Attributes: Small objects held by a deity or personification that identify who they are. For example, a caduceus identifies Mercury, while a cornucopia identifies Abundantia (Abundance).
Overstrike: A coin that has been struck using a new set of dies over an existing, older coin. This was a common way for cities to “recycle” foreign currency into their own. Collectors prize these because traces of the original…
Mule: A coin struck with two dies that were never intended to be used together—for example, a coin with the obverse of one emperor and the reverse of another.
Incuse: A design that is sunk into the surface of the metal rather than raised. Early Greek coins from Southern Italy (like those of Metapontum) often featured a raised design on the obverse and an identical, sunken (incuse) design on…
Exergue: The small space at the bottom of a coin’s design, usually separated by a horizontal line. In Roman coinage, this area almost always contains the mint mark (the abbreviation of the city where the coin was struck).
