Share your double-struck ancients

that coin good.

me like.

 

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Roman Republic
M Furius 119 BCE
ERROR DOUBLE-STRIKE
AR Denarius
Janus
Trophy Carnyx
Sear 156 Craw 281/1

 

i can't see your coin pic.....is it just me?

 

Nope, I can't see it either.

 

Here is a Tarentum nomos with doubling on the reverse, most notably on the kantharos, the delta below the dolphin, and along the lower edge of the dolphin. However, what appears to be doubling along the upper edge of the dolphin, to the left of the fin, is actually the right leg and foot of the dolphin rider!

 

A Rhodian hemidrachm I've purchased recently...

 

Sorry guys. Travelling with just an iPad. Tried everything to post the pic!

 

My favorite double-strike (Khwarezmshah):

 

This Constantine Follis with a full 180º rotation double-strike on both obverse and reverse makes me suspect it was a slow day at the mint - I'm imagining some experienced malleatore standing up and saying: "Hey guys, look what I can do" and creating this piece for amusement.
http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album164/52_Constantine_I_Follis_313_ICA_HER

 

Wow, those are great examples ..... love your example, lehman (very cool)

... oh, and Dionysos (man, I love Rhodes coins!!)

 

The killer is that when I have found pieces like this for sale, they typically have been ridiculously inexpensive as the sellers either had experienced or anticipated customer resistance to "faulty" coins like this.

 

There is a category of double/overstrikes I find particularly fascinating but I am not sure my coin is one. I believe it is but...

Curtis Clay published a theory on these that I consider most likely correct. The coins have a reverse struck by two different dies (often inverted from each other) but the obverse is normal. The theory is that two reverse die holders alternated at one station sharing the obverse die. Reverse dies tend to fail sooner than obverses because of the protection provided by the lower, anvil position. Being smaller and hit by the hammer would cause the top die to heat up more than the lower so allowing the reverses to cool a few seconds while keeping the obverse in constant use might make sense. Curtis' examples show two different type reverses used but mine seems to be the same type unless the mark before ANTS is a dot on one and a star on the other (unclear to me). What we see here is a doublestrike with the reverse rotated 180 degrees between strikes or an overstrike where the second strike was from a different die held in the opposite position. This Arcadius AE2 is a bit of a mystery. How did it come to have the mintmark at both top and bottom?

 

Ok, back at the Desk...

TWO double-strikes to show:

A TRIGA --- Double-Strike

RR Clodius Pulcher T Mallius AR Den 111-110 BCE ERROR Flipover Double-Strike Roma Triga Cr 299-1b S 176 O-R.jpg

And one several folks have already seen... For your ocular boredom...

RR M Furius ERROR DOUBLE-STRIKE AR Den119 BC Janus Trophy Carnyx S 156 Cr 281-1 O-R.jpg