Die matches and rarity?

It certainly doesn´t, but that is because it is yet another misattributed Gordian I ! The portrait (top coin below) clearly does not show the plumb features of Gordian II and his trademark protruding lower lip. It certainly DOES look like an obverse die match to a coin that CNG themselves sold as Gordian I in 2006 (CNG 147, # 327, see the coin on the bottom below):

The Securitas reverse on the second CNG coin is common for Gordian I (35 known to Banti), but for Gordian II it is even rarer than the Victoria type (only 2 in Banti, none on AC Search), which in itself would make it highly unlikely that this die could depict Gordian II (the two published specimens for Gordian II do not share a die with this).

The coin from the Egger catalogue is a Gordian I and listed as such:



JG

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Here is another one: My Macrinus Sestertius, RIC 139, was struck with only one obverse die (Nr.2 in Curtis Clay „The Roman Coinage of Macrinus and Diadumenian“) and one reverse die (Clay Nr.42). There seem to be three known specimens:

 

Had a little time for a side by side of a die match with Maheshwari 290



This series is interesting to ponder on because almost no two coins even look alike. Does that mean all of them are rare? Or perhaps none of them are?

 

This is both true and untrue and very much depends. Cast duplicates come from identical dies by their very nature. Fakes created from hubbed dies - the same applies.

All this being said I heavily rely on die matches in my focus areas like in this thread which focusses on a small number of known coins from a very limited number of dies:-

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-latest-sept-sev-imp-ca-cos-ii.296314/

and this one which is a small issue where all coins come from a single obverse die.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/half-of-a-rare-coin.324321/#post-3199706

here is a double die match that aided with full legends and attribution.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ever-buy-duplicates-on-purpose.302180/page-2#post-2840528

I could go on....

 

According to Cahn, 8 obverse and 26 reverse dies.

Another reason for a high survival rate might be that certain coin-like objects were not intended for circulation but used as status symbols and buried with their owners, like holed barbarian imitations of Roman Aurei.

Probably around a dozen specimens of my gold plated Aureus featuring a left-facing Tetrarch (probably Diocletian) and Roma seated have been found in modern-day Ukraine, probably all in graves of the gothic Chernyakov culture. They are all from the same pair of dies! There is an other type with 30 or so specimens from one pair of dies. I doubt there is an Imperial gold coin with that many matches.

 

I just received NAC´s 1995 catalogue of the Friedrich Collection of more than 2400 Sestertii. And guess what: in the 1900 lots illustrated there (most of them not found on AC Search or elsewhere) I found a couple of more die matches to the specimens I showed in this thread.

Here is an 8th specimen, again from the same obverse die, but a fifth (if I get it right) reverse die, which again illustrates that there usually were a handful of reverse dies produced for each obverse die due to the faster wearing down of the later:

Here are two Sestertii of different reverse types, but from the same obverse die as my coin (and the other recorded specimens of RIC 139):


RIC 121

RIC -

This shows that Sestertius production during this time was so limited that one obverse die (the only one originally showing Macrinus with a medium beard) was not only used over several emissions (RIC 121 predates RIC 139 as the COS II is missing), but also for several reverse designs.