i have recently lost my direction again and after missing out on a whole host of coins I was interested at a recent auction went and bought a batch of coins that are not core to my collection. I really must stop doing that. I have been researching one of them and it turns out that it could be quite a scarce one. Tacitus Antoninianus Obv:– M CL TACITVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev:– CLEMENTIA TEMP, Mars in military dress standing left, holding olive branch in right hand, spear and shield which rests on ground in left hand.. Minted in Cyzicus (//S). Issue 1, Officina 2. November – December A.D. 275 Reference(s) – Cohen -. LV -. RIC -. BNC p.404. RIC temp #3879 (1 example cited) In fact there appears to only be one example on MER RIC. http://www.ric.mom.fr/en/coin/3879 My initial reaction was - "Oh great. They appear to be a double die match!" but then I looked at the details and they have the same flan shape and wear pattern. The MER RIC example if from a private collection and so it could be that it has been sold and made it's way through to my collection. What do you think? The same coin?
There seems to be a scratch just above the diadem. I don't collect romans so I have no idea if that photo is of the coin or of a plaster cast?!
The black and white photo definitely is missing a touch of detail than the color photo, (edge of beads on both sides) . You well could be right sir. On the cast they filed away what they thought was residue but lost details of the original.
I'd also go with the cast of your coin hypothesis. The T and A of TACITVS have the exact same wear without the surrounding surface corrosion present on the real coin.
Yes, it's the same coin. Casts were often made prior to modern, especially digital, photography because they allowed photos to be shot with coins of uniform color and both sides at the same time. The key to comparing photos is to a) look for the major similarities such as strike and same dies b) look for some defining characteristic such as edge flaws, scrapes, die damage, etc and c) make sure that there is not more detail on the cast than the actual coin. c) is the killer where you will find just a hint of border dots in a place that doesn't exist on the actual coin which makes a match impossible. I've had my hopes of an old provenance dashed by finding a wee bit more detail on the cast than my coin which eliminated possibility of the match. On your coin, you can see some defining edge anomalies that match especially on the reverse at 3-4h.
I agree with the posters above. Great coin! I have a similar coin (not as pretty), it doesn’t have the interesting obverse legend and is of a different mint... but it’s something similar and fun to post. The obverse is ugly but the reverse is great. Tacitus, AE antoninianus. Serdica mint. IMP CM CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right. CLEMENTIA TEMP, Mars standing left, holding olive branch, spear and shield. Officina letter P in exergue. Estiot 3861, Rare.
If you are going the get distracted by non-core coins - that is a great way to do it! Same coin, congratulations, an excellent find.
I agree -- it's the same coin as in the photo of the plaster cast. What a cool find, @maridvnvm ! You should send your photo of the coin to the editors of MER-RIC.
