Gorgeous capture @Svarog ! Very nice! Mine... Has that retrograde ROMA legend going on, that I really like. RR AR Denarius ERROR BROCKAGE ROMA Helmeted Head-Incuse and reverse of obverse - 2nd-1st C BCE
Here's a brockage of a Faustina II provincial: Faustina Jr. AD 147-175 Uncertain provincial mint. 7.93 gm; 23.9 mm Obv: ΦΑVCΤΕΙΝΑ CΕΒΑCΤΗ, bare-headed and draped bust, r. Rev: Brockage of obverse. Unfortunately, it is darkly patinated and it doesn't exactly have 5/5 surfaces, so it doesn't photograph well.
A brockage from Hierocaesareia Lydia, Hierokaisareia Brockage Pseudo-autonomous issue First half of the second century Obv: draped bust of Artemis Persica right, with quiver at left shoulder, bow and arrow at breast Rev.: incuse image of the obverse AE, 3.15g, 16mm Ref.: possibly the obverse of RPC online, Volume 3, 1863
I am jealous of you ancient guys and your knowledge of ancient coins because I love the designs. One day when I am not bogged down from work and I am able to do further research I will dive more into it.
One of my focus areas is the Eastern issues of Septimius Severus and so I always trot out this brockage whenever I get an excuse to do so. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right Rev:– Brockage image of obverse Minted in Emesa. A.D. 194-195
Me, too, also. It just struck me that I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how many brockages of Septimius or 'Emesa' exist. I have not seen many. I recall no Alexandria mint brockages but that does not mean they do not exist. maridvnvm and I were both attracted to the coins we show here because of our interest in coins of this mint. Both of our coins are of similar style and could have been made about the same time. Do brockages exist from the earlier 'Emesa' period? Of Domna from this mint? Etc., etc??? Of the 200 or so Roman rulers that struck coins, How many exist as brockages? Fact: Brockages of denarii are much more common than those of bronze coins. How many rulers that made sestertii can be found as brockage sestertii? I have seen none that I recall BUT I have not looked. In my mind, Republican brockages are much more common than Imperial. Has there been a formal study? How many times must I say 'I don't know' in just one post?
Brockages are certainly more likely for the smaller coins, as these are more likely to get stuck in the dies, so I doubt many sestertius brockages exist. I'm pretty sure that brockages and general bad striking (off-centre, flat strikes) are much more common in Republican coins than in early Imperial coins, but I don't know of any formal study either (though since starting this message, I read a bit more). Did the mint take less care when striking coins for moneyers who changed each year and were fairly low-ranking officials than they did when the emperor's head was on the coin? There's a paper on brockages in the latest (2018) Numismatic Chronicle by Jack Nurpetlian - a version of it is online here: https://www.academia.edu/38415244/Brockage_coins Actually, reading it now (I have the dead tree edition, I must confess to not having read it all), I see Nurpetlian comments: "Brockages are more common in Roman Republican issues than Greek or Hellenistic; [23] this is attributed to the rise in production rates in the Roman period. [24]" Footnote 23 says: "de Callataÿ 2011, p. 67. Roman imperial period brockages are rare, probably as a result of the strict control practiced by mint officials (Woytek, forthcoming, 5th page)" ATB, Aidan.
