Imagine the heart sinking feeling I felt when I went to pick-up my latest coin purchase at my PO box and saw this - Luckily the coin was still inside. Oddly enough, the inner envelope containing the coin was opened but the cardboard it was embedded in was not. At any rate, I'm glad she made it through the customs gauntlet! Domitian Æ As, 10.61g Rome mint, 90-91 AD RIC 709 (C2). BMC 452. BNF 482. Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XV CENS PER P P; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r. Rev: VIRTVTI AVGVSTI; S C in field; Virtus stg. r., foot on helmet, with spear and parazonium Acquired from Prafectus Coins, August 2019. The Virtus type was struck repeatedly on Domitian's middle bronze from 84 onwards. I. Carradice in his 1983 monograph on Domitian's coinage says the following concerning the type - 'Virtus is a military type, symbolic of the courage of Domitian and the mutual devotion between the army and emperor.' Virtus first appears on the coinage in the flurry of Germania Capta types that were struck soon after Domitian's German triumph. She is depicted in traditional Amazon attire. Feel free to post your Virtus types or near misses!
That is a great type David. I love the reverse. I am glad it arrived safely. Here are a few Virtvs types.
Here's one of mine that got stuck in customs and received the same individual treatment as yours! Volusian was not very happy about it!
I've had many packages opened by customs. One sticks in my mind. I bought some lots from Sothebys. Two swords and a small groups of ancients. When they opened the package to inspect, they loosely wrapped the swords back up, but dumped the coins loose into the box! So, the coins arrived rattling around in the box.
It's happened to me a few times in the past, but this was odd because there was no delay and tracking never showed anything out of the ordinary.
