A helmeted goddess on one side. A staring owl on the other.

The Athenian tetradrachm is one of those ancient coins people often recognize before they know its name. But its familiar design can make it easy to overlook what it actually represented.

This was substantial money. At full standard, an Owl contained about 17.2 grams of silver and was worth four drachms, or twenty-four obols.

It belonged to a monetary system that helped Athens pay for the ships, crews, and campaigns behind its rise to power.

And eventually, people far beyond Athens wanted it too.

Why would a foreign merchant accept an Athenian coin?

Imagine receiving a silver coin from a city you had never visited.

You would want to know its weight. You would want confidence in the metal. It would help if you had seen that design before, and knew other people would accept it when you needed to spend it.

Athenian Owls offered that combination.

Their consistent weight standard, silver quality, and recognizable appearance helped them circulate across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. Trade and military payments carried them outward. Familiarity helped keep them moving.

The design became so useful that authorities outside Athens produced their own versions.

An ancient coin with Athena and an owl, therefore, is not automatically an official product of the Athenian mint. Some tell the story of how other communities adopted its monetary language.

Beneath the fleet was silver

Athens had access to the silver deposits of Laurion in southeastern Attica.

When especially productive deposits brought a financial windfall shortly before 483 to 482 BC, the Athenians faced a choice about how to use the revenue.

Themistocles persuaded them to invest in naval expansion.

That decision helped provide the fleet that would play a crucial role against Persia. Later, naval strength became the foundation of an Athenian empire.

The coins give that history a physical dimension. Ships required timber and equipment. Crews needed support and pay. Maintaining power meant finding the resources to keep all of it operating.

Then Athens began consuming its reserves

The Peloponnesian War placed those resources under extraordinary pressure.

By its final years, Athens was turning sacred gold into emergency coinage. Plated silver coins commonly attributed to the same crisis reveal another, more debated part of the story.

How did a city famous for trusted silver reach that point?

And why did the Owl’s monetary reputation survive after Athens lost its empire?

Those questions are at the heart of our revised Journal article. It follows Athenian money from the unusual coins that came before the Owl through tiny silver fractions, wartime emergencies, foreign imitations, and the later New Style tetradrachms.

Read the full story: Ancient Athens Coins and the Money That Built an Empire

When I look at an Athenian Owl, I think about the people who accepted it without ever seeing Athens.

They knew the coin. For their next transaction, that could matter more than knowing the city.

Dean Kinzer
Kinzer Coins

History wasn’t just written. It was minted.

In some Roman burials, a coin was placed with the dead. Many linked it to the ferryman’s fee, the price of passage across the river.

It is one of the oldest stories ever told about money. Not as wealth, but as meaning. A small piece of metal carried a family’s hope for someone they loved.

That is why I ran this sale for Halloween. Every coin in it was held by someone in the Roman world. Soldiers, merchants, farmers, maybe even someone who believed in that final crossing.

Tonight it ends.

30% off 160 authentic Roman coins

No code needed, the price is already marked down

Ends tonight, Monday, November 2, 11:59 PM CT

After midnight, every price goes back to normal.

If a coin has been sitting in your cart, or you have been waiting for the right emperor, tonight is the night.

[Button: Shop the sale → https://kinzercoins.com/collections/halloween-roman-coin-sale]

Money makes headlines. Ancient coins tell the story.

History wasn’t just written. It was minted.

Dean

Every week someone sends me a photo of a coin and asks two questions.

What is this? And what is it worth?

Sometimes it is a beginner who just bought their first Roman bronze. Sometimes it is someone sorting through a parent’s collection, holding coins they have never looked at closely. The questions are always the same, and for a long time there was no simple place to send them.

So I built one.

The problem with “ancient coin value”

Search that phrase and you will find a late Roman bronze sitting next to a gold aureus. Two coins of the same emperor can sell for $40 or $4,000. Without context, it is easy to overpay, or to assume the whole hobby is out of reach.

