My only coin from the last Pecunem sale arrived today. Unfortunately I'm unable to be 100% sure what it is since the coin really tells no more than their photo. To know what I want to know, I need to find other coins of the same obverse die but this is my only example of the die. The reverse is a common Septimius type VICT AVG with Victory walking. The obverse appears to read COSI at the end but this die is new to me if it is one of the scarce COSI coins. The centering is not such that I can be certain this is not a die which placed the second I of COSI-I on the other side of the point of the bust but I don't have a match for it in that category either. I was attracted to the coin because it appears to have some ghost detail on both sides which could mean it was struck on another coin or, less interestingly, just doublestruck. Most noticeable is the arch over Victory's head which I could accept as the remnants of the border circle if the first strike were off center that much. There are some floating details in the field which might be from the legend but the offset on them is opposite of the arch confusing my attempts to identify them. On the obverse is a floater before the face which could be beard details if the understrike were rotated a bit. I rather hope Martin will have a coin matching this die sonce comparison of die duplicates always makes things more clear. As for the rest of you, I'll warn that things like this are available to hold your attention when you have been collecting too long. I want to know if this coin is what it appears to be (COSI) or if it is a fooler which I should have left behind. Sometimes you can have such a coin for several years before you find an answer; sometimes you get lucky and discover something that actually is new.
Even without Martin's contribution, I think it's rather clear that the I to the left of the bust is part of IMP. Nice find! The ghost details are very interesting.
The coin below illustrates the problem that Martin's coin solved. Notice the second I stroke is out of line and left of the point. The coin still shows the bottom of the IM which is followed by a space before the P making room for the rear point of the bust. The strangest one of these I have seen is the coin below where the second I is all the way over next to IMP. I enjoy playing with the die ID's on this series. There are too many to hop to have a complete set of all COSII coins but the COSI dies are few enough that one might get a set with a bit of searching. This is also true of the IIC, IICO, COS and such oddballs but finding even a few of these scarcer issues is not all that easy now that there are so many people collecting them.
Doug, I have been trawling through my COS I coins and stumbled across a coin from the same die pair as your OP coin. I thought that I recognised the reverse die. Hopefully this will aid in identifying what is part of the reverse design and what is part of the understrike. Regards, Martin
Wow => man, this "stuff" never gets old!! I love sitting-back and admiring Doug and Martin go through their Sep-Sev collections!! ... it's kinda like ... well, you know, right? =>>>> it's 100% Awesome!!! Thanks for the lessons, fellas!!
It is worth mentioning that the style of the engraving is much more akin to that of the COS II issue than that I have traditionally associated with the COS I issue. As time has gone on I have had to broaden what I consider to be the norm in terms of style for the COS I issue. Regards, Martin
Yeas and the spacing of the separation at the top of the obverse legend is somewhat different than the usual COS dies. I have to wonder if these coins were produced for a longer period than we might think or in more than one place. I'd like to see a list of reverse dies shared by this obverse and one of the usual COSI dies.
Hmm, ghost detail. I believe this coin exhibits something similar on the reverse, although I think it's simply design transfer from the obverse (Is that's what it's called?).
Hmm, it seems that specific elements have transferred, only from six to eight o'clock. Does your theory stand?
It is quite common that only some details transfer. This probably has something to do with the angle of the dies when they clashed but even US clashes show only some details and they should but aligned mechanically. What is there under the ES of STATES and through the F and E of HALF DIME?
Doug, I am afraid that I do not have any die linkage between these reverse dies and either the other COS I or COS II dies. I am always on the look out for such linkages. I have some die links between the various issues but not related to these dies? How may COS I dies do you have? Regards, Martin
6?? I don't know. I really have not sat down and weeded out duplicates that were not obvious and there are coins from the style with unclear areas that could be or not. The last two here are not but need to be shown as easily confused. My first and favorite is shown here on top (PEPT). I'd like to know how many reverses it was used with. I only have four but have seen others.
