The first of these two really is nothing much to write home about but I don't have many strike errors from this mint. Septimius Severus Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SE.V PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right Rev:– BONA SPES, Spes advancing left, holding flower and lifting skirt Minted in Emesa. A.D. 194-195 Reference:– BMCRE 340. RIC 364 (S). RSC 55b Double struck reverse 2.93 g. 18.00 mm. 0 degrees The second is more important to me. I am always on the look out for the odd sub-series from the old eastern IMP VIII issue where the obverse legend is "L SEPT SEVER PERT AVG IMP VIII" rather than the standard "L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIII". The Spes type with the standard legend is RIC 472 but I hadn't seen one with the longer legend before. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– L SEPT SEVER P-ERT AVG IMP VIII, Laureate head right Rev:– BONA SPES, Spes standing holding flower and lifting skirt Minted in Laodicea-ad-Mare. A.D. 195 Reference(s) – C -. BMCRE -. RIC - (cf RIC 472 wihich is the standard IMP VII legend). RSC -. 2.33 g. 18.27 mm. 0 degrees Martin
Martin, Of course I collect the SEVER IMP VIII denarii too, and now have 21 examples in my new collection, including a couple of die duplicates. No BONA SPES coin among them, however, nor any from the same obv. die as your new example. Do you have BONA SPES also with the standard SEV IMP VIII obv. legend? I lack that coin also, and think I know of only two specimens: Bickford-Smith Coll., presumably now in BM; and the example cited by Cohen without naming a source, 1st ed. (1860) 38 = 2nd ed. (1884) 59. As to the doublestrike, can you tell for sure whether the two images of Spes on the rev. are from the same or from different rev. dies? If from different rev. dies, that would be an interesting Kraay overstrike, which I discussed in my review of Woytek's Trajan in Num. Chron. 2012.
Hi Curtis, I do indeed have a standard SEV IMP VIII, BONA SPES. It is far from ideal but is good enough. It appears to be from different dies to the BM (ex Roger Bickford-Smith_ example (illustrated below for comparison). I only have 11 examples of the SEVER IMP VIII series and some of those are die linked. BONA SPES, Spes standing holding flower and lifting skirt (illustrated above) FORTA EDVC or FORT REDVC (R corrected from A?), Fortuna seated left holding rudder and cornucopia INVICTO IMP, Trophy with arms below LIB-ER AVG, Liberalitas seated left, holding abacus in right hand, cornucopiae in left MINER VICTRIC, Minerva standing left, holding sceptre, resting right hand on shield MONET AVG, Moneta standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae (2 examples - different dies) VICTOR AVG, Victoria standing right, left foot on globe?, holding shield with left hand, resting on knee, inscribing with right hand (2 examples same reverse die) VIRTVT-I AVG, Mars walking right holding spear and trophy (2 examples same reverse die) I will see of there is anything I can make out with regards to the double struck coin but cannot be sure either way at present. Regards, Martin
I can't explain why but I have never been attracted tp the IMP dated coins as much as the other Easterns. I have no Spes and only one remotely appropriate to post here. It appealed to me as a good example of the last I being past the point of the bust and the way each letter of PERT is slightly taller than the one before it. For that matter all the legends seem a bit in need of a layout line to bring them into even position. This came from a Jonathan Kern pickout bag in 1997. Errors are another matter. The operation was rather careful compared to Rome where striking errors are common. I have very few from Syrian mints. My favorite is the Domna with a little doubling (DOMNIA / missing E in EVENTVS?) on a squished flan but the real appeal of the coin is the IICOS. Stanichev 2005 This VICTOR SEVER has doubling. ...as does this FELICITAS TEMPOR.. Of course there is the standard brockage. An advantage on being an amateur like me is that I can dream while scholars have to be more 'conservative'. I ask the question, "What happened to the coin that stuck in the die and made the imprint on the reverse of a brockage?" In my dreams, I see a 'Brockage Mother' as being a bit more sharp on the reverse, a bit more spread out flat and a bit more mushy on the obverse. Like this? This is nothing to be proven but I sure would love to see a brockage of this obverse die. That would only be slightly less likely than winning the Lottery with a ticket found in a parking lot.
I have an obverse brockage too. This probably deserves to be dragged out and an updated image created. My best/favourite manufacturing error in this series is the following:- Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS I - I, Laureate head right Rev:– FELICITAS TEMPOR, grain ear between crossed cornucopiae / VICTOR SEVER AVG, Victory walking left, holding wreath in right hand, palm in left. Minted in Rome. A.D. 194-195 Reference:– BMCRE 347 note/ BMCRE 399. RIC 347A/RIC 428. RSC 141b/RSC 749 The reverse of this coin has been struck with two diffrerent reverse dies during the striking process. The coin was originally struck, not removed and then struck again with a different reverse die Martin