It is not. You can own a coin struck during the Roman Empire for less than dinner out. You just need a fair starting point.

What the guide does

The Kinzer Ancient Coin Guide covers Roman imperial coins from Augustus through AD 476, organized by ruler and denomination.

• Price guide. See what comparable coins actually sell for. Certified coins, fixed-price retail listings, and raw auction results are kept separate, so you know what you are comparing.

• Photo identifier. Photograph both sides of a coin and get a suggested identification to start your research.

• Search. Look up an emperor by name, nickname, or a legend off the reverse.

• Compare and save. Line up rulers and denominations side by side, and keep the coins you are watching.

The identifier answers “what is this?” The price guide answers “what might a coin like this be worth?” Together they take you from a worn coin in your hand to the emperor, the denomination, and a realistic price range.

One honest note: a suggested ID still needs checking, a photo cannot prove authenticity, and a price range is a reference point, not an appraisal. Condition, rarity, and demand all move the number.

Why this one is personal

My father’s collection is a big part of why Kinzer Coins exists. I remember the first time a coin made history feel close. You turn it over, study the portrait, and realize someone 1,700 years ago spent this.

I want more people to have that moment without feeling embarrassed to ask a basic question. Nobody should need ten years in the hobby to understand what they are holding.

Try it

It is free.

• iPhone: Kinzer Ancient Coin Guide on the App Store

• Browser: guide.kinzercoins.com

The full story is on the Journal: Why I Built the Kinzer Ancient Coin Price Guide and Identifier

If a result looks wrong or something is confusing, reply and tell me. I read every message, and your feedback is how this gets better.

Dean Kinzer Coins

Money makes headlines. Ancient coins tell the story.

Around AD 200, a Roman soldier paid by Septimius Severus held a denarius that was roughly half silver. Severus raised army pay, and Rome needed silver to cover it.

A generation later, under Gordian III, the silver had slipped to around 40%.

By AD 270, deep in the third-century crisis, Claudius II Gothicus was striking an everyday coin that was mostly bronze, with only a few percent silver left. War, plague and a constant churn of emperors had drained the silver out of Roman money, until Aurelian and later Diocletian had to try to fix it.

Same empire. About seventy years. And you can hold all three steps of that story side by side.

That is The Debasement Story Set:

1. Septimius Severus silver denarius (AD 193 to 211), roughly 50% silver

2. Gordian III (AD 238 to 244), NGC certified VF, roughly 40% silver

3. Claudius II Gothicus antoninianus (AD 268 to 270), a few percent silver

I want to be clear about one thing: this is not an investment product, and I make no promise about value. It is history you can actually hold, and one of the clearest stories ancient coins can tell.

This is the final weekend. With code SILVER30, the set is $311.50 instead of $445, a saving of $133.50. Only 15 sets are available, and the code ends Monday, November 2, at 11:59 PM CT.

Shop the set: https://kinzercoins.com/products/roman-debasement-story-set-severus-gordian-iii-claudius-ii

Lifetime authenticity guarantee. 30-day returns.

Dean

Kinzer Coins

Silver figures are approximate averages from published studies of Roman coinage; individual coins vary. Photos show representative examples.

Every Halloween, the old stories come out. Rome has some of the best, and the strange part is this: you can still hold the coins of the people in them.

Caracalla

In AD 211, Caracalla had his brother Geta killed in their mother’s arms. The historian Cassius Dio wrote that afterward Caracalla was tormented by visions of his father and brother coming after him with swords. Whatever you make of that, it tells you how Romans remembered him.

Hadrian

Dying in AD 138, Hadrian wrote a short poem to his own soul: “Little soul, wandering, gentle... where will you go now?” Nearly two thousand years later, it is still quoted. Few emperors left us anything so personal.

Commodus

The gladiator emperor was strangled on the last night of AD 192. The Senate ordered his name erased and his statues torn down. A few years later, Septimius Severus had him declared a god. Rome could never quite decide what to do with him.

