, and tackle boxes are basically humidity chambers. Even a common late Roman bronze could look like a greenish blob after that long. You'd be better off checking if there's any lettering left around the edge, that's usually your best shot for an ID. If it's totally smooth on both sides, it's probably too far gone to tell anything specific.
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cole9941mo agoTop Commenter
Wait, hold up... 50 years? As in, half a century just sitting in a tackle box? Man, I was picturing like maybe a decade or two, not fifty damn years. That coin must look like it went through a war. I'm surprised there's anything left to even argue about, those old bronzes just turn to mush in salt air and moisture. You'd probably have better luck finding a date on a petrified potato than getting anything legible off that thing now.
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