A Magnificent Mule

Once in a while a truly spectacular coin comes around - I was lucky enough to come across this one last week. Easily it will make my 'Top Ten of 2017' list at the end of the year.


Vespasian Mule
AR Denarius, 3.22g
Rome Mint, 77-78 AD
RIC 944 (R3, this coin), BMC - , RSC -
Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG; Head of Vespasian, laureate, l.
Rev: COS VI in ex.; Pair of Oxen, under yoke, l.
Acquired from Celeste Jones Mining, April 2017. Ex CGB Monnaies 21, 18 June 2004, lot 2387.

A unique mint mule with an obverse of Vespasian combined with a reverse from Titus Caesar's parallel issue. Vespasian was COS VIII when the coin was struck in 77/78, so the reverse title is quite impossible. This specimen is cited in RIC, apparently the only one recorded. A combination of a rare left facing Vespasian portrait with the rare yoked oxen type for Titus Caesar makes it unlikely another specimen will turn up any time soon.

The yoked oxen reverse copies a Republican denarius struck by L. Cassius Caecianus, Crawford 321/1. Possibly a 'colonist' or general agricultural type.

I left the Auction House's watermark on the picture because of the specific RIC reference to the sale.

Also, the coin came slabbed, but it is free now!




Show your mules! Or any error coins you wish.

 

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Very nice, another great pick up, congrats David.

 

Another great find Dave. Are you saying you own the only known example? The one cited in RIC?

 

Yes. That's why I'm very thrilled to have acquired it. To be honest, I did not know it was the unique specimen cited in RIC until after I purchased it. It wasn't until the seller provided the provenance of the piece that I realised what I had!

 

That's amazing to me to have a coin that's literally unique. I suspect that many of the coins that we have are numbered in the low hundreds and that thrills me enough.

 

I initially thought I was going to have to inform Ted Buttrey that an R3 coin is now R2. Happily, I don't have to email him now.

 

After all this time admiring your Flavian collection, I'm still amazed that you find more, let alone rarities like this one. Congratulations.

 

I was thinking the same thing as @Bing. Congrats David---What a super cool mule!!!

 

Nice find, David! Here's a mule I posted several months ago: an AE As of the Roman Republic, struck 90 BCE, with an obverse intended for Pansa paired with a rare reverse (palm symbol behind prow stem) of Titius. Only one other example known to me is in the Kestner-Hannover Museum collection.

 

Great catch David. I am sure this coin will take an honoured place in that already fantastic collection of yours.

 

to have the only known example that listed as such..WOW. good for you sir! i happen to have this one of a Trajan drachm overstrike on a Rabbel ll sela'im. this is the 1st one John Anthony has ever seen with evidence on it

 

A nice rarity

 

Trust me, I was very surprised to have come across it! In the RIC II introduction mules are described as 'common' in the Flavian era. I'm not so sure. Out the handful I have, only two were acquired in trade (my latest example and a Titus Caesar denarius), the rest came from Harry Sneh just before he dispersed his collection.

 

That oxen coin is a nice example of a mule. In my 'field' we have quite a few coins listed by 'experts' as mules which I simply can not accept under that name. These are mostly branch mint products where the normal rules of the Roman mint were neither understood nor followed. The usual example is combining a reverse 'proper' for the empress with the portrait of the emperor or visa-versa. There are even coins of the Alexandria mint obviously copied from coins in hand showing reverses proper for Lucius Verus, Pertinax or Pescennius Niger with an obverse of Septimius. At Rome, there are rare bronze coins made for distribution on New Year's Day with a 193 AD obverse and 194 AD reverse. The problem here is that coins were made in December 193 to be distributed after the TRP and COS numbers had been raised but before the mint received word that Septimius had added an IMP acclamation before January 1. These are not 193 obverses muled with 194 reverses but simply a fact of what happens when you are working with the best information available and get caught short by circumstances. 'Mule' implies an accident or error. Does your coin pass this test or is there a way it can be explained as intentional?

 

The OP coin is quite accidental. Vespasian and Titus Caesar had the same types struck for them in parallel issues, of course with their own individual titles. In 77/78 Vespasian was COS VIII, Titus Caesar COS VI. Someone at the mint screwed up (it's a wonder it didn't happen more than it did considering both often shared the same types!), but the mistake must've been caught fairly early on because just the one specimen has survived to tell the tale.

 

OK, now that's a coin I'm unfamiliar with. Do you know anything about its history and why it was overstruck?

 

Wonderful coin David, that is such a great find! Very nice to be able to keep the provenance on track as well!

Here's the only known sestertius mule under Titus.

Domitian Caesar / Titus Judaea Capta Æ Sestertius Mule, 25.38 g. Rome mint, struck 80/81

O: [CAES DIVI] AVG VESP F DOMITIAN[VS COS VII] - RIC II 288-306 (Titus)
R: IVD CAP across fields; SC in field below; mourning Jewess to left of palm on pile of arms; Jew on right with hands bound, arms on ground. - Titus RIC 153 (Perhaps a die match); Hendin 1593b; Upcoming addenda Titus 287A.

 

Like this Gallienus with a Fecunditas reverse type.

 

David, again an awesome coin.

~Doug

 

Oh, what a splendid coin! A perfect example of just how rare these mules really are. Other than the 'o' mint issue, they really are hard to come by!