...actually, The Retrograde Letter, but "The Scarlet Letter" sounds way more interesting. So I bought this antoninianus of Probus as I usually do because it was attractive and I was intrigued by the retrograde letter above the exergue in the center field on the reverse. As it turns out, I learned a bit about the Antioch Mint and something about the evolution of the letters digamma and 'F.' I spoke with Greg Kryszczuk from Probus.net about this coin because it was so unusual to see the retrograde S or digamma in the center field. I looked around for similar examples in the references and found none. I was not certain even if it was a retrograde S or digamma which is actually quite a problem when you are attributing a coin. An S makes no sense because Antioch used Greek letters to number their officinas and since S is used to represent the Latin word "Secunda" either the coin was not from Antioch or it was a retrograde digamma. Greg confirmed that it is in fact a retrograde digamma. He also included an excerpt from a paper by Marcus Tod about Attic alphabet forms. The long and short of the relevant passage is this: As you can see in figure 1a., number 9 looks an awful lot like an 's.' If you reverse that said 's' you end up with: Probus, Antoninianus, CLEMENTIA TEMP AR Antoninianus Probus Augustus: 276 - 282AD Issued: 280AD 22.5 x 19.5mm 5.10gr 6h O: IMP CM AVR PROBVS PF AVG; Radiate and draped bust, right, seen from the back. R: CLEMENTIA TEMP; Probus, standing right on left, holding scepter, receiving Victory holding wreath from Jupiter, standing left on right. Exergue: Retrograde Digamma above line; XXI, below line. Antioch Mint RIC V-2 922var. (Radiate, draped bust); Cohen 99;Brenot, Claude & Pflaum, Hans-Georg, Revue Numismatique, 1965/67, Syria Hoard II, #85. Aorta: B87, O38, R13, T96, M1. I had never really understood how a cursive digamma would be related to a single gamma at all until I saw the form number 1 in figure 1a. A regular gamma with a half size reversed gamma attached to the downward stroke makes perfect sense when you think about it and the form that we encounter with coins from the third century. I spoke with Dane from Wildwinds and she referred me to an article concerning a Syrian Hoard which at least confirmed that the radiate, draped bust type existed since it was not in RIC even though it is practically identical to RIC 922. I share the link here in case there is anyone who could use the information. http://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_1965_num_6_7_930 I include as a bonus this other sweet coin of Probus. Originally misattributed to Siscia by RIC, Pink considers this the first emission of Rome. Probus, Antoninianus, PM TR P COS PP AR Antoninianus Probus Augustus: 276 - 282AD Issued: 277AD 22.0 x 21.0mm 3.78gr 6h O: IMP CM AVR PROBVS AVG; Radiate, cuirassed bust, right. R: PM TR P COS PP; Probus standing left, raising hand and holding scepter, standard on either side. Exergue: XXIε Rome Mint; First emission, fifth officina. RIC V-2 Rome 607 I find this type interesting because even though it is rated common, I do not see the reverse type much at all. There is a note on the only example (XXIB) on Wildwinds stating how RIC had this issue attributed to Siscia but Pink later reclassified it as the first emission of Rome. It is also not listed in Aorta as extant either. It is just a funny little coin that fell through the cracks. Post whatever you like of course, but if you have any numismatic mysteries or things you learned recently in the course of investigating, please add here!
We have to be careful when reading officina numerals from various mints and reigns. See these two: I'm not sure what to make of the retrograde S. Sometimes retrograde just happens. See the B. normal
Beautifull silvering on that Probus, Nicholasz . Not a mystery but a well circulated Probus Clementia from Antioch:
@dougsmit That’s a really great Adventus, Doug. The detail in the bust, particularly the helmet, cuirass and shield is really top notch. I am a big fan of that bust type and to see that type in that condition makes me an even bigger fan. Thanks for sharing. @Andres2 Your Clementia might be well worn, but it is still a nice piece. One of the things I like about this series and similar series of Probus is that there is still a lot happening with these coins even when they are worn. Learning about the mints, officinas and emissions, discovering all of the different bust types and legend combinations makes these coins fascinating to me. Which brings me back to the original coin. Greg and I discussed how it seems unusual that coins with retrograde letters would make it to circulation without the knowledge of the mint considering how attentive to detail the Empire was about its coinage. I do not dismiss the possibility of error of course. But like @dougsmit demonstrated in a few coins, the problem seems to be a little widespread and common so the possibility that there is meaning behind the retrograde letters is exciting. If this was confined to the coins of the Gallic emperors or the Crisis half a century before I could see it being more symptomatic of the larger issues the Empire faced.
Hmmm... Lookin' purdy common to me. Here are a couple retrogrades... RR AR Denarius ERROR BROCKAGE ROMA Helmeted Head-Incuse and reverse of obverse - 2nd-1st C BCE "ROMA" Retrograde on Reverse And, here is a Retrograde "B": Marsic Confederation denarius 89 BCE Italia-Italia seated shields vict Corfinium Campana retrograde "B" in exergue 105 HN Italy 412a Sear 228 RARE
