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<p>[QUOTE="curtislclay, post: 3012105, member: 89514"]Blake, It's a rare sestertius, and a nice example, but not unpublished, just underpublished! Reverse legend is VICT AVGG COS II P P S C, a very common type on IMP X denarii (without the S C). Paris has a specimen of the corresponding sestertius, but with much legend off flan, with the result that Cohen 686 completely misread it, as obv. IMP II, rev. VICT AVG TR P II COS II S C! The 1950 edition of BMC reported a specimen from Num. Circular 1927, where Victory was mistakenly said to be advancing right rather than left, and the bust was said to be laureate, draped, right, doubtless also a mistake, since the only IMP X sestertius bust types I know are Head laur. r., ditto with fold of cloak on front shoulder, Bust laur., draped, cuirassed r., and Bust laureate, cuirassed r. Cambridge (GB) has a VICT AVGG sestertius with cuirassed bust, which is mentioned in the BMC second ed. of 1975, p. 154, however mistakenly calling the bust draped. I expect that it was I who reported this coin to Robert Carson and Philip Hill when they were working on the new BMC edition, but they misreported the bust type. In 1972 I knew four spec. of Septimius' IMP X / VICT AVGG COS II P P sestertius, from three rev. dies. Probably five or six additional specimens have turned up since then. It would be nice to obtain a plaster cast of your specimen, since I think it may be from a new obv. die, and a cast would make the rev. die easier to compare too! That is a very nice IMP X / Pax sestertius you show, and you will doubtless be interested to hear of its provenance: it comes from the collection of Captain W. H. Smyth of the Royal Navy, who published his outstanding collection of Roman sestertii ("Roman Imperial Large-Brass Medals", as he called them) in 1834, and also provided sulfur casts of his coins, one set of which is today in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, while I acquired another set for Harlan Berk about 20 years ago. So your coin is no. 70 in the Addenda to Captain Smyth's collection, and there are sulfur casts of it in Oxford, Chicago, and the BM too, though I don't think the BM has the full set of Smyth's sulfur casts. For those interested in Septimius' IMP X sestertii: I happen to have written a full account of the types and specimens known to me by 1972, under Roman Coins in the Forvm Ancient Coins discussion group, search for IMP X Sestertii of Septimius Severus! (Cited from: <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-unlisted-sestertius-of-septimius-severus.311940/#post-3008448" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-unlisted-sestertius-of-septimius-severus.311940/#post-3008448">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-unlisted-sestertius-of-septimius-severus.311940/#post-3008448</a>)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="curtislclay, post: 3012105, member: 89514"]Blake, It's a rare sestertius, and a nice example, but not unpublished, just underpublished! Reverse legend is VICT AVGG COS II P P S C, a very common type on IMP X denarii (without the S C). Paris has a specimen of the corresponding sestertius, but with much legend off flan, with the result that Cohen 686 completely misread it, as obv. IMP II, rev. VICT AVG TR P II COS II S C! The 1950 edition of BMC reported a specimen from Num. Circular 1927, where Victory was mistakenly said to be advancing right rather than left, and the bust was said to be laureate, draped, right, doubtless also a mistake, since the only IMP X sestertius bust types I know are Head laur. r., ditto with fold of cloak on front shoulder, Bust laur., draped, cuirassed r., and Bust laureate, cuirassed r. Cambridge (GB) has a VICT AVGG sestertius with cuirassed bust, which is mentioned in the BMC second ed. of 1975, p. 154, however mistakenly calling the bust draped. I expect that it was I who reported this coin to Robert Carson and Philip Hill when they were working on the new BMC edition, but they misreported the bust type. In 1972 I knew four spec. of Septimius' IMP X / VICT AVGG COS II P P sestertius, from three rev. dies. Probably five or six additional specimens have turned up since then. It would be nice to obtain a plaster cast of your specimen, since I think it may be from a new obv. die, and a cast would make the rev. die easier to compare too! That is a very nice IMP X / Pax sestertius you show, and you will doubtless be interested to hear of its provenance: it comes from the collection of Captain W. H. Smyth of the Royal Navy, who published his outstanding collection of Roman sestertii ("Roman Imperial Large-Brass Medals", as he called them) in 1834, and also provided sulfur casts of his coins, one set of which is today in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, while I acquired another set for Harlan Berk about 20 years ago. So your coin is no. 70 in the Addenda to Captain Smyth's collection, and there are sulfur casts of it in Oxford, Chicago, and the BM too, though I don't think the BM has the full set of Smyth's sulfur casts. For those interested in Septimius' IMP X sestertii: I happen to have written a full account of the types and specimens known to me by 1972, under Roman Coins in the Forvm Ancient Coins discussion group, search for IMP X Sestertii of Septimius Severus! (Cited from: [url]https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-unlisted-sestertius-of-septimius-severus.311940/#post-3008448[/url])[/QUOTE]
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