Constantine

Before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, Constantine said he saw a sign in the sky. He won, and the empire was never the same.

Helena

His mother, Helena, was later honored as a saint. Christian tradition credits her with finding the True Cross in Jerusalem, and her coins carry the face of a woman who went from humble beginnings to empress.

Emperors. Tyrants. Saints.

The men and women are long gone. Their ghosts are stories. Their coins are real: authentic Roman silver and bronze, nearly 2,000 years old, every one guaranteed authentic.

This Halloween weekend, I am taking 30% off Roman coins. No code needed, the discount is applied automatically at checkout.

Ends Monday, November 2, at 11:59 PM CT.

Shop the collection: https://kinzercoins.com/collections/roman-empire

Happy Halloween.

Dean

Kinzer Coins

“Are these real?”

Yes. Every coin is authentic and backed by my lifetime authenticity guarantee. The Gordian III is also certified and graded VF by NGC, one of the world’s leading coin grading services.

“What if I don’t love it?”

Send it back within 30 days. No pressure, no hard feelings.

“I don’t know anything about ancient coins.”

Good. This set was made for you. You do not need to know grades or emperors. Just line up the three coins and you will see the story yourself: the silver fades from left to right.

“Why three coins instead of one?”

One coin is a souvenir. Three coins are a story.

✦ Septimius Severus, AD 200: about 50% silver

✦ Gordian III, AD 240: about 40% silver

✦ Claudius II, AD 270: only a few percent silver

Together they show what happened to Rome’s money in about 70 years.

“Is this an investment?”

No, and I will never sell it that way. It is history you can hold, explain to your kids, and keep on your desk for the rest of your life.

The Offer

$445 → $311.50 only with code SILVER30

That is about $104 per coin

You save $133.50

15 sets. Code SILVER30 ends Monday, November 2, 11:59 PM CT.

Get all 3 for $311.50 only:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/roman-debasement-story-set-severus-gordian-iii-claudius-ii

Still have a question? Leave a comment or reply to this email. I read every one myself.

Dean

Kinzer Coins

(Silver figures are approximate averages from published studies of Roman coinage. Individual coins vary.)

3 real Roman coins. $311.50 only.

Regular price: $445

With code SILVER30: $311.50 only

You save: $133.50

That is about $104 per coin, and one story every collector should know: how Rome slowly took the silver out of its money.

What You Get

1. Septimius Severus denarius

AD 200 · about 50% silver

2. Gordian III denarius, NGC VF

AD 240 · about 40% silver

3. Claudius II antoninianus

AD 270 · only a few percent silver

Line them up and you can see the silver fade in about 70 years. War, plague and a revolving door of emperors pushed Rome’s everyday coin from half silver to almost pure bronze.

(Silver figures are approximate averages from published studies of Roman coinage. Individual coins vary.)

History You Can Hold

This set is a story, not an investment. It makes no promise about value. What it gives you is three real pieces of Rome, side by side, showing a moment in history that still feels familiar today.

✦ Lifetime authenticity guarantee

✦ Gordian III NGC certified VF

✦ 30-day returns, shipped from the U.S.

Only 15 sets. Code SILVER30 ends Monday, November 2, 11:59 PM CT.

Get all 3 for $311.50 only:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/roman-debasement-story-set-severus-gordian-iii-claudius-ii

Dean

Kinzer Coins

When Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, one person tried to escape carrying a small purse close to the chest.

Archaeologists later recovered twenty silver coins and two bronze coins with the remains.

But the surprising part was how old some of that money already was.

Among the coins identified in the Archaeological Park’s preliminary report was a legionary denarius of Mark Antony, naming his XXI Legion. By the time Pompeii disappeared beneath volcanic debris, that coin had been around for more than a century.

It had outlived Antony, Cleopatra, and the Roman Republic.

And someone was still carrying it as money.

