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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 2720897, member: 10461&quot;]Titus does seem to be rather scowly on quite a few coins.&nbsp; Must&#039;ve been a rather stern chap.&nbsp; The only ones I&#039;ve seen who appear even <i>more</i> grouchy are perhaps Galba and Nerva.&nbsp; Nerva seems to have been quite the sourpuss.</p><p><br /></p><p>As to variants, I guess I&#039;m not really observant enough or good enough at attribution to know I <i>have</i> a variant, most of the time.&nbsp; I guess that comes more with experience.</p><p><br /></p><p>This denarius from my novice 2007-08 collection was the first Vespasian coin I ever owned.&nbsp; If I remember correctly, the seller (Steve McBride of Incitatus Coins) suggested it was a portrait from very early in the reign, just as the 69 AD civil war was ending, and was likely engraved before Vespasian arrived in Rome and anyone knew what he looked like.&nbsp; It is certainly different from most Vespasian portraits I&#039;m accustomed to seeing.&nbsp; He looks pretty young and serene here:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/Old%202007-2008%20Roman%20collection/RS015-Vespasian.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>True or not, I found the <i>&quot;nobody knew what he looked like yet&quot;</i> theory interesting.</p><p><br /></p><p>By comparison, from my present collection (speaking of sourpuss portraits):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/media/ancient-roman-empire-silver-capricorn-denarius-of-vespasian-struck-by-titus-ca-80-81-ad.5045/full?d=1482832082" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>(Of course he was dead by the time the second coin was struck, so he can be forgiven for not looking as good.&nbsp; Vespasian supposedly died cracking a joke, though, so maybe he wasn&#039;t such a grouch.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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