It's not often one comes across an unpublished denarius of Titus as Augustus. His coinage has been fully catalogued and is fairly neat and tidy with standardised issues and little in the way of surprises. However, every once in a while an unpublished variant surfaces - this is one of those very special coins. I was quite thrilled when it arrived today in my PO Box! Titus AR Denarius, 2.83g Rome mint, 79 AD RIC 16A (R3). BMC - . RSC - . Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r. Rev: ANNONA AVG; Annona std. l., with sack of corn ears Ex Roma Numismatics, E-Sale 58, 20 June 2019, lot 1078. A unique First issue Annona paired with a Second issue obverse legend. The Annona reverse was a carry-over type struck for Titus as Caesar under Vespasian just before his death and was likely issued in the first few days of Titus' reign as a stop-gap until new reverse designs could be created. It is by far the rarest type from the First issue. The obverse legend changed in the second issue from the First issue's IMP T CAESAR to IMP TITVS CAES, this would be the standard obverse legend on the denarii for the remainder of the reign. The appearance of the Annona type with the new obverse legend is possibly a mule using an old First issue reverse die with a new Second issue obverse. There is a slight possibility that it was an intentional strike, but the fact that no other Second issue Annona types have surfaced is a strong indication it is accidental. I informed Ian Carradice of the piece and he has assigned it RIC 16A in the upcoming RIC II.1 Addenda with the note: 'Perhaps a mule, with rev die from the previous issue'. Please share your unpublished and/or Titus coins!
Sweet find. @David Atherton , you and @Orfew really go to the ends of the Earth, and then some, for those Flavian rarities. Every new thread on the subject is an educational experience.
A wonderful acquisition David. I am very happy you got that one. It belongs in a specialist's collection. It is now certainly in the possession of someone who will appreciate it. This is unpublished but soon will be. It is a coin of Titus. I have posted this one before but since it fits here... This coin is RIC 124 A in the addenda to RIC II which will hopefully be published soon. Not to be deliberately opaque but this coin should not be confused with 124 a. There are 3 variations of the reverse for RIC 124. They are called 124 a, 124 b, and 124 c (These titles are not given in the text of RIC II, instead they are in the plates of the volume . All 3 feature a reverse with a number of palmettes and a triangular frame. The difference between the 3 versions concerns the number of palmettes. 124 a has 5 palmettes, 124 b has 3, and 124 c has 9. Now to make things more confusing these reverses have rare versions where there is a Lituus under the triangular frame. I do not have the versions of RIC 124 a, b, and c without the Lituus. Here is RIC 124 c with the Lituus. In the addenda to RIC II a new entry will be added: RIC 124 A. Notice the capital letter. This coin has the 5 palmettes like RIC 124 a but the authors have decided that this variety with the Lituus deserved its own reference number, therefore this unpublished (for now) coin will be RIC 124 A. Another feature is that in the addenda the coin is given the rarity rating R3 (one known at this time). In fact I bet you can guess who owns the soon to be RIC reference coin. I am looking at you @David Atherton. A couple of months ago I stumbled across this coin and bought it immediately. Yes, you have guessed...this coin may be the second example known. (there may be others) Unfortunately this means that David's coin is no longer unique. When I get a chance I will have to write a note to Prof Carradice to tell him a second has surfaced. The rarity status of this type should be adjusted to R2. RIC 124 A
Congrats on the acquisition, David. I can imagine how a new Titus denarius variety is not something you stumble across every day.
Indeed! This is why I was so excited about it. The question remains - was this supposed to be officially part of the Second issue or did someone accidentally use an old reverse die left over from the First issue? It's not very clear because even the First issue Annona is very rare. It took me ages to find an example for my collection! Titus AR Denarius, 3.17g Rome mint, 79 AD RIC 2 (R2). BMC specimen acquired 1934. RSC - . Obv: IMP T CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r. Rev: ANNONA AVG; Annona std. l., with sack of corn ears Just to illustrate how rare the First issue Annona is - the eminent Flavian collector Harry Sneh systematically collected Titus in silver, he was never able to obtain an example.