A purse could hold generations

We tend to organize Roman coins by emperor. A tray for Augustus. Another for Nero. Another for Vespasian.

The people spending those coins had different priorities.

The Regio V purse contained Republican silver alongside two denarii of Vespasian and a likely coin of Augustus. Old and recent issues traveled together because they still had a job to do.

That makes the coins found at Pompeii especially revealing. They show us what remained in use, long after the rulers who issued it were gone.

What did that money mean to its owner?

The preliminary identification of twenty denarii and two asses gives a nominal value of 80½ sestertii. The Archaeological Park estimated that amount could support a family of three for roughly two weeks.

We cannot know exactly what its owner intended. But the purse held something useful beyond the city: money for food, shelter, or the uncertain days ahead.

Nearby, at the Villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, another discovery revealed wealth on an entirely different scale. Excavators found well over a thousand Roman gold coins, together with silverware and jewelry.

A small purse and an extraordinary treasure. Both survived the same disaster.

Together, they raise questions that an emperor’s portrait alone cannot answer.

What currency did Pompeii use? How did gold, silver, and bronze relate to one another? And when a collector calls something a “Pompeii coin,” what evidence should support that claim?

I explore those questions in the revised Kinzer Coins Journal article:

Read the full story: Pompeii Coins and the Money People Carried Before Vesuvius Erupted

Sometimes the most revealing thing about an ancient coin is how long it kept changing hands.

Dean Kinzer
Kinzer Coins

History wasn’t just written. It was minted.

Everyone seems to be asking what a dollar is really worth right now.

Rome faced its own version of that question 1,800 years ago.

Silver Paid the Army

The Roman Empire ran on its soldiers, and its soldiers were paid in silver. Every emperor who wanted to stay on the throne needed enough coins to keep the legions loyal.

When silver ran short, emperors stretched it. Each new batch of coins carried a little less of the real thing and a little more base metal. The coins still looked like silver. The portrait was still the emperor. But inside, the money was changing.

How the Silver Disappeared

AD 200, Septimius Severus: about 50% silver

The soldier-emperor raised army pay, and his denarius held roughly half silver.

AD 240, Gordian III: about 40% silver

A generation later, the teenage emperor’s denarius had slipped further.

AD 270, Claudius II: only a few percent silver

By the depth of the third-century crisis, Rome’s everyday coin was almost entirely bronze with a thin silver wash.

In about 70 years, war, plague and a revolving door of emperors drained the silver out of Roman money, until Aurelian and later Diocletian had to rebuild it from the ground up.

(Silver figures are approximate averages from published studies of Roman coinage. Individual coins vary.)

Hold the Story

The Debasement Story Set puts those three moments side by side, in three real Roman coins:

✦ Septimius Severus silver denarius

✦ Gordian III silver denarius, NGC VF

✦ Claudius II Gothicus antoninianus

It is not an investment and makes no promise about value. It is history you can actually hold.

$445 → $311.50 with code SILVER30

You save $133.50

Only 15 sets. Ends Monday, November 2, 11:59 PM CT.

Lifetime authenticity guarantee and 30-day returns.

Hold the story:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/roman-debasement-story-set-severus-gordian-iii-claudius-ii

New to ancient coins? Start here:

https://kinzercoins.com/collections/im-new-to-ancient-coins

History was not just written. It was minted.

Dean

Kinzer Coins

That is my desk this morning. Two coins I made 8 of these emperor and empress pairs. Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, both Roman silver, both graded XF by NGC. Three are already on their way to new collectors.

Five are left.

Tonight at 11:59 PM CT, code EMPRESS30 stops working and this pair price ends with it.

What You Get

✦ Septimius Severus silver denarius, NGC XF

✦ Julia Domna silver denarius, NGC XF

✦ Real Roman silver, over 1,800 years old

✦ 30-day returns, shipped from the U.S.

