Ancient Rome Prutah of Marcus Ambibulus or Coponius 6AD to 12AD

If genuine, these are valuable coins from ancient Rome about the time, and in the region, of Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago. Way cool! The inscription KAICA POC means of Caesar and the LN is a Greek date - the L stands for the Greek word for 'year', and the N is a Greek numeral. There are counterfeits of these coins (see below), but if real, they are valuable. The pictured coin (upper left) would sell retail for about $100 US dollars.

There are several varieties with the KAICAPOC inscription. The one in our picture is from Coponius, who was the first governor (prefect) of the Judaean province where Jesus lived. His successor Marcus Ambibulus struck coins of the same type. You will need to read the date on the reverse (the side with the palm tree) in order to tell who it was issued under. Coponius was prefect from 6 to 8 AD, and Marcus Ambibulus was prefect from 9 to 12 AD.

worn: $20 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $80
well preserved: $200

The picture on our page comes from an expert, Brett Telford, who writes an interesting blog on ancients called One Coin at a Time and who also runs a respected ancients commercial site, SoCalCoins.com. Viewing Brett's sites will help you get an idea of the significance of your coin.

A lady named Heather sent us pictures of her KAICAPOC coin, hoping it was real. But the perfectly circular shape is the main give-away that it is not. Also, the inscriptions and patterns are way off from genuine coins. These coins are so interesting, and have such strong ties to biblical times, even the fakes are worth something. A coin like Heather's would sell for $5 to $10 to a collector. Nice!

Remember, if you want to sell your coin to a coin dealer, he or she must make a profit in order to keep the dealership afloat. Figure an offer of about one-half retail for any coin you sell to a dealer.

Two other favorite ancient sites are:

- ForvmAncientCoins
- VCoins.com

Visit these sites for even more interesting material related to your ancient Roman coin.

CoinQuest thanks SoCalCoins for use of their coin photo.
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