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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 2679958, member: 82616&quot;]When I first started collecting Flavian coins in earnest over a dozen years ago, I came across a curious Ephesian denarius on Vcoins, a no mint mark Tyche reverse type in crude style. I held off at the time, but kept tabs on it over the years. When the new RIC was published, the coin was mentioned in the introduction. It continued to pop up on other coin venues over the next several years, going up in price with each successive appearance. Last year it ended up in a Belgium coin dealer&#039;s store and I finally decided to pull the trigger and obtain the piece.</p><p><br /></p><p>It arrived over the weekend.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]598877[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Vespasian</b></p><p>AR Denarius, 3.29g</p><p>Rome mint, 69-70 AD</p><p>RIC 1397 (R), BMC p. 89†, RSC 291, RPC 807 (5 spec.)</p><p>Obv: IMP CAES VESPAS AVG; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.</p><p>Rev: PACI ORB TERR AVG; Turreted and draped female bust, r.</p><p>Acquired from NB Numismatics, March 2017. Ex VAuctions 292 (Imperial Coins), 6 December 2012, lot 130.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first denarius issue at Ephesus was struck without mint marks and all of them are quite rare. This particular denarius has a peculiarly crude style compared with other Ephesian denarii. RIC II.1 authors Carradice and Buttrey comment about this coin in the introduction on p. 8 - &#039;a recent example seen in trade (Imperial Coins 2004) had the correct legend (and good weight for a denarius, at 3.29g) but a very different, inferior style on both the obverse and reverse. Is such a coin a barbarous imitation, or simply the product of a less able die-engraver employed at the start of a mint&#039;s output?&#039; Curiously, the RIC plate coin of this same type from Oxford is in a similarly crude style. My hunch is that it is an official product of the mint. Interesting to note that Mattingly in BMCRE II doubted the type existed without mint mark, which indicates how rare it is. Struck on a small flan in high relief.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s a great feeling to hold this coin in hand at last.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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