The Price

Regular price: $750

With code EMPRESS30: $525

You save: $225

Why It Matters

He was the soldier from Africa who won Rome in a civil war. She was the Syrian empress the army called Mother of the Camps. Matching the two in the same XF grade is not easy, and once these five are gone, this set is gone.

If you have been meaning to grab one, today is the day.

Save $225 before midnight:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/emperor-empress-septimius-severus-julia-domna-ngc-silver-pair

Dean

Kinzer Coins

Athena wears a crested helmet on one side. On the other, Nike drives a racing two-horse chariot.

At first glance, you might place this silver coin firmly in the Greek world.

Then you learn where it came from.

Cales, an ancient city near modern Calvi Risorta in Campania, had already become a Latin colony under Roman power before issuing the silver coins discussed here.

So why did its money still look Greek?

A city’s coins tell more than one story

We often organize ancient history into familiar categories: Greek cities, Roman expansion, separate cultures with separate identities.

A coin from Cales complicates that picture.

Its political setting points toward Rome. Its divine figures and artistic style draw on Greek traditions. Its inscription, CALENO, identifies the local issuing community.

All three belong to the same object.

That is what makes these coins interesting to me. You can start with a beautiful design and end up asking how a community understood itself while the world around it changed.

Look beyond the portrait

The reverse rewards a closer look.

Nike, the personification of victory, drives a biga, a chariot drawn by two horses. The small composition gives the coin a sense of movement that survives more than two thousand years later.

But identifying the design is only the beginning.

When was it struck? Why do catalogues give different dates? Does the victory imagery refer to a particular event, or would that be reading more into the coin than the evidence supports?

Those questions are part of the pleasure of collecting. Each detail gives you another place to begin your research.

Greek or Roman?

For Cales, choosing one label leaves part of the story behind.

Our revised article explores where the city stood, how it came under Roman power, and what its Athena-and-Nike silver can tell us about ancient Italy. It also includes museum references and a checklist of details to examine when considering an example.

Read the full Cales article at Kinzer Coins

When you look at an ancient coin, what draws you in first: the design, the issuing city, or the history behind it?

Leave a comment or reply to this email. I’d like to hear.

History wasn’t just written, it was minted.

Dean Kinzer
Kinzer Coins

I want to be straight with you about why this set is hard to find.

Septimius Severus coins turn up fairly often. Julia Domna in Extremely Fine does not. Putting the two together, both in silver, both graded XF by NGC, takes time and patience.

I was only able to match 8 pairs. Every Julia Domna XF I had in stock went into these sets.

2 pairs are already gone. 6 are left.

When they are gone, this matched set is gone.

Why This Pair Is Rare

✦ Emperor and empress, husband and wife, sold as one set

✦ Matched grade: both NGC XF, not a mix of grades

✦ Matched metal: both Roman silver denarii, over 1,800 years old

✦ Only 8 sets made, 6 remaining

The Couple Behind the Coins

He was the soldier from Leptis Magna who won Rome in a civil war. She was the Syrian empress the army called Mother of the Camps. Together they founded the Severan dynasty, and their faces were struck in silver that has now outlasted the empire itself.

The Price

Regular price: $750

With code EMPRESS30: $525

You save: $225

The code ends Monday, October 26, 11:59 PM CT. After that, the pair price and the $225 savings end with it.

Claim 1 of the last 6 pairs:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/emperor-empress-septimius-severus-julia-domna-ngc-silver-pair

If you have been thinking about it, this is the weekend to decide.

Dean

Kinzer Coins

Elizabeth Báthory is remembered for a story almost everyone has heard: the countess who supposedly bathed in blood to preserve her youth.

But that famous image came from later storytelling. The accusations investigated during her lifetime are a separate historical question that remains contested.

Known in Hungarian as Erzsébet Báthory, she lived from 1560 to 1614. An investigation into alleged abuse and killings within her household began in 1610. She was confined at Čachtice and died without a formal trial.

The blood-bathing narrative developed later. László Turóczi’s 1729 account helped give it its enduring form, more than a century after her death.

