Apprentice die-cutter? Ridiculously irregular obverse legend

This thing is just a hot mess.

Although the portrait is skillfully rendered on this Rome mint antoninianus of Volusian, the obverse legend is a mess. Its letters are irregularly shaped and sized and it's clear that when the engraver noticed he was running out of room, he shrunk the size of AVG at the end just to fit it all in.

This situation seems to imply that the portrait was engraved first, probably by a master engraver, and that the inscription was added last, possibly by an apprentice whose engraving skills were not yet up to par.

The reverse die is in bad shape, too, not because of poor engraving skills, but because of a couple of die-cracks, the most obvious at the 1:00 position, leading from the figure of the emperor radially outward to the IIII in TR P IIII. The more subtle one appears as a slightly curved line cutting across the emperor's scepter to his paludamentum from the 4:00 to 5:00 position.

Post your comment, coins with unskilled engraving in the legends, coins of Volusian, or anything you deem relevant!


Volusian, 251-253.
Roman billon antoninianus, 3.21 g, 20.6 mm, 11 h.
Rome mint, 5th officina, 5th emission, mid AD 253.
Obv: IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: P M TR P IIII COS II, emperor standing left, sacrificing with patera over flaming tripod and holding short scepter.
Refs: RIC 141; Cohen 94; Sear 9793; Hunter 3.

 

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I like how it started out small and then got progressively larger until he realized "Oh crap!" (or whatever the Roman equivalent is, and then started getting smaller in order to fit everything in.

 

Mine is more typical Rome mint style. Are you convinced yours is Rome mint?

 

“...and that’s when Kevin decided to become an apprentice dung merchant.”

 

Cack. Titus Pullo said it all the time in the hbo series "Rome"

 

It’s a charming reverse.
Maybe they lost concentration while waiting for the next general or usurper to show up and demand to have all the old coins melted down and struck again with the portraits of HIM and his family.
They must have been busy at the mints between 235 and 253 AD.

 

RC, if your die cutter was an apprentice, he must have worked for the same guy who cut this one. A lot of the same issues going on with the obverse legend.


Volusian, 251-253. Antoninianus (Silver, 22 mm, 3.35 g) Rome, IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Volusian to right, seen from behind./ Rev. PAX AVGG Pax standing front, head to left, holding branch in her right hand and scepter in her left. RIC 179.

 

I found the explanation. Here is the picture of your die-cutter during his lunch break...

 

My impression is that Volusian coins often have poor reverses. Lot of worn dies.

 

Nice full strike on that obverse, Shea. Good coin.

 

I didn't know Kevin had worked as a die-cutter before moving to the striking department!

(@KeviniswhoIam - see here we go again. )

A KAI MAP AVP CEVHP AΛEΞANΔPOC...
...erm, where do I put the rest?
<squeeze> EVCEB

 

Yes, because the obverse legend reads IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG and not IMP C C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG or IMP C C VIB VOLVSIANO P F AVG.

That inscription may well have been engraved by the same unskilled hand as mine!

I think Kevin got demoted down to the striking department for being such an unskilled engraver!

 

I have a similar coin that is not a die match for either side but similar enough... it must have been the same Kevin on a slightly better day.

Volusian RIC 141

 

Somewhat irregular at the end of the legend on the obverse:

 

I no longer have this coin, but fell in love with the portrait at first sight. Unfortunately, Kevin's uncle with the one good eye also worked at the mint:

 

LOL, fun thread, @Roman Collector

Having been in manufacturing for 40+ years, some of the hilarious "boo-boos" are coming back to memory. Misinterpretations, cultural biases, trying to fix things that are hopelessly wrong - but refusing to give up fixing them, etc.

 

ha!...ironically, it's crap in latin too...^^

 

When it came to father and son, the engraver from Antioch couldn't stop himself to dig or plow the obverse of this coin, from toe up to hair. Funny anyway. BNC656.

 

A neat coin!

 

This thread made me look - I recently got a Volusian antoninianus from the Rome Mint (CAES) that has some peculiar reverse legend characteristics - VIRTVS AVGG - simple enough, but the letters are either super-faint, or, in the case of the S, super-strong and somewhat over-sized. I'm not sure wear and/or strike would account for all of this:



Volusian Antoninianus
(251-253 A.D.)
Rome Mint
IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS AVGG Virtus standing, head left, holding shield and spear.
RIC 186; RSC 135; Sear 9778.
(3.65 grams / 20 mm)