An early Roman denarius struck with an unfinished reverse die

Today my win from the most recent Ibercoin auction arrived. This coin was identified by the auctionhouse as a Crawford 44/5 anonymous denarius, a large early group that most anonymous denarii you see get identified as. Not only is this type stylistically different from anything in that 44/5 group, this particular denarius isn't entirely anonymous - there are 3, perhaps 4 dots below the horses and above the "M" of Roma, but what could it be?(of course, the attribution is copied below the coin if you just want a spoiler)


Roman Republic AR Denarius(20mm, 3.33g), "AL" series, after 208 BC, uncertain (perhaps Spanish?) mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X / The Dioscuri galloping right, 3 dots arranged in triangle with 1 dot to right below horses; below, ROMA in linear frame. Crawford 111/1 var(unfinished monogram); cf. NAC 61, lot 499 for variety

Crawford doesn't describe anything with a mintmark of a few dots arranged that way, but I remembered seeing this type before, so I checked my usual source for early Roma/Dioscuri denarii: the excellent guide written by Steve Brinkman and Pierluigi Debernardi, which as usual, solved the mystery.

Brinkman and Debernardi, in their discussion of Crawford 110/1b(a stylistically similar variety with no dots at all), say:

Of the three known reverse dies with no symbol, one of these displays 3 prominent dots and one very light dot in the exact placement and orientation of the corners of the AL monogram. An example with this phenomenon was in the NAC 61 RBW collection. In that sale, the coin was categorized as "Cr. 111/1 var." and the phenomenon explained as an unfinished die. It could also be a die that was worn and prepared for recutting by grinding the fields to smooth the damaged surfaces, leaving traces of the the deeper punch-marks used by the die cutters to guide the outline of the AL monogram. Of course regardless of the explanation of these three dots, it is probably an unfinished die.​

Comparing to a "normal" example of Crawford 111/1, the similarity in the placement of the dots on my coin and the placement of the "AL" monogram is immediately clear(not my coin, image credit NAC 61, lot 498):


So, what we have essentially appears to be an unfinished die of the Crawford 111/1 "AL" series. Consulting the RRDP page for 110/1b and this 111/1 variety as well as the page for "normal" 111/1 examples doesn't reveal any examples found by Schaefer from this die to include a fully engraved monogram, so it appears that whatever mistake lead to the use of this unfinished die was quite possibly never rectified. There are a number of series of early Roman Republic coinage in all metals that include examples with and without a mintmark, seemingly a conscious change by the mint at one point to start or stop engraving mintmarks in the dies, but I am only aware of this single series, and this single die, of the phenomenon of an unfinished mintmark like this and for this reason, this coin is very special to me and will almost certainly make my top 5 or 10 list for the year.

Special thanks to @Michael Stolt who pointed this coin out to me, realizing that it at least wasn't described right and that there was some kind of symbol and to @Fugio1 whose excellent guide to the attribution of these coins I consult at least weekly.

As usual, feel free to post anything relevant

 

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great coin, congrats red_spork

relevant:

 

It most certainly should. If there were two dies with the same dots, I might question the 'unfinished' theory but your explanation of the matter seems much better than just a good theory. Now you need a die duplicate to display as a pair with this one. I would expect the dots to weaken as the die wore from use. Is the a die match with no trace of dots but that seem to be fresher than yours? That would suggest that the dots were added after the die started working rather than showing the incomplete theory. Fascinating coin!

 

Thankfully, Richard Schaefer has completed much of the "Heavy lifting" here. His die study illustrates 13 examples of the variety with "AL" mintmark(shown at top), 5 with the dots(all from the same reverse die as mine, at bottom left), and 7 examples with no dots and no mintmark(bottom right) and no reverse die represented in either of the other groups appears to be a candidate for being an earlier or later state of this reverse die.



There is also the larger Crawford 110/1a issue with "Wreath" mintmark, which is a sibling issue that is very closely related to the "AL" issue as well as all of these coins with no mintmark or dots, however we can rule out all the "wreath" reverse dies because they all use a different form of "A" in Roma where the crossbar comes from the right, instead of coming from the left as it does on all the coins illustrated above.

 

What a great coin and fun read. Good sleuthing.
My anonymous Dioscuri w/prow:


Oh, and by the way...

