Hi all! I bought this coin in a lot on eBay. The pictures don't do the coin justice at all, but it is a very nice antoninianus of Tetricus I with a decent amount of the original silvering remaining. The coin is MUCH nicer in hand than the photos suggest. However, instead of the obverse being "IMP C TETRICVS P F AVG", it has IMP C TETRICVS.P.F.AVG", with dots between some of the letters. Is this a scarcer variety, or is it pretty typical?
That's interesting and fun -- and it can be helpful if doing a die study -- but dots between words and between letters in abbreviations are quite common. See this thread from a few years back. They are almost never mentioned as varieties in the standard references and nobody would pay a premium for them during a sale.
Rated C5 (common 5) by AGK. Trier issue 3 officina B. End of 271 AD- mid 272 AD. Mairat 757, Normanby 1467, Cunetio 2585. Here's a Victorinus with dots. It's only "rare" because of its flip-double-struck.
With our without dots that is a nice-looking Tetricus. These are so often so poorly struck. Here's a Hadrian sestertius with a dot in the obverse legend, not typical, but probably not rare in any significant way: Hadrian Æ Sestertius (134-138 A.D.) Rome Mint [HA]DRIANVS • A[VG COS III P P], laureate bust right, slight drapery on far shoulder / FELI[CITAS AVG], SC, Felicitas standing facing holding branch and caduceus. RIC 750e (var.? • obv. legend) (25.50 grams / 30 mm) Close-up of the dot:
That's a nice looking Tetricus! So many of these are so rough, it's nice to see a good one. The obverse artwork was still pretty good at this time. They didn't seem to take the same care with the reverse art, the flans or the striking though, which makes most Tetricus coins, collectable but not coins we show off often. Personally, I have a soft spot for coins of the later 3rd century! Here are a few of my photographed Tetrici! Tetricus I - RIC V-2 148 Tetricus I V-2 56
