Hail Vitellius ... Oops, I mean Vespasian!

The real lesson of this thread: Fat, old Romans all look alike!

 

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whaaaaa?!?

 

hehe! the die makers were bettin' on # 5... c'mon fever in the funk house!

 

i voted #2, i'd say there is a 25% chance I'm correct.

 

I was recently looking into Vespasian denarii with Vitellius portraits and found a listing on VCoins from Incitatus Coins. The seller had the following note:

"This portrait strongly resembles portraits of Vitellius, and may have even simply been a die carved for Vitellius. There were several of these coins struck early on, after Vespasian had won the civil war against Vitellius, but prior to his triumphant arrival at Rome. Celators, having no accurate bust of Vespasian to draw on, simply left the portrait of Vitellius on the coinage, or in some cases, slightl modified it based
on word-of-mouth description. In this case, the portrait is almost identical to several listed denarii of Vitellius struck in late 69AD."

I wasn't sure if it is okay to include links in these posts (I'm new!). The lot is sold but can still be found - I just Google Image searched "vespasian coin portrait vitellius" and it came up.

 

If #2 is wrong, the surprise to me will be: why does Vitellius look so much like Vespasian on that one?

 

Hey, wait a minute. What are you saying? Should I be insulted or pleased? Lol

 

That depends: are you a fat, old, Roman?

 

A fat old Italian. Does that count?

 

Nope.

 

Well I guess I can't make my claim to Imperial lineage then.

 

Were you born in Rome?

 

Marsyas Mike may have solved the riddle.

 

I'll tell you why #2 is the answer.

A) I'm Cuban and I say #2 is Vespasian.
B) For such an insignificant little country, Cuba is always on the news.
C) Which means the world revolves around Cubans

THEREFORE anything I say is correct.

How can you argue with such hard logic?

 

No but I was born in an Italian section of Boston, MA from second generation Italians. Unfortunately my grandparents were just peasant farmers as far as I know.

 

The coin is in hand and I'm ready to post the answer.
#2. is Vespasian.






Vespasian
AR Denarius, 3.17g
Rome mint, 69-70 AD
RIC 19 (C), BMC 7, RSC 84.
Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG; Head of Vespasian, lauerate, r.
Rev: COS ITER FORT RED; Fortuna, draped, standing l.,setting r. hand on prow and holding cornucopiae in l. hand

I would label the above coin as having 'Vitellian-like facial features'.

I included coin 1 and 3 because they have similar facial features (perhaps engraved by the same hand?) as 2. #4 I threw in as a curveball, it is looks like a Vespasian. Most of you didn't fall for it!


If you want to try again, I have another early Vespasian on the way. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/vitellius-or-vespasian-round-two.292338/

The new quiz is a bit tougher!

 

ha! i should never doubt my 1st instinct... or should i?!?><

 

I fell for number four. It appears that I fell for it for the right reasons though, so I don't feel too bad.

 

I don't get many of these right, but Vespasian is one of my favorite emporers. Yeah I picked #2.

 

My first instinct was number 2, but I picked number 3 because I thought number 2 was too obvious.