We're all aware that Gallienus had issues with unsightly neck beard creeping down from his chops... but here we see a significantly worse problem! Or maybe it's "Composition with Beard and Salus", artist unknown, circa 267 CE. Definitely ahead of its time. What it really is: My first flip-over double strike, Gallienus antoninianus, RIC 581 (Siscia). Show your flip-over double strikes and your Gallienus/Salus or Gallienus from the Siscia mint!
Obviously you didn't research this coin very well, Sevvy. Tsk tsk. It's not a mint error... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seriously though, what a fantastically dramatic coin!!
!!! My bad... so that's not an eyes-to-heaven bust, it's an "OMG, how will I get rid of my side-saluses?!?" bust. He definitely looks eye-rollingly annoyed.
Don't you just love it when a happenstance error creates something that rises above the norm? Excellent coin SA!
Great coin @Severus Alexander ! I like coins that you have th think a bit to see what happened. This overstrike is easy yo see. I had to do some work to figure this one. It is a flip over double strike, but not much of the first strike can be seen. I cut pictures of the obverse and reverse to analyze it. You can see the horses front legs and Dioscuri spear tips on the obverse.
That Piso is awesome!! (Side comment: big envelope? or just a tiny as? ) I can't really see what's going on with the Plutius, but I'll take your word for it!
OK, TIF, what can you do with Septimius Severus and Mars? When it comes to flipovers my favorite is this Magnentius where the first strike was a brockage leaving one obverse, two raised reverses and one incuse reverse on one coin. I apologize to those who have seen it a hundred times before.
Scholars attribute the modern "shoulder devil/angel" meme to this bust of Septimius Severus, from which your coin's design is derived: It is rumored that Tolstoy was so enamored of this bust that he almost named his most famous novel Mars and Pax.
WAY COOL @Severus Alexander ! VERY nice example and a great first flipover doublestrike! Great detail on that Salus! Yours is an incredible example... This one is a hot mess of a flipover-double-strike: RR AR Den Clodius Pulcher T Mallius 111-110 BCE ERROR Flipover Double-Strike Roma Triga Cr 299-1b S 176 O-R This one is just a double-strike: RR M Furius ERROR DOUBLE-STRIKE AR Den 119 BC 3.8g 20mm Janus Trophy Carnyx S 156 Cr 281-1 And this is an over-strike making it look like a Januform: RR Anon AE Sextans-Hieron II Overstrike 214-212 BCE S1211 Cr69-6
And I forgive you a hundred times! That is an über-awesome coin and we all love it. By contrast, I had never seen the Mars flipover before... a nice companion for my Gallienus for sure. Unsurprisingly, it looks like he is favouring Mars... @Alegandron: Thanks, Gandalf! I would love to see a higher-res image of that Clodius Pulcher/Mallius. Here's my non-messed-up version:
