Little Romans - Trajan quadrans

It would seem very easy to reverse the legends on these, especially if you're churning out thousands of them. One more item for the cherry-picking list!

 

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My Hadrian semises and quadrantes

 

I've always wanted to get the one with the lyre, but that one with the bust of Zeus-Ammon is fantastic!... and now on the want list.

 

I came to the same conclusion looking through RIC 1, pages 76-77. However, now I am at a loss as to what to reference this coin. RIC what? Any suggestions?

 

Perhaps RIC I 463 var. I would post it at FORVM - I'll bet the Roman experts would love to see it, and probably know of other recorded examples. Unless the minters realized their mistake and threw the dies out after striking one coin (which seems unlikely), there have to be other ones out there.

 

I think I'll do just that. Thanks.

 

Hadrian Ar Quinarius
Obv:- IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG; laureate bust right
Rev:- P M TR P COS III; Victoria standing right, holding wreath and palm branch
Rome Mint.
Reference:- RIC 103

 

Well I posted it over at Forum and here is the answer from one of their members:

 

I wonder if RIC reversed the inscriptions and devices in the catalog. This bears some more digging...

 

Perhaps you are a better investigator and I am, because I don't even have a clue where to look next to begin digging.

 

my Coinfriend there are 2 oon Vcoins and 1 on Auction a better coin then mine.
let me know if u want that auction link.

 

Well, a quick glance through Wildwinds shows that all of the inscriptions are reversed from the way RIC catalogs them. Here is your coin, attributed as RIC 463. So I guess if you want to use the latest edition of RIC, you just realize it's a misprint. The obverse legends go with the reverse devices and vice versa.

OK...I learned something here, but it's not the first time we've discovered mistakes in RIC. Still, I was rather hoping your coin was something special. Well...it is something special of course, but I was hoping it was more special...than it already is...of course. Eh, you know what I mean. Merry Christmas!

 

Okay guys, you can stop showing your quadrantes now.

ROME. temp. Hadrian-Antoninus Pius. Circa AD 120-161
Æ Quadrans (16mm, 2.94 g, 7h)
Rome mint
Petasus
Winged caduceus; S C flanking
Weigel 18; RIC II 32; Cohen 36​

Weigel reconsiders the anonymous quadrantes as a cohesive group. The seriesportrays a pantheon of eleven deities: Jupiter, Minerva, Roma, Neptune, Tiber, Mars, Venus, Apollo, Mercury, Bacchus/Liber, and Hercules. Types are primarily a portrait of the god, with an attribute on the reverse and are usually influenced by (but not directly copied from) earlier designs, primarily from the Republic. He updates the series to the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus. ​

 

So, does this mean the Anonymous I showed above is part of this series?

 

Another answer at Forum confirms your findings:

 

You win.

 

Some more

 

Thanks, Oki, I found the one on auction. I still think yours is the nicest of the ones available.

 

Guess we know where the real Sherlocks are to be found!

I suppose you could also just use Cohen 422 as your main reference since that one is right:
http://www.inumis.com/ressources/rome/books/cohen/vol_i/p122.html

And add a note on the mistake in RIC.

 

Wow, Ardy => that's a fantastic example!!



You're a pretty fricken cool dude ... weeks will go by without anything, and then all of a sudden "BAMMMM" ... you produce a total "ACE"

=> well played, my friend

Cheers, dawg