Vespasian from Agora auctions

Just won this today. It is not in very good shape but I liked it because I have the same reverse on a coin of Titus. Please post your coins of Vespasian.

Vespasian A.D. 69-79. AR denarius (19.3 mm, 2.82 g, 6 h).

Rome mint, struck A.D. 77-78.

Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head right

Rev: COS VIII, prow of galley right, star above.

RIC 108; BMCRE 210; RSC 136.

Agora Auctions Lot 53-176 April 5, 2016

Ex: Agora Auctions

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Cool prow, Orfew => congrats

Sadly, I still only have one example of this dude ...

 

Nice! A cool type.

 

That is a most interesting Vespasian. That must have been one bright star!

 

very nice galley,

 

A neat reverse which copies denarius types struck for Ahenobarbus and Mark Antony. Many of the denarii minted for Vespasian had an antiquarian air about them and were either copied types from the past or invented ones which looked 'republican'. Denarii of his reign were struck at 80% fineness, so presumably the mint was recalling the finer republican and early imperial types in circulation and were striking the antiquarian types at the new standard.

Here's my example, one of the first Roman coins I purchased.



I'm glad to see you got one, it's not as common as you would think!

 

*sweet*

 

I love that OP denarius and I almost went after it as well...but I already had quite a few 'cooking' LOL Congrats @Orfew !!!

Wonderful posts @vepasian70 and @stevex6 !! I'm drooling over them!!

I won this denarius at another auction (relatively common but interesting) which I might as well post here:

AR Denarius of Vespasian, Rome Mint 74 AD
RIC II, 3.28 grams, 19.5 mm
IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG
Laureate head right
PON MAX TRP COS V
Vespasian seated right on curule chair, feet on foot stool, long scepter near vertical behind in right hand, olive branch in left hand.

 

Nice pick-up Orfew, and thanks for the explanation of the reverse type @vespasian70 . It's hard to tell because of the difference in wear, but I believe your two coins share the same reverse die.

I have only one Vespasian denarius in my possession at the moment, which has the sort of chicken-scratch lettering you occasionally find. It seems so odd compared to the "high art" style of the devices, particularly the bust.

 

Nice coin. I lost out on an auction for the left facing bust version of this coin just 2 days ago. I really liked the reverse.

 

I'm sorry to hear that one slipped by!

 

Nice example! Yet another reverse which copies a type from the past, this time Tiberius' 'Tribute Penny'.

 

Sorry to hear that! I think that's the scarcer version as well.

 

Yes, it's a 'R2' (very few examples) coin in RIC, but it's probably one of the more common R2 coins out there, if that makes any sense! Left facing busts were generally struck at a ratio of 1:10 compared with right facing.

 

Great Vespasian denarius Orfew! I love the reverse. Ramming speed indeed.

Here is one of my favorite Vespasian coins. Not silver, and possibly tooled a bit, but she'll do.

Vespasian: AD 69-79
AE As; 28mm/10.1g
OBV; IMP CAESAR VESP AVG COS V CENS, laureate head right/
REV; S-C, Spes advancing left, holding flower & raising hem of robe. Rome mint.
(Cohen 452, RIC I 360a)

 

No Vespasian's, but here's the Antony/Ahenobarbus Vespasian70 mentioned as the inspiration for the reverse.

 

Utterly fantastic! It's quite remarkable how close the Antony coin is to the Vespasian copy. I love seeing these older types side by side with the Flavian versions.

 

Great coin Carthago. There were certainly a lot of interesting coins of M. Antony.

Here is the Titus version.

 

A very scarce type for Titus Caesar which I believe is rarer than the the RIC 'rare' rating indicates. Harry Sneh sold me an example eight years ago. I still cherish it.

 

Judaea Capta series sestertius, ric 221:




Just picked up a new Vespasian dupondius at the Baltimore show, but don't have a picture yet.