There is a series of denarii of Septimius Severus from Emase which we believe date after the earliest AVG issue of A.D. 193 and before the COS II issue. It is possible that it also pre-dates the enigmatic COS II series too. This series end with AVG II COS, AVG CO, AVG II CO and so on. These are generally very rare and have become a focus of mine. Some years ago I obtained this example from the series. Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG II CO, laureate head right Rev:– BONI EVENTVC (sic), Fides standing left holding basket of fruit and corn ears Minted in Emesa. A.D. 194 Reference:– BMCRE -. RIC -. RSC -. The II CO series comes from a single obverse die. There are two other examples of this coin known from the same die pair, Bern, formerly in H J Berk stock making mine the third known example. I have just bought another coin whic is now the fourth known example. It is less worn on both sides bit this one suffers from an off-centre obverse strike. So that makes it my sort of upgrade. I have several coins from this obverse die and in good condition I think it one of my favourites. This coin is somewhat special to me in this sub-collection in that it provides a reverse link to the AVG CO die. Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG CO, Laureate head right Rev:– BONI EVENTVC, Fides standing left holding basket of fruit and corn ears. Minted in Emesa, Late A.D. 193 or Early A.D. 194 References:– RIC -, RSC -, BMCRE -. This coin seems to have been minted before my other two beacuse the die break at the start of EVENTVC is not evident. I would like to obtain more to try and build more information. Do AVG CO examples come before the II CO ones or were they operating in parallel? Martin
I like the new upgrade coin, Martin (actually, they're all very sweet) => the upgrade coin has nice eye-appeal
Thanks Doug.That is great to see. I don't recall seeing that one from you before. It would appear that we have three of the four known examples in this thread.
What is Bern? Swiss national collection. Since we have the floor to ourselves on this, do you have the one below or know of another? I am very unaccustomed to having a coin that is both rare and high grade but have not found another. The key feature is the rerepeat in rereduc. It could also exist with an IICO obverse.
Great coin Doug. BMC 364, pl. 16.5 is from the same die pair though yours looks nicer than the plate coin.
I am embarassed to have missed that one. My BMC V is in very bad shape and the plates are hard to see. That is no reason to have missed the text entry.
Outstanding!! => it's like watching Darth Vader versus Luke Skywalker doin' a wee bit o' light-saber jousting ... or perhaps Ali versus Fraser (Thrilla in Manilla!!) => hats-off, gentlemen => we are in the presence of Sep-Sev-Royalty!! Man, I love being a crazy coin-fan!! (keep on bringin' it!! ... outstanding)
Here's my normal bu it is a different reverse die: and here is a standing FOTVNAE: Do you have any die links to that obverse that prove what the thing read? I looks like AVGCO but something could be off flan.
Doug, Your coin comes from the single AVG . CO die as used on my BONI EVENTVS above. It is peculiar due to the IMP CE L start to the obverse legend, which I can make out on your example. The following is a list of the types and sources of all the coins that I am aware of from this obverse die. BONI EVENTVS, Fides standing left etc. - ANS BONI EVENTVC (sic), Fides standing left etc. - Curtis Clay, Martin Griffiths, eBay - all 3 from same die pair and sharing the same rev. die as above with II CO FOTVNAE (sic) REDVCI, Fortuna standing left with rudder and cornucopia - BM ex Bickford-Smith ex Curtis Clay, Vienna, formerly Barry Murphy coll., Triton VI lot (M. Melcher coll.), Doug Smith - all same die pair MONETAE AVG,Moneta standing left, Curtis Clay, Reka Devnia p. 99 (1 spec. in Sofia) Regards, Martin
I had completely forgotten about the Melcher collection in Triton VI. He had relatively few coins but all were EF+. Some were very rare and interesting while others were just EF examples of common types. He did have one coin of great interest to me. Lot 984 was a die duplicate of my coin of the type but showed two dots at the end of the reverse legend missing on my coin due perhaps to the defective flan. Looking further, I note that I also have a coin of this reverse die with a Septimius obverse (an unusual one with both II beyond the point of the bust) and it seems to lack the dots as well. Now I have the question if the dots were added to the die after the first coins were struck. I would love to see other coins of this reverse die. The Melcher coin: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=28096 My two:
The following coin is an obverse die match to the COS - II coin. I don't have any examples of that reverse. Martin
