Koins With Speling Errors

Great coins everyone - I really like the Severus Alexander examples and will add one of those to the ever expanding want list!

 

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How about this mis-spelled 1672 English half penny, CRAOLVS A CAROLO (Charles (II) son of Charles)?

(CRAOLVS for CAROLVS).




Bill

 

Here are some coins of Elagabalus minted in the East, where it was fairly common for the engraver to run out of room for the G in AVG on the obverse. Solution for the first three coins: make it part of the emperor's drapery. No problem! Solution for the fourth coin: make the G really tiny. Again, no problem!

Also, on the fourth coin, the counter of the P in TEMP is solid. Counter is a typographic term for the negative space in the enclosed part of a letterform.

Some incidental observations that aren't related to the theme of the thread but still cool anyway. The depiction of Spes on the third coin is unusual in that some kind of footwear is indicated, like short boots. She's almost invariably shown barefoot, but not here! Then again, she might be barefoot and the little protrusions could indicate the bottom cuffs of an Eastern-style pantaloon. But it seems unlikely that she would be hitching her skirt while also wearing trousers. It does also look like she's wearing heels, unless those are her own anatomical heels, in which case they're quite inelegant.

I also like the oversized flans often found on these Eastern coins. On the coins that were struck far enough off center, you can see how the metal started to curl around the edge of the die. It's a visual indication of the diameter of the die relative to the diameter of the image area within it. Similar to a footprint, this impression is indirect evidence that implies the form of the tool itself.





Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern mint, struck 218–9 CE; 20mm, 3.36g, 7h. BMCRE 282–3, RIC 190, RSC 54. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rx: HILARITA–S – AVG; Hilaritas standing front, looking left, holding patera or wreath and long palm, between two naked children who look up at her with outstretched hands. Rare; six specimens in the Reka Devnia hoard.

Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern mint, struck 218–9 CE; 20mm, 3.04g, 8h. BMCRE 279, RIC 189, RSC 47a. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG; laureate and draped bust right. Rx: FORTVNA – REDVX; Fortuna wearing polos (RSC says modius), seated left, holding patera and cornucopiae; beside seat, wheel. Rare; only three in Reka Devnia, but Mouchmov does not distinguish between bust variants with and without cuirass; those without cuirass (as the present coin) seem to be significantly rarer.

Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern mint, struck 219 CE. 19mm, 3.11g, 7h. BMCRE 313–4, RIC 199, RSC 273. Obv: IMP ANTO–NINVS AVG; laureate bust right, draped and cuirassed. Rx: SPEI PER–PETVAE; Spes walking left, holding up flower and raising hem of skirt. Scarce; eighteen specimens in the Reka Devnia hoard.

Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern mint, struck 219 CE; 19mm, 3.18g, 12h. BMCRE 277, RIC 188, RSC 27a. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rx: FELICIT–AS / TEMP in exergue; ship with sail, seven rowers, and pilot; standard and acrostolium on stern, furled sail at prow. Scarce; sixteen specimens in the Reka Devnia hoard.

 

Not quite spelling errors here but the entire wrong legend for the reverse type.....

Septimius Severus denarius

Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right
Rev:– BONA SPES, Fides standing right holding basket of fruit and corn ears
Minted in Emesa, A.D. 194 - 195
References:– BMCRE -, RIC -, RSC -

A mix up with the reverse legend and reverse type. The reverse legend should match with the Spes type instead of Fides



and then the reverse error

Septimius Severus denarius

Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right
Rev:– BONI EVENTVS, Spes standing holding flower and lifting skirt
Minted in Emesa, A.D. 194 - 195
References:– BMCRE -, RIC -, RSC -

 

A recent acquisition of mine with a charming typo on the reverse legend:

Trajan, O: laureate head right, IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TR P COS V P P / R: Virtus standing right, holding reversed spear and parazonium, SPQR OPTIMO PRINOIPI [sic]. Seller's photo.

One occasionally sees the coins of the late-bronzes era gently mocked for their frequently overblown reverse inscriptions, but did anything of that period ever approach the rotundity of "SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI"? (Granted that the Senate gave the title to him of their own volition)

 

Quick question for a short answer. Looking at all these pictures of ancients it suddenly occurred to me that the production methods for such coins were wildly different than those of the present day. My question is, what method(s) were used to produce coins in those times? It might be interesting to understand how those methods determined the nature of the coins being produced.

 

Great thread! So many funny ones:

It seems that wobbly spelling was primarily an Imperial problem, but here's a (much less exciting) misspelled republican (ASAG for ASIAG):

L. Scipio Asiagenus (106 BC), serrate denarius, Cr. 311, 1a.

 

The short answer is that yes, it is interesting, and there were a wide variety of methods used to make the flans, strike the coins, etc, over the wide range of antiquity.

Here's one cursory overview:
http://www.classicalcoins.com/page103.html

 

Collectors of US Civil War tokens will be familiar with this famous type: The reverse legend reads "shoot him on the spoot" rather than "spot". Perhaps the die-cutter was distracted by the double o in "shoot" and absent-mindedly also made a double o in "spot".

 

I LOVE this! Such a great error.