I know I am in the minority on most questions that come up but I'm not a big fan of super threads like the Alphabetical listing since it does not encourage discussions beyond 'nice coin' and tends to bring out coins we have seen before. I know all of you don't need to see Martin's and my entire Septimius collection again and again just because it was S day. However, Martin posted a coin of great interest to me so I'm moving his coin to this new thread when I probably should just send him a 'conversation'. When I first saw this coin, my first thought was to ask why it was called a LEG I ITAL rather than one of the other ITAL legions since the left reverse legend is missing. Then I saw what appears to be an I blending with the eagle's wing at the very top and do believe that the ID is correct. That drove me to look again at one of my favorite Legionaries: My coin reads LEG . . ITAL with the eagle's wing clearly between the faint dots. There is a thick area under the wing but I have never taken it to be a I. Without the I, my coin is unlisted. My obverse die is different from Martin's but it strikes me that the portrait style is very similar suggesting to me that the two might have been cut by the same hand. However, Martin's obverse grated upon me as an old friend; certainly it is a die I recognized. Then it struck me that his LEG I ITAL used the same die as the rarest of all the legionaries LEG XXII PRI: This die is distinctive by the way the M of IMP touches the middle of the neck curve far to the right of where most dies started the IMP. If there is such a thing as specializing in one coin, this is mine. I have four not particularly nice coins of this die which was until recently thought to be the only one used with the two reverse dies reading XXII PRI. There have been a couple coins (one in very high grade) with PRI reverse and another obverse die show up in the market recently. The two below share the reverse die with the second of my PRI coins above. http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=619410 http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=24893 The mint at the time these coins were made seemed to be specializing in rare coins. Since Martin pointed out that LEG I ITAL is RD=1, I'll mention that XXII PRI is RD=0 and I have found no listing (but have seen a die duplicate) of my LEG ITAL numberless die. The number of people actively interested in things like this is about the same as the number of coins available but I am sorry to have missed the nice one. I'd like to make something out of the fact that some dies seemed to have been used for several legions and some did more of their work for one. I have explanations wild guesses for some of these patterns but really know nothing. This is the place to show your Septimius Severus Legionary denarii. This is also the place to tell me of LEG XXII PRI coins other than those shown in acsearch or CNG sites. PS: My normal LEG I ITAL:
Doug, On your LEG ITAL could well have an I in between the left-most feathers at 12 o'clock which has merged the wing tips and stretches to the edge of the flan. This could explain the odd merging of the feathers at that point. Poor placment of the I might well have cause these areas to merge with die wear. It would be interesting to see some other examples from EF examples from early strikes of this die to get a better idea. Regards, Martin
... sadly, I have not yet purchased a Septimius Severus Legionary denarius (I'm pretty sure that you and Martin have already purchased most of the good ones?!!)
Were these various legionary denarii struck as military pay? Or did they just commemorate the legions on coinage that was distributed to the general public?
These seem to have been produced to honour the legions that supported Septimius Severus to power. The most common type, produced in the most volumes is for Legion XIV Geminina Martia Victrix who fought for him on his march to Rome. LEG XIIII GEM M V is the most common of these coins. Regards, Martin
As I see it, they probably struck a few of each legion that supported Septimius in April 193 and then continued for a longer time only for the legion (XIIII) that he had commanded. The rarest legions tend to be in remote places like northern Germany. XXII PRI is most rare because they also issued coins with just LEG XXII (no PRI). No. There are Republicans with ITAL. Mine is a weak ITAL ligate on reverse left. Better?: http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=656095
