Another Eastern Septimius Severus to inflict upon you all. This type is common enough from Rome mint but isn't one that I had been able to obtain until recently from his eastern issues. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX, laureate head right Rev:– RESTITVTOR VRBIS, Severus in military garb standing left sacrificing over a tripod Minted in Laodicea-ad-Mare. A.D. 198-202 Reference:– BMCRE 671. RIC 512A (S). RSC 600 The type is one of the scarcer ones from this issue. The BMC coin is illustrated in the plates pl. 44.12 ( citing P. Tinchant Gift, 1938). Cohen doesn't cite a source for his coin, which is the one referenced in RSC. Curtis Clay has kept a list of the specimens that he is aware of and lists Vienna; Oxford; Budapest; Barry Murphy collection (Sev-185). He also has an example. When I got the coin home I examined it under magnification and then made my usual attempts at photographing it. I believe that there is an interesting detail that had originally passed me by but adds to the interest of the coin. The reverse legend has been corrected such that the T of TOR has been corrected from an O. An enlargement of the area of legend is attached. Curtis Clay is trying to find his example of the type to see if it is from the same reverse die. Martin
That's pretty cool, Martin ... man, you and Doug and your Sep-Sev, eh? => I/we never get tired of that "stuff" ... Thanks for sharing
Martin's coin is a great example of a type used at both Laodicea and Rome. In this case his Laodicea style coin is rare and the Rome version is common. For comparison. I'll post one below: Spelling errors and corrections are found on Eastern Septimius coins where the die cutters were not all that good in Latin. My favorite, of course is on 'My Favorite Coin' which is an example of a die that was used for a while and the corrected. The inset photo here shows the before and after of a C made into an S: Details: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f01.html