That gap matters. A later story is not an eyewitness account. It also does not settle the original accusations.

Where do coins fit?

A coin gives us another way to explore the past.

Its ruler, inscriptions, mint marks, and date can help establish where and when it was made. A properly attributed Hungarian coin from Báthory’s lifetime offers a tangible connection to her historical setting.

That does not mean she owned it or held that particular piece.

For me, the interesting part of collecting is following those connections carefully. A famous person might spark your curiosity. The object gives you something to examine, research, and understand.

Start with these questions

Who issued the coin? When was it struck? What do its designs tell us? Does its date actually overlap the person’s lifetime?

Those questions can lead to a richer story than a dramatic label alone.

I’ve updated our full article to separate the historical investigation from the later legend and explain what a Báthory-era coin connection really means.

Read the full article and historical sources at Kinzer Coins

What first draws you toward a historical coin: the person, the story, or the design? Leave a comment or reply to this email. I’d like to hear.

History wasn’t just written, it was minted.

Dean Kinzer
Kinzer Coins

Regular price: $750

Your price with code EMPRESS30: $525

You save: $225

That is $225 back in your pocket for two NGC XF Roman silver denarii, the emperor and the empress who founded the Severan dynasty.

What You Get

✦ Septimius Severus silver denarius, NGC XF

✦ Julia Domna silver denarius, NGC XF

✦ Real Roman silver, over 1,800 years old

✦ Both NGC certified and guaranteed authentic

✦ 30-day returns, shipped from the U.S.

Why This Pair

He was the soldier from Leptis Magna who won Rome in a civil war. She was the Syrian empress the army called Mother of the Camps. Together they ruled the empire, and their faces were struck in silver that has now outlasted Rome itself.

Matched in grade and in metal, the two coins sit side by side the way the couple appeared across the empire.

The Breakdown

Regular price ........ $750.00

30% off (EMPRESS30) ... minus $225.00

You pay .............. $525.00

Only 7 pairs left. The code ends Monday, October 26, 11:59 PM CT.

Get it for $525:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/emperor-empress-septimius-severus-julia-domna-ngc-silver-pair

Dean

Kinzer Coins

SAVE $225

Buy the Emperor, Get the Empress

Septimius Severus + Julia Domna, NGC XF Silver Pair

✦ Real Roman silver, over 1,800 years old

✦ Both NGC certified XF, guaranteed authentic

✦ A matched emperor and empress set to pass down

He was the soldier from Africa who won Rome in a civil war. She was the Syrian empress the army called Mother of the Camps. Their faces were struck in silver more than 1,800 years ago, and the coins have outlasted the empire itself.

$750 → $525 for the pair with code EMPRESS30.

You save $225.

Only 7 pairs left. The code ends Monday, October 26, 11:59 PM CT.

Shop now:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/emperor-empress-septimius-severus-julia-domna-ngc-silver-pair

Dean

Kinzer Coins

Think about what $225 usually buys.

A nice dinner for two. A few rounds of drinks with friends. A weekend of takeout. It is good while it lasts. By the next morning it is gone, and ten years from now nobody will remember it.

Now think about two small silver coins.

Struck in Rome, Still Here Today

These two denarii were struck more than 1,800 years ago, while Septimius Severus ruled Rome and Julia Domna stood beside him.

He was the soldier from Leptis Magna who won the throne in a civil war. She was the Syrian woman whose horoscope, the ancient writers say, promised she would marry a king. The army called her Mother of the Camps, and she followed him all the way to Britain, where he died at York in AD 211.

The coins carried their faces across the empire. They were paid to soldiers, traded by merchants, and saved by families. They outlived the Severan dynasty, the fall of Rome, and every empire that came after.

And they are still here, graded Extremely Fine by NGC, waiting for the next person to hold them.

Two Ways to Spend $225

$225 on dinner: gone in one night, forgotten in a week, nothing to pass on.

