I couldn't resist this Vespasian didrachm, both because it's an interesting variant and it's very pleasing to look at. Vespasian AR Didrachm, 6.93g Caesarea, Cappadocia mint, 76-77 AD RPC 1651 var. (19 spec.). Obv: AYTOKPA KAICAP OYЄCΠACIANOC CЄBACTOC; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r. Rev: ΔOMЄTIANOC KAICAP CЄBA YIO ЄT Θ; Domitian standing, l., holding branch Acquired from Forvm, July 2018. A 'local' style Cappadocian didrachm with an unusual reverse legend variant. Here we have 'ΔOMЄTIANOC' instead of 'ΔOMITIANOC', and 'CЄBA' instead of 'CЄB'. The odd spelling of Domitian's name with an 'Є' occurs only a handful of times on extremely rare bronze provincial coins. To my knowledge this variant legend is confined to just one reverse die. Nemo has a die match in his Forvm gallery. RPC have not assigned it a separate catalogue number, but it is noted in the 2017 Addenda. The reverse features Domitian 'son of the Augustus' togate as consul, holding an olive branch in a suggestion of peace. An interesting provincial dynastic type. For comparison, here is my 'normal' example. Vespasian AR Didrachm, 6.77g Caesarea, Cappadocia mint, 76-77 AD RPC 1651 (19 spec.). Obv: AYTOKPA KAICAP OYЄCΠACIANOC CЄBACTOC; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r. Rev: ΔOMITIANOC KAICAP CЄB YIO ЄT Θ; Domitian standing, l., holding branch Ex Pegasi VAuction 32, 19 May 2015, lot 314. Feel free to share your variant spellings and/or mistakes!
The reverse of the second coin looks the the reverse of a standing liberty quarter. (US collector realizes he is in the wrong room, awkwardly walks out the door with every ancient collector staring at him. after 15 seconds of strange silence, one ancient collector asks what a standing liberty quarter is) <---- That was the scenario that was running through my head as I typed that first sentence
Interesting distinction between the two! Nicely done with snagging that new Vesp variety! We all have to start some where, right? And there seems to be a handful who have a foot in both areas. My ex-1829/7 50C Capped Bust Half Dollar... I had a 1927-S Standing Liberty, but can't find the photos on my phone (and am too lazy to get out of bed to open up my laptop to get them). *yep, it's in my hand without gloves lol I couldn't keep them locked away... That made me a bad modern collector and a reason I love ancients!
The reverse of a Standing Liberty quarter has an eagle. But yes, the standing, draped female figure does somewhat resemble the obverse of a Standing Liberty Quarter.
David, has the coin been lacquered? The color and surfaces look like aged and yellowed lacquer on my screen. It's rather pretty
Oops. Domitian looked rather effeminate at a glance, there. See, @CoinBlazer? I poke gentle fun at your obverse/reverse mixup, then get called out myself over a male/female mixup! There's karma for you!
Possibly. Whatever the coating is, it's been on the coin for a very long time because green deposits have formed over the top of it in places. And I agree, it looks quite pretty.
The assumption is that Cappadocia used the Actian Antiochene calendar which began on 2 September. Following this formula, Vespasian's regnal year one would have dated 1 July to 1 September 69. Counting forward we would have the following regnal years for his Cappadocian coinage: Year 6 = 73-74 Year 7 = 74-75 Year 9 = 76-77 (the year of the above coin)
Domitian was such a good sport I'm sure the comparison wouldn't have bothered him at all. You just would have been invited to one of infamous 'black' dinner parties. Domitian 'prepared a room that was pitch black on every side, ceiling, walls and floor, and had made ready bare couches of the same colour resting on the uncovered floor; then he invited in his guests alone at night without their attendants. And first he set beside each of them a slab shaped like a gravestone, bearing the guest's name and also a small lamp, such as hang in tombs. Next comely naked boys, likewise painted black, entered like phantoms, and after encircling the guests in an awe-inspiring dance took up their stations at their feet. After this all the things that are commonly offered at the sacrifices to departed spirits were likewise set before the guests, all of them black and in dishes of a similar colour. Consequently, every single one of the guests feared and trembled and was kept in constant expectation of having his throat cut the next moment, the more so as on the part of everybody but Domitian there was dead silence, as if they were already in the realms of the dead, and the emperor himself conversed only upon topics relating to death and slaughter. Finally he dismissed them; but he had first removed their slaves, who had stood in the vestibule, and now gave his guests in charge of other slaves, whom they did not know, to be conveyed either in carriages or litters, and by this procedure he filled them with far greater fear. And scarcely had each guest reached his home and was beginning to get his breath again, as one might say, when word was brought him that a messenger from the Augustus (Domitian) had come. While they were accordingly expecting to perish this time in any case, one person brought in the slab, which was of silver, and then others in turn brought in various articles, including the dishes that had been set before them at the dinner, which were constructed of very costly material; and last of all came that particular boy who had been each guest's familiar spirit, now washed and adorned. Thus, after having passed the entire night in terror, they received the gifts.' - Dio, Book LXVII
I think the best way to describe this would be as a variant spelling. The Greek language during the Koine period was undergoing a linguistic shift known as iotacism, whereby a number of vowels and diphtongs converged in sound such that they all were pronounced like iota in modern Greek (EE as in feet). Since there were no dictionaries and no concept of orthography, words were spelled phonetically and I think ΔOMЄTIANOC is not necessarily an error but simply the way that particular die-engraver decided to spell it that day. It would have been pronounced the same as the "standard" spelling. Such spelling variants may be limited to a single die, allowing for identification of die-matches. I know I have a few spelling variations among my Roman provincial issues, but only one comes to mind right now -- this quasi-autonomous issue of Smyrna. The spelling variation on the reverse of my coin allowed me to identify it as a die-match to the SNG Copenhagen plate coin. Time of Commodus. Quasi-autonomous AE 26.1 mm, 8.01 g, 5 h. Ionia, Smyrna, Strategos Kl. Stratoneikianos, AD 182-184. Obv: ΙЄΡΑ ϹVΝ [ΚΛΗΤΟϹ], draped bust of Senate, right. Rev: CΤΡ•CΤΡΑΤΟΝЄΚ[ΙΑΝΟV СΜVΡΝΑΙΩΝ], Winged Nemesis of Smyrna, advancing right, plucking chiton and holding bridle. Refs: RPC IV 278 (temp); Klose XV B a; SNG Cop. 1304. First, here's the listing in SNG Copenhagen:* *Since the publication of SNG Copenhagen, we now know it's from the time of Commodus, not Severus, because Kl. Stratoneikianos was magistrate from AD 182-184. Note how the listing mentions that the first iota in CΤΡΑΤΟΝЄΙΚΙΑΝΟV (the name of the magistrate (Strategos) Kl. Stratoneikianos) is uncertain. My coin's inscription reads CΤΡΑΤΟΝЄΚ[...]. This is a spelling variation from other coins from this issuing authority such as this one, this one, and the RPC listing for my coin, which all read CΤΡΑΤΟΝЄΙΚΙΑΝΟV with an iota between the Є and the Κ. Therefore, I was able to recognize that my coin was a reverse die-match to the Copenhagen plate coin, which also reads CΤΡΑΤΟΝЄΚI[...] (instead of CΤΡΑΤΟΝЄΙΚΙ[...]): Which is apparent when compared side-by-side:
Okay! Ban Liang with its characters reversed and a Huo Quan missing its characters: Huo Quan with its characters reversed: The characters on this spade are not only reversed, but also upside down!
LRB fans have their own variation but not error: Dalmatius - will anyone notice that this font style uses H for A?
