Perhaps it was the Dodo bird at Juno's feet??? Perhaps it was the young portrait from the first part of the reign? Perhaps it was the clean and clear reverse of Juno? All of those may have had a part in the decision along with the reasonable price by my standards but the feature I want to learn more about is something else. Do you see the impressed area in front of the face of Mamaea? It looks like an arm and shoulder of a reverse figure resulting from clashed dies. Clashed dies (when dies were hammered together without a blank flan in place) are usually seen on reverses. This is on the obverse and there is no sign of damage on this reverse. The details of the side of the clash area do not really match up with this reverse either so my conclusion is that the clash involved a different reverse die. I see two possibilities. One is that the clash hit was so violent that it destroyed the reverse die so it was replaced with this different reverse and striking resumed. This is consistent with there being that much damage on an obverse from a clash. The other possibility I see is that the striking team was alternating reverse dies allowing the smaller upper die to cool a bit between uses. This theory has been promoted lately by Curtis Clay due to examples of coins that show overstriking on the reverse with different dies but no doubling of the obverse. If this is the case, it might be possible to find a coin of this obverse die with a reverse clash and figure that does match this obverse incuse. That would require a lot of luck. I would also love to see a coin of this obverse die struck before the damage occurred. That would require even more luck. As long as I am asking for miracles I'll specify that I want that coin to have the reverse figure that matches up with the incuse on this obverse. I'll ask anyone who have read this far to look at your Mamaea denarii and see if you can help my dreams come true.
Obverse clash is interesting, never seen an obverse clash for her. Mine is just a normal reverse clash. Julia Mamaea (222 - 235 A.D.) AR Denarius O: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, Diademed and draped bust right. R:VENVS GENETRIX, Venus standing left, head left, holding scepter and apple; at feet to left, Cupid standing right with hands raised. Rome 3.6g 20mm RIC 355 (Severus Alexander), RSC 072
I have no miracles for you. It looks like you got the dodo bird, Mat got the gibbon, and I got the chihuahua.
Wow Mentor, you're way too good at this collecting stuff!! (I would never have noticed that the indentation on the obverse was actually the arm and shoulder of the reverse => what happens in your head?!!) you're kinda like Neo from the Matrix (you seem to see the tiniest detail so clearly, while everybody else is running around looking at the fricken Dodo bird!!) ... good on ya, my coin-friend (you're top-drawer)
Doug, Could it be the same reverse type? I think that the clash is potentially a reversed Juno but off centre. Looking from the head towards the legend I see a shoulder and an arm holding something outwards, which is partly obscured by the last A of MAMAEA. The clash looks to have broken the die at this point which accounts for the malformation at the top of the A. The Dodo didn't show though the VG of AVG. All this could be from an off-centre clash. I could be completely off base here. Regards, Martin
