Vibius C f Pansa denarius: breaking die or inexpert engraver?

Can anyone suggest what caused the broken raised line on Apollo’s nose? Is it a cracked die? An inexpert engraver?

The coin itself is a common Roman republican denarius



C. Vibius C.f. Pansa. 90 BC. AR denarius (18mm, 3.81 g,).
obv PANSA to left, laureate head of Apollo right; simpulum below chin
rev C.VIBIVS.C.F in exergue, Minerva in quadriga r, holding trophy in r hand and spear and reins in l
Cr 342/5b, Syd 684, BMCRR 2270

Fortunately obverse dies in the series have control marks; in this case a simpulum under the chin. I was able to find two other photos of this obverse die, both from the Bibiotheque nationale de France collection




(images thanks to Coins of the Roman Republic Online: www.numismatics.org/coro)

Both of these coins show the same flaw on Apollo’s forehead and nose, so it must be part of the die.

But was the flaw caused by a crack? Or by a careless engraver?

My reasoning for the latter is due to the position of the flaw, being along the outline of Apollo’s profile. As well, this series was struck during the emergency of the Social War when a vast amount of coinage was necessary for armies. According to Crawford, there were 988 obverse and 1 097 reverse dies. So perhaps in the rush to cut another die the engraver cut too deeply on Apollo’s profile before realizing his mistake …

I’d be interested in hearing your views.

Thank you

D

 

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looks to be authentic...i don't know enough about this particular denarius on such issues...but someone will ring in shortly, i'm sure..

 

Makes me wonder if the celator didn't try to repair some issue in/on the die manually?
Or else it happened naturally on the most shallow part of the die... the indentation along the nose.
Here's mine, ironically or by design missing the nose indentation in question:


Vibius C.f. Pansa.


90 B.C.E. AR denarius (16.5 mm, 3.70 g, 6 h). Rome mint. PANSA, laureate head of Apollo right, liitus below chin / C·VIBIVS·CF, Minerva driving quadriga right, holding reins and spear. Crawford 324/5b

 

Wow, that makes sense to me. These were war issues in the extremity. The Romans were scared. They weren’t fighting Barbaric enemies, nor even the Greeks. No, the Romans were fighting their own Allies. Enemies that set side-by-side in battle formation, and covered each other’s flanks. The Allies new every tactic, strategy, training methods, armament, everything about the Roman Legions, because they were the Allied Legion. Allied legions were assigned to Roman Legions, sometime TWO Allied Legions were assigned to a Roman Legion. So monster mintage were pounded out to hastily formed troops that were a bit afeared of the former comrades in arms.

90 BCE was the Year of “Oh, Crap! This is really happening!...” and, the Confederation was beatin’ on the Romans!

Hasty mintage makes for cool but weird designs...cool!

Maybe the Roman die cutter was getting purdy jittery, cuz the die cutter beside him was a Frentani or a Samnite, getting ready to sign up with the Marsic Confederation Legions.


RR Vibius Pansa 90 BCE AR Denarius Apollo V control - Minerva Quadriga Sear 242 Cr 342-5 Social-Marsic War

 

LOL, WHoooaah! There’s a little guy who crept into the picture! Looks like a happy little guy!

 

Sorry for the photo bomb. Turkey, stole his poppa's shades in this once!
And great point. In times of war (for the Romans=always) artistry is lost in the name of paying the soldiers!

 

LOL, BIG FUN for the Little Man! He looks great!

 

I think it's die damage. A small piece of the die, more specifically the edge of Apollo's profile, seems to have splintered off at some point. I have an L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi denarius struck from a similarly damaged die:

Roman Republic, moneyer: L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, AR denarius, 90 BC, Rome mint. Obv: laureate head of Apollo r.: control marks. Rev: L PISO FRVGI; horseman galloping r. with palm-branch; control mark CVI. 18mm, 3.77g. Ref: RRC 340/1.

Here is my C. Vibius Pansa example:

Roman Republic, moneyer: C. Vibius Pansa, AR denarius, 90 BC, Rome mint. Obv: laureate head of Apollo r.; behind, PANSA downwards; before, control-mark. Rev: Minerva in quadriga r., holding spear and reins in l. hand and trophy in r. hand; in exergue, C VIBIVS C F. 19mm, 3.67g. Ref: RRC 342/5b.

 

I think it's die damage. Your coin and the other 2 from the BNF especially look like a late die stage strike. You can see the damage
particularly in the lettering.

 

Thanks everyone for a great discussion. For myself, it's part of what makes our hobby so interesting.
Take care
D

 

..that is kool coin and a kool kid Ryro! ..

 

Interesting question, and I agree with the above: die damage.
From the rest of the coin, this looks like it’s happened early in the life of the die too.
The coin maker must have thought «Oh, cac! Better get this thing pieced together and make the most of it.»

 

Die break. The obverse is falling to bits, not just on the nose but elsewhere.

 

This does seem to be a somewhat sloppy issue. Here's mine - the roughness seems to be post-minting damage and/or crystallization. And a banker's mark.



Roman Republic Denarius
C Vibius Cf Pansa
(90 B.C.)
Rome Mint
PANSA, laureate head of Apollo right, control mark before (lighting bolt) / Minerva in quadriga right, C VIBIVS CF in exergue.
Vibia 1; Crawford 342/5b
(3.49 grams / 18 mm)