My latest acquisition shows what happens when two blanks were stuck together before the hammer swings... one got the obverse and the other one the reverse... and the result is coins with a totally blank side. I missed @Terence Cheesman ' Victorinus unstruck reverse at CNG 500 but won this Postumus as a consolation prize today ! Please show me your UNSTRUCK (BLANK) COINS.
Constantinopolis A.D. 332- 333 18mm 2.5gm Obv: blank Rev. Victory stg. on prow, holding long scepter in r. hand, and resting l. hand on shield. in ex. TRP✶ RIC VII Trier 548 Ex 1989 Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard. unofficial issue...probably copying a Constantine I VLPP from Siscia 17mm 2.1gm
Sorry you missed out on that Victorinus (I know you love his coins especially), but that is a very cool consolation prize! Here is my only similar coin, a weird Constantine II from Trier that I couldn't pass up. I wonder what explains the odd nub on the blank side... any ideas?
Maybe that's where the reverse die may have been anchored and the obverse was struck without the reverse die present? I don't know enough about the process to offer any more than this guess.
Nice catch, Ocat! Here's my RR unifacer, proof that Kevin and his descendants were working at those mints for well over 400 years. ROMAN REPUBLIC AR Denarius, uniface error strike. 3.96g, 19mm. Rome mint, 109-108 BC. L. Flaminius Chilo, moneyer. cf. Crawford 302/1. O: Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, ROMA and below chin, X. R: Blank.
Claudius II ("Gothicus") Augustus A.D. 268-270 Billon Antoninianus Unidentified Asian Mint Obverse: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG - Helmeted, left-facing, radiate bust of Claudius II, called Gothicus. Reverse: Blank error. 21 mm, 2.1 g.
Cool acquisition, Ocat and others! I'd love to have one of these interesting errors. I think OJ is on the right track. If this uniface strike happened in the usual way, it would mean the other flan had a divot that matched the nub on Sev's coin and that seems unlikely. Perhaps the hammer die (assuming the reverse is the hammer die) had a removable die affixed to the hammer in some manner that involved a divot on the hammer and the reverse die fell out before the hammer struck Sev's flan? It's a mystery and mysteries are one of the most fun things about this hobby .
Thanks, both of you, I like this theory... and did enough work on it to turn it into its own thread. Check it out!
Recent purchase, still waiting for the coin to arrive before I can truly understand how it was struck. Syria, Chyrrestica-Beroea - Macrinus Tetradrachm, obverse blank or blank flan between coins (?)
Etruria/ unknown city state AV Asse ND Struck circa 300-250BC Either coin reverse is blank purpose/ or striking error. Less then 4 known.