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<p>[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 7786391, member: 19463"]I see no reason to doubt the ID as provided by the seller. The figure is Mars. Human soldiers tend to be shown with clothing and Virtus is a female personification quite often shown with one breast exposed. Too many people read the legend and insist that the figure must be Virtus. These two denarii of Septimius Severus from the mint known as 'Emesa' show Virtus with her right breast exposed. Sorry, I do not have one that is high grade enough to make this obvious. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1336406[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1336409[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>There are probably more rare/unique types of Pescennius Niger than any ruler. It was like the die cutters found something to change on every die they made so minor variations abound. I did not research this particular one but the only things that seem to affect price on these is condition and metal quality. You got this because of the damaged edge. The poor metal used for these makes damage par for the course.</p><p><br /></p><p>The common type assigned to Caesarea is IVSTITIA AVG. Only rather recently have we seen coins assigned to this mint rather than being lumped into Antioch. The city is indicated by the existence of a coin with a Latin obverse of this style and a Greek reverse from his issue of drachms. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1336400[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>A typical 'Antioch':</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1336414[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>A point regarding coins of Pescennius Niger and all Eastern mint coins of the period. There was an unfortunate tendency of scholars of the past century to make up 'rules' for how things were done at the mint sometimes based on how things were done at Rome and sometimes seeming to have been pulled out of thin air. I doubt there ever will be a complete die study of the coins of Pescennius. He made a lot of coins. One theory is that they were demonetized and made illegal to possess by Septimius Severus. This would explain the large number of different dies for the relatively small number of surviving coins. The great hoard from Reka Devnia was reported as having 54 coins of Pertinax, 11 coins of Didius Julianus and not one single coin of Pescennius Niger. This might quite likely attest to the theory that many coins of this hoard were stolen before the catalog was written (almost certain) but it could also suggest that the coins did not circulate 'normally' as if they had been recalled. Pescennius had every bit as good a claim on being emperor as did Septimius Severus. His memory was not 'encouraged'.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 7786391, member: 19463"]I see no reason to doubt the ID as provided by the seller. The figure is Mars. Human soldiers tend to be shown with clothing and Virtus is a female personification quite often shown with one breast exposed. Too many people read the legend and insist that the figure must be Virtus. These two denarii of Septimius Severus from the mint known as 'Emesa' show Virtus with her right breast exposed. Sorry, I do not have one that is high grade enough to make this obvious. [ATTACH=full]1336406[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1336409[/ATTACH] There are probably more rare/unique types of Pescennius Niger than any ruler. It was like the die cutters found something to change on every die they made so minor variations abound. I did not research this particular one but the only things that seem to affect price on these is condition and metal quality. You got this because of the damaged edge. The poor metal used for these makes damage par for the course. The common type assigned to Caesarea is IVSTITIA AVG. Only rather recently have we seen coins assigned to this mint rather than being lumped into Antioch. The city is indicated by the existence of a coin with a Latin obverse of this style and a Greek reverse from his issue of drachms. [ATTACH=full]1336400[/ATTACH] A typical 'Antioch': [ATTACH=full]1336414[/ATTACH] A point regarding coins of Pescennius Niger and all Eastern mint coins of the period. There was an unfortunate tendency of scholars of the past century to make up 'rules' for how things were done at the mint sometimes based on how things were done at Rome and sometimes seeming to have been pulled out of thin air. I doubt there ever will be a complete die study of the coins of Pescennius. He made a lot of coins. One theory is that they were demonetized and made illegal to possess by Septimius Severus. This would explain the large number of different dies for the relatively small number of surviving coins. The great hoard from Reka Devnia was reported as having 54 coins of Pertinax, 11 coins of Didius Julianus and not one single coin of Pescennius Niger. This might quite likely attest to the theory that many coins of this hoard were stolen before the catalog was written (almost certain) but it could also suggest that the coins did not circulate 'normally' as if they had been recalled. Pescennius had every bit as good a claim on being emperor as did Septimius Severus. His memory was not 'encouraged'.[/QUOTE]
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