 

What an interesting discovery, @red_spork! Fascinating write-up and good-looking coin!

Dioscuri and ROMA, but not anonymous.


L. Cupiennius, 147 BC.
Roman Republican AR denarius, 3.89 g, 17.7 mm, 3 h.
Rome, 147 BC.
Obv: Helmeted head of Roma, right; cornucopiae behind; denominational mark X before.
Rev: Dioscuri galloping right; L·CVP (VP ligatured) below; ROMA in exergue.
Refs: Crawford (RRC) 218/1; RSC Cupiennia 1; Sydenham (CRR) 404; RCV 94.

 

Hi All,

To give a Ptolemaic example, here's a case where the die cutter left only the guide dotes for a monogram, as noted in CPE.



PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHOS (285-246 BCE)
PHOENICIA, GAZA, year 28 (258/257 BCE)

Ar Tetradrachm
Size: 27mm
Weight: 11.17 g
Die Axis: 11:00
OBV: Ptolemy I head facing right, wearing diadem and scaly aegis tied by snakes. Dotted border.
REV: Εagle on thunderbolt facing left, wings closed. In left field: ΓPΑΔ monogram (guide dots only) above ΦΑ; in right field: ΚΗ above Λ. Dotted border.
Legend to left: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ; to right: ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ. Dotted border.
References: LORBER: CPE-682; Svoronos-UNLISTED; SNG Copenhagen-457 var: Monograms, placement and yr 30; Paris, Z.2884, 256 (Dattari coll.). This type known with obverse die link to CPE 684.



- Broucheion

 

Fascinating! I was not aware that such a coin existed in any other series, so this is very interesting to see. Thanks for sharing!

 

Very cool, @red_spork ! Nice find. Congrats, and great detective-work.

I really like this era's coin designs... Roma and Dioscuri.

Some of my AR's from that time...


RR AR Sestertius After 211 BCE 12mm 1.0g Rome mint Roma r IIS - Dioscuri riding stars in ex ROMA Sear 46 Craw 44-7 RSC 4



RR Anon after 211 BCE AR Quinarius 2.12g Helmeted hd Roma - Dioscuri riding Cr 68-2b was 44-6 RSC 3 ex Clain-Stefanelli



RR Anon AR Quinarius 211-210 BCE 16mm 2.14g SE Italia mint Roma V ROMA Dioscuri H Cr 85-1a SYD 174 RSC33b ex RBW SCARCE



RR Anon AR Victoriatus 211-206 BC Jupiter Dioscuri FINE S 49 Cr 44-1


RR Anon AR Quinarius 211-210 BCE Aplulian mint 16.5mm 2.1g Phrygian helmet Dioscuri Craw 102-2b R



RR AR Denarius 214-208 BCE Roma R X behind - Dioscuri R ROMA linear frame stars Sicily R Cr 68-1b



RR Anon AR denarius Roma 211-206 BCE ROMA incus Dioscuri single horn-helmet Sear-- Craw 68-1b SICILY ISSUE R was cr 44-5

 

@red_spork I'm grateful for the reference to my website. Congratulations on acquiring this very rare coin. This series is one of my favorites of the early denarii. One would not call this "fine" style, but its interesting style makes the series immediately recognizable. Here are the coins in my collection from this series.

RRC 110/1a (Wreath)


RRC 111/1 (AL monogram)


RRC 110/1b or 111/1 (var) (Anonymous - small dots in position of AL ligature)

 

Thanks, Steve. As usual, excellent coins, and they are a great illustration of the overall style of this small and interestingly engraved series. There are so many stylistic oddities apparent when you look closely at them: the large, round, head of Roma, the huge, bulbous eyes of the dioscuri, the unique cape style. I really enjoy the Roma/Dioscuri types like this that are so different from the commonly seen ones, even if most of them aren't the finest styles.

 

Congrats! Great catch, especially since it went more or less unnoticed at the auction.

Here's a few early RR dioscuri types from my collection most have seen by now

 

I loved this post. Part of my interest in ancient coins is that each die is, essentially, a limited run of a work of art. Anything that reminds me of the celator's hand, even if it's a mistake, is part of the wonder--a reminder that someone who lived in a mindbogglingly different reality had a hand in this thing in your hand.