So, I am curious how often errors come out in ancient coins. I have this one example below that has the VOT backwards "TOV". So i am wondering are these quite common mistakes or something you do not see too often. The coin is also thick similar to a Tet.
ENATOY is the genitive singular of ένατος ("ninth"). L is the symbol for "year". Thus "of the ninth year", referring to the reign of Diocletian, who appears on the obverse.
"ENATOY" is Greek for 9, and "L" is a Ptolemic marking for "year", so this is a "year 9" regnal date (i.e. year 9 of the rule of whoever that is on the obverse). Edit: dltsrq beat me to it.
However, as to the original question, errors on ancients occur a LOT. Especially certain issues, like Byzantine. In fact, most of the time a coin without an error is worth more than one with an error, (as it should be in my mind). The only reason errors on moderns are worth more is that with machines they are much more rare.
More like how often do we see a perfectly struck coin that is literally the copy of more than one! every single ancient coin has differences, however minute it may be, even if they share same die. Errors on modern coinage is considered extraordinary because it's an exception not the norm, however my view is that ancient coins have their own signatures, some may call it imperfections, but that's what gives those coins character! and that's what made me jump from collecting modern coinage to hand struck coins. So many varieties, designs, and methods of minting coins.
Hi @Old World Coins, The reason year 9 is spelled out instead of using the numeral theta (θ) is because the Greeks of Egypt were superstitious. Theta is the first letter of Thanatos (death, θάνατος) so they avoided using it for number 9. - Broucheion
back to VOT backwards (say that fast three times), it does happen often enough. there are a few known examples like the coin below-- This small coin (10mm 0.75gm) is often attributed to the Vandals. The reverse legend is TOV TLVM X which is VOT MVLT X in retrograde. This happened because the engraver forgot or did not realize that he needed to engrave his legend backwards so that it would be correct on the coin. No problem with the obverse which looks like IIIIIII.
Thank all of you for your replies and insight. I like oddities and unique items so I am a fan of errors for minted or hammered coins.
