Hi all! I recently bought this antoninianus of Probus on eBay. It is from Lugdunum mint, and it has an interesting spelling mistake in it. Instead of reading "TEMPOR FELICI", it just reads "TEMPR FELICI", omitting the O. The seller didn't mention the error in the description, and said that it was just a "TEMPOR FELICI" type. I managed to buy it (having paid a lot more for it than my other Probus coins lol) The coin also came with some nice provenance, having apparently been part of the Linchmere Hoard, which was found way back in 1924. However, the seller didn't provide any proof in the listing, so I tried to find some. I found an old analysis of the Hoard off Jstor, and went to the page where it listed all the types. Surprisingly, my coin was not there; the only similar coins were 10 TEMPOR FELICI types When the coin arrived today, the seller was kind enough to provide information about where it came from. It turns out a lot of the coins found in the Linchmere Hoard that the landowner was allowed to keep were auctioned back in May 2021 from an auction house that didn't specialise in coins: https://www.lawrences.co.uk/sales/fine-art-sales/fc270521/view-lot/888/ Lot 888 ANTONINIANUS OF PROBUS 276-282. Radiate bust r. within legend IMP C PROBUS P F AUG. Reverse female figure of Felicitas holding cornucopiae and caduceus within TEMPOR FELICI. Mint mark I for Gaul. Webb records 133 coins from this reign amongst the hoard, 10 with the legend Tempor Felici to the reverse. Provenance: The Linchmere Hoard, Miss Abbott and thence by descent. Estimate: £20 - £30 Sold for £30.00 (It looks like I spent more than double what the seller I bought it from paid lol) It looks like the auction house also misdescribed the coin, and that it did indeed come from the Linchmere Hoard. Show me some error coins, or some coins with nice provenance!
I was wondering when if this one might emerge. I was the underbidder. It is not the only die with this reverse error I have one from a different die pair with a different reverse legend break.
Great addition! Congratulations! Here are my error Probus coins: https://www.colleconline.com/en/col...imperial-probus-erroneous-obv-and-rev-legends including also a TEMPR FELICI coin, from yet another reverse die: https://www.colleconline.com/en/items/127083/coin-ancient-b-to-a-roman-tempr-felici On first glance some might say there is a "ghost" visible of the letter "O" before the caduceus but I checked the coin closely under magnifying glass and it is not the case. There is no trace of the letter "O" there at all.
Oops, sorry about that. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd have known another forum member was going to bid Woah, those coins are amazing! I like the "PRBVS" one. No, I can't see any trace of an O either. It seems Probus is one of the most mis-spelled emperors
Very nice coin, especially considering the provenance! Errors on antoniniani are still quite rare, though more common than on other denominations, and sometimes can be quite interesting, especially when they alter an emperor's name. For example, there are some coins of Claudius II where his name is misspelled as either Cladius or Caudius. Here's an example of the latter: Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Antioch mint. Obverse: IMP C CAVDIVS AVG (sic), radiate head left; Reverse: CONS-ER AVG, Serapis standing right, with right hand raised and holding transverse sceptre in left hand, facing Isis standing left, holding sistrum in right hand and bucket in left hand. RIC V 202, RIC V Online 1080 The only other example I could find was an obverse die match in the Gysen collection, illustrated on the same page.
Engraving the letters backwards onto a die is hard. ƧABINA AVGVSTA -- this is "Sabina-1" in my collection, purchased at a brick and mortar coin shop in 1998.
You've reminded me of this coin I bought recently. It's not as impressive as your Sabina, but it's an antoninianus of Gallienus, PAX AVG reverse. The mintmark is supossed to be S-I, but the engraver has done Ƨ-I instead
I wanted to bid on 100 pounds But... At the end of the day I am happy that this coin "landed" in your collection
Ah, I guess I had an advantage there then. I'm in the UK, so the postage costs were negligible for me. I'll let you know if I ever plan to sell it, although I'm not planning to for the moment I'm afraid
