I need help in identifing this Marcus Aurelius denarius, it appears to be RIC III 259 but not quite the same as the shield design is different and the legends on the obverse and reverse don't line up the same. There are also variations of this type that I've seen but are not quite the same. Weight is 2.90 grams (which is quite light) and about 18mm Percentage of silver is lower like most denarii of Marcus Aurelius. Here are some photos, Thanks!
You are correct - it is RIC III 259. The legends match. It seems that the RIC authors didn't differentiate between the various shield decorations, but yours appears to match this design, described by HJB thus: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7903762 Marcus Aurelius. Denarius; Marcus Aurelius; 161-180 AD, Rome, 172 AD, Denarius, 3.39g. BM-557, C-280, RIC-259. Obv: M ANTONINVS - AVG TR P XXVI Head laureate r. Rx: IMP - V - I - COS III Roma seated l. above round shield ornamented with Medusa head, holding Victory and spear.. EF ($350) Looking more closely, it looks like yours might actually be a reverse die match to the Berk coin ?
Wow you are right! It does look like a reverse die match, nice find friend! However the Obverse still looks a bit different, the strap ends from the Laureate wreath on my coin seems to differ in position from the example you found, does that difference mean anything in terms of reference code?
Usually, the only thing that changes the reference number are things like obverse and reverse legends and bust types (bare headed, laureate etc) and different reverse types. There are always exceptions to the rules though, it is really up to the person writing the reference book-- do you paint with a small brush or a large brush. The author of RIC VI differentiated some issues that were otherwise identical on wreath ties-- parallel or divergent. His reasoning was that there might be a chronological difference.
