Ask Our Coin Expert

Rasiel Suarez is the author of three books on Roman coins and numerous articles with a focus Roman Imperial and Byzantine numismatics. If you have a question for Rasiel, please use the contact form to reach him and your question might show up on this page and/or be used to write complete articles on the topics you’re most interested in!

Dear Rasiel,

I’m what they call a “newbie” to ancient coins. Although I have been a coin collector all my life, I just recently happened upon ancient coins.

I’m wondering why it is that some of the Byzantine coins are shaped like bowls while others are flat.

It seems that the Greek coins and the Roman coins are rather consistent in size, shape and design but the Byzantines were “all over the place” with their coins. Why is that?

Thanks,

John McIntyre

Denver, Colorado

Dear John,

Great question and welcome to this fascinating hobby!

There is no definitive answer as to why the Byzantines chose to make some of their coins “cup” shaped or scyphates as they’re known in numismatics. There’s some speculation that creating concave dies made them last longer and that it made their striking easier. However, some numismatists disagree and that the reason for the cup shape was that it facilitated commerce because their unique shape allowed them to stack one on top of each other much more readily than their flat counterparts. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure as no documents survive from the period explaining the “why”.

Rasiel

Cupped Byzantine coin

Dear Rasiel,

I know that the value of bronze coins vary greatly. Just out of curiosity do you know what the most expensive bronze coin ever sold was?

Sincerely,

Pat Burnson

Tempe, AZ

Dear Pat,

This is a difficult question to answer.

Rare ancient bronze coins sell for tens of thousands of dollars. In addition to condition, rare rulers, types and denominations are all factors in determining the value of any given coin.

For example, in the mid 90′s a bronze Follis of the rare Roman emperor Valerius Valens sold at auction for $45,000.00 including a size-able buyer’s fee.

Rasiel

An example of a rare coin of Emperor Valerius Valens