Patient tightwad here. Play only if you wish. Today the mailman brought my latest eBay purchase. It was misidentified in the listing so I'll tell you what they said about the coin and you (that means mostly V) might see what the error was. The seller advertised the coin as having been sold by a 'name' dealer but I don't know when. It came in a flip with a Malter Galleries tag. Joel Malter was a major name in the hobby when I was new and died several years ago. I have no idea when he sold the coin but his tag also has the error on it and is not the old style I knew from when Joel Malter himself was running the business. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_L._Malter EGYPT, Alexandria. Aelius. Caesar, AD 136-138. Æ Drachm (29 mm, 18 grams). Struck AD 137. Bareheaded and draped bust right / Homonoia enthroned left, holding phiale and leaning on cornucopia set on ground. Köln 1274 var. (holding cornucopia); Dattari (Savio) 2076; K&G 34.4. Attractive brown surfaces! AN ATTRACTIVE AND SCARCER BRONZE! The reverse shows Homonoia (Concord) with the legend dating the coin in Greek ΔHM ЄΞ OV C VΠAT · B (or TRP COS II). Beneath is OMONOIA (Greeks did not have an H so it is not missing here). Certainly the legends are weak and worn but there is no question what is there. I almost did not bid on the coin but decided that I was unlikely to afford a better Alexandrian Aelius and this one should be cheap since it is worn and most people (unlike me) like a rough VF rather than a smooth surfaced VG-F. This coin may have been a pocket piece carried by the guy who bought it from Malter back when. I don't know. The description was obviously listed from some other sale since it quotes a weight of 18g. while the coin is closer to 13g. The diameter was closer but I'd say 28mm rather than 29. For comparison I searched online and found a few similar coins including ones I'll mention here: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=245921 http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=650535 http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=18419 http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=18638 and most significant but you have to scroll down to find the coin 1/4 way down the page: http://www.beastcoins.com/Collections/KeithEmmettEgypt/KeithEmmettRomanEgypt.htm When researching coins always check to see if Beast has a page. He is a nice guy with good website content (I could suggest a few design changes - his pages are old fashioned like mine). Well V and others who like to play, what is the error? If you are really sharp you would find an equal but opposite error in one of the above linked coins. This is something I did not see in the seller's excellent photo but also is a reason buying coins from photos can be deceptive. Was I shortchanged by the error? Should I be happy with this worn out old coin or should I return it as misdescribed? I bought it because I liked the look in the photo despite the wear and that much of the description is correct. "Attractive brown surfaces! AN ATTRACTIVE AND SCARCER BRONZE!" Is 'scarcer' important? I make plenty of mistakes and am in no place to be hard on others who do. Should I mention this one in feedback or just let it go? As always, here is the place to show your coins of Aelius Caesar.
Also I paid for this by Paypal at 10:26 AM PST on February 14th. It arrived at 12:30 PM EST February 15th. Way to go Post Office!
Love 1 day shipping . So, my first guess would be a cornucopia, which I don't see. edit: awe, I was slow to post and it looks like i copied TIF lol. I was looking at the links for a while. I couldnt spot what was missing on one of them.
I don't know.... but I'llllllllllllll be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatchiiiiiiiiiiiing. but seriously, I think it's an attractive coin...and considering how much those coins you posted are going for...if you got a good deal that probably a keeper!
I agree with TIF. The cornucopia seems to be missing unless it is worn completely. The coins you link are easy to identify the cornucopia.
Yup the cornucopia is missing. BTW, I found the "other" error, CNG lists their example as: "Æ Hemidrachm (34mm, 23.18 g, 12h)" Those are the specs for a normal drachm, a hemidrachm is 29mm 13.02 grams. Boom!!!
I am inclined to agree with Vlaha.......wouldnt have picked up on the drachm/hemi error, not straight away anyway, but the Cornucopia certainly seems to have gone astray.
I agree there is no cornucopia. Now I need to find other coins of this die to see what is going on. Worn? Tooled??? Correct. CNG called their drachm a hemidrachm but I thought someone would pick up on my coin at just under 13g. being a hemidrachm rather than a drachm as advertised. It struck me as small when I opened the package and more so when I got out my Hadrian drachm. I suppose 'small' is not what you usually call a 28-29mm coin but drachms are usually in the low 30's and thicker. I did not pick up on it from a photo because the coins look a lot alike when both are blown up to the size of a saucer. In hand, the difference is more obvious. Hemidrachms are harder to find online so the chance of finding my die match is lower. Emmett lists the drachm as rarity 1 common but the hemi is a 3 (scarce). One thing you notice looking over Emmett is how many coins are listed as 5 (rarest).
A post to another Forvm turned up the fact that the version without cornucopia is listed as Dattari/Savio 7996. That is another (huge) book (in Italian) that would be necessary only for the obsessive/compulsive specialist.