$225 saved on this pair: lasted over 1,800 years, real Roman silver you can hold, yours to pass down.

That is the difference. One kind of money disappears. The other kind turns into something you can hold, show your kids, and leave behind.

This Week Only: Save $225

✓ Septimius Severus silver denarius, NGC XF

✓ Julia Domna silver denarius, NGC XF

✓ Both NGC certified and guaranteed authentic

✓ 30-day returns, shipped from the U.S.

$525 for the pair with code EMPRESS30. You save $225.

There are only 8 pairs. The code ends Monday, October 26, 11:59 PM CT.

Save $225 and Claim the Pair:

https://kinzercoins.com/products/emperor-empress-septimius-severus-julia-domna-ngc-silver-pair

Skip one dinner. Own a piece of Rome forever.

Dean

Kinzer Coins

Around AD 187, a Roman general named Septimius Severus lost his first wife.

He was in his early forties, born in Leptis Magna on the coast of North Africa, and climbing fast through the ranks of the empire. According to the ancient writers, he went looking for a new wife in an unusual way. He had heard of a young woman in Emesa, Syria, the daughter of a family of priests, whose horoscope said she would one day marry a king.

Her name was Julia Domna. He married her.

Six years later, in AD 193, Rome fell into civil war. Three men claimed the throne. Severus marched on the city, defeated his rivals one by one, and became emperor. The horoscope had come true.

She Did Not Stay in the Palace

Most Roman empresses lived behind palace walls. Julia Domna went to war.

She traveled with her husband on campaign, across the East and eventually to the cold northern edge of the empire in Britain. The soldiers noticed. In AD 195 she was given a title that appears on her coins to this day: Mater Castrorum, Mother of the Camps.

She was more than a soldier’s wife. At court she gathered philosophers, writers, and lawyers around her, and her circle became one of the most famous of the age. Historians still call her one of the most powerful women Rome ever produced.

York, AD 211

In AD 211, after years of campaigning in Britain, Severus died at Eboracum, modern York. Julia was there.

His last advice to their sons is one of the most quoted lines in Roman history: get along with each other, pay the soldiers, and ignore everyone else. Julia would go on to hold real influence at court through the reign of her son Caracalla.

Together they founded the Severan dynasty, which ruled Rome for over forty years.

Why I Paired Them

Most Roman coins show one ruler. This pair shows a partnership.

I matched them carefully. Both are silver denarii. Both are graded XF, Extremely Fine, by NGC. Side by side they show the two faces that ran the empire, the soldier from Africa and the empress from Syria, the way their subjects saw them over 1,800 years ago.

The Offer: Save $225

For one week, I am selling them together.

• Septimius Severus silver denarius, NGC XF

• Julia Domna silver denarius, NGC XF

• Both NGC certified and guaranteed authentic

• 30-day returns, shipped from the U.S.

$525 for the pair with code EMPRESS30. You save $225.

There are only 8 pairs. The code ends Monday, October 26, 11:59 PM CT.

👉 Buy the Emperor, Get the Empress

Thanks for reading, and for keeping Rome’s story alive with me.

Dean
Kinzer Coins

This is the last weekend for the Father & Son pair: Constantius I and his son Constantine the Great, the two men at the center of one day at York in AD 306.

Before it ends Monday night, here are straight answers to the questions collectors always ask.

Are these real Roman coins?

Yes. Both are genuine bronzes struck in the Roman Empire about 1,700 years ago. Both are authenticated and graded by NGC, one of the most trusted grading services in the world.

What do F and XF mean?

They’re NGC grades. F (Fine) means a clear portrait and legends, with honest wear from centuries of circulation. XF (Extremely Fine) means sharp, well-preserved detail. You get Constantius I in F and Constantine the Great in XF.

Are the photos the exact coins I’ll get?

The photos are representative examples. Every ancient coin was struck by hand, so yours will have its own centering, patina, and character, always in the grade listed.

What if I’m not happy with them?

