I have been looking for one of these for years and have finally tracked one down. I am aware of leass than a handful but know Doug has a nice one. These don't seem to turn up every day. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG, laureate head right Rev:– P M TR P III COS II P P, Minerva, standing left, holding spear and shield Minted in Alexandria. A.D. 194 Reference:– RIC IV 350E; RSC 391a. Bickford-Smith S. 56 1.93 gms. 180 degrees Regards, Martin
I did have to buy a dozen denarii in a mixed lot to get it. Now I have to figure out how to get rid of the other eleven!
Congrats, Martin ... I love hearing that you're getting closer and closer to finishing your collection (just around the corner and then straight home, eh?) .... you rock
These coins do not exist except when they see Martin coming and crawl out begging to be part of his great collection. My top one is the Bickford-Smith specimen from his sale by CNG. A couple years later I pulled this other one from a junk box for 1/5th what I paid CNG. These three are all different dies so I'd think they should be more common but they are not. Barry Murphy's online collection did not show one. acsearch shows one sold in 2010 (a dozen years after I got mine) for no more than I paid CNG. The demand for these is less than the supply and the supply is approaching zero. I'll keep mine. The best one may be the dark toned one in the Michael Kelly collection but I don't know who got it. 'Serious' collectors pay according to condition and seem not to care if they lack coins that don't come in EF. Eastern Septimius is not a specialty that appeals to condition fans.
