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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 3211909, member: 57495&quot;]Here&#039;s a new arrival that caught my eye in a recent Savoca auction.&nbsp; It has enough wear that, at a casual glance, you might think the reverse legends have completely worn away.&nbsp; It&#039;s actually anepigraphic, and seemingly a rather rare type.&nbsp; If I&#039;m not wrong (and please feel free to correct me here, [USER=70512]@Okidoki[/USER]), it&#039;s in fact the only anepigraphic reverse type issued on a denarius in Hadrian&#039;s name.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]834212[/ATTACH] </p><p><b>HADRIAN</b></p><p>AR Denarius. 3.12g, 18.9mm. Rome mint, AD 134-138. RIC 294d; Sear 3551; BMCRE III p. 338, *. O: HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate head right. R: No legend, Hadrian standing right, wearing military garb, inverted spear in right hand, parazonium in left hand, left foot on <b>crocodile</b> (?).</p><p><br /></p><p>RIC, BMCRE, RSC and Cohen all describe the reverse as depicting Hadrian standing with one foot on a prow, but Sear in RCV II calls it a crocodile.&nbsp; The detail is unfortunately not clear on my example, but here&#039;s a coin that&#039;s a double die match for mine that was sold in a <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4894285" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4894285" rel="nofollow">Naumann auction</a> showing a thing that clearly looks nothing like a prow.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]834213[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I suppose it could be a crocodile, or maybe a [insert your best guess here].&nbsp; A <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=74387q00.jpg&amp;vpar=412&amp;zpg=85285&amp;fld=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/Coins2/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=74387q00.jpg&amp;vpar=412&amp;zpg=85285&amp;fld=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/Coins2/" rel="nofollow">Forvm sale listing</a> follows Sears, and adds the suggestion that the type &quot;<i>may refer to the quelling of a revolt in Egypt, perhaps related to the Bar Kokhba revolt.</i>&quot;&nbsp; While that&#039;s a possibility, I think it&#039;s unlikely given the small quantity struck, the subtlety of the iconography employed, and the lack of victory trumpeting legends.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>CNG slapped a &#039;Travel series&#039; label on a <a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=273106" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=273106" rel="nofollow">beautiful bust variant</a> of the same type they sold in 2015, and even though they call the object a prow and don&#039;t elaborate on their reasoning for grouping it with the other &#039;Travel&#039; coins, I think this makes more sense.&nbsp; The obverse legend and portrait style fits, and as it is, Egypt holds a special place within the series, having been given three reverse types (AEGYPTOS, ALEXANDRIA, NILVS) compared to just one for all the other featured provinces.&nbsp; I&#039;ve no good suggestion for why this type is anepigraphic, or what exactly is being conveyed by the depiction of Hadrian in the pose of Virtus stomping on a crocodile, but I&#039;ll happily be giving this coin more research time down the road. </p><p><br /></p><p>Please feel free to share your thoughts or pile on with any appropriate coins![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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