You have 30 days to return them. No hard feelings.

Why buy them as a pair?

Because together they tell one story. On July 25, AD 306, Constantius I died at York, and before the day was over his army raised his son as emperor. That son won the Milvian Bridge, founded Constantinople, and became Constantine the Great. One coin shows where the story began. The other shows where it went.

Buy the Father, Get the Son: 30% off

$276.43 $193.50 with code CONSTANTINE30

Ends Monday, October 19, at 11:59 PM CT. Only 11 pairs.

👉 Claim the pair this weekend

Have a question I didn’t answer? Just reply. It comes straight to me, and I’ll get back to you before the deal ends.

Yours in history,
Dean
Kinzer Coins. History wasn’t just written. It was minted.

I had both coins out on the tray tonight, under the lamp, with the loupe.

On the left is Constantius I. You can still see the laurel in his hair and the worn edge where 1,700 years of hands have touched it. On the right is his son, Constantine the Great: sharper, younger, with the confidence of a man who would remake the world.

What gets me every time is how close they are.

On July 25, AD 306, Constantius I died at York, at the edge of the Roman world. Before that same day was over, his army had raised his son as emperor. Six years later the son won the Milvian Bridge. He went on to reunite the empire, found Constantinople, and become the first Christian emperor.

Two coins, one moment, and you can hold both in the palm of your hand.

That’s why I put this pair together. Not as a discount, but because they belong side by side.

What you’ll hold

• The Father: Constantius I, NGC F

• The Son: Constantine the Great, NGC XF

Both coins are NGC certified, guaranteed authentic, and covered by 30-day returns.

Buy the Father, Get the Son: 30% off

$276.43 $193.50 with code CONSTANTINE30

Ends Monday, October 19, at 11:59 PM CT. Only 11 pairs.

👉 Hold both in your hand

If you have any question about the coins or the grades, just reply. It comes straight to me, and I read every one.

Yours in history,
Dean
Kinzer Coins. History wasn’t just written. It was minted.

Most coins tell you who ruled. This pair tells you how power passed.

Every Constantine collector eventually asks the same question: where did he come from? The answer is his father. Without Constantius I, there is no Constantine the Great, no Milvian Bridge, and no Constantinople. So let me tell you about the man most people skip.

The Father

Constantius I was one of the four rulers of Diocletian’s Tetrarchy. The Romans called him Chlorus, “the Pale.” In AD 296 he took back Britain from a breakaway regime and rode into London as its liberator. He governed the western provinces for more than a decade and was remembered as one of the gentler rulers of a brutal age.

Then, on July 25, AD 306, he died at York. That same day his army raised his son as emperor. Constantius didn’t just rule. He founded a dynasty.

The Son

Constantine won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. He reunited the Roman world under one ruler, founded Constantinople, and became the first Christian emperor. The city he built stood as a capital for more than a thousand years.

Why this pair is worth collecting

1. It captures a real moment. Most sets show a family. This one shows the exact handoff of an empire, from the man who died at York to the son crowned there the same day.

2. The founder and the legend. Constantius started the Constantinian dynasty, which ruled Rome for more than half a century. Constantine made it the most famous family in late Roman history.

3. Constantine is the cornerstone of a Roman collection. He is one of the most collected Roman emperors. His father’s coin gives that story a beginning most collectors never complete.

4. Graded, certified, ready to display. Constantius I in NGC F and Constantine the Great in NGC XF. Both are authenticated by NGC, guaranteed genuine, and covered by 30-day returns.

5. Only 11 pairs. I matched these coins by hand. When they’re gone, this pair is gone.

Buy the Father, Get the Son: 30% off

$276.43 $193.50 with code CONSTANTINE30

Ends Monday, October 19, at 11:59 PM CT. Only 11 pairs.

👉 Complete the story

A Constantine coin tells you where the story went. His father’s coin tells you where it began.

Yours in history,
Dean
Kinzer Coins. History wasn’t just written. It was minted.