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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 4104864, member: 75937&quot;]This thing is just a hot mess.</p><p><br /></p><p>Although the portrait is skillfully rendered on this Rome mint antoninianus of Volusian, the obverse legend is a mess. Its letters are irregularly shaped and sized and it&#039;s clear that when the engraver noticed he was running out of room, he shrunk the size of AVG at the end just to fit it all in.</p><p><br /></p><p>This situation seems to imply that the portrait was engraved first, probably by a master engraver, and that the inscription was added last, possibly by an apprentice whose engraving skills were not yet up to par.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse die is in bad shape, too, not because of poor engraving skills, but because of a couple of die-cracks, the most obvious at the 1:00 position, leading from the figure of the emperor radially outward to the IIII in TR P IIII. The more subtle one appears as a slightly curved line cutting across the emperor&#039;s scepter to his <i>paludamentum</i> from the 4:00 to 5:00 position.</p><p><br /></p><p>Post your comment, coins with unskilled engraving in the legends, coins of Volusian, or anything you deem relevant!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1066453[/ATTACH]</p><p>Volusian, 251-253.</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus, 3.21 g, 20.6 mm, 11 h.</p><p>Rome mint, 5th officina, 5th emission, mid AD 253.</p><p>Obv: IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: P M TR P IIII COS II, emperor standing left, sacrificing with patera over flaming tripod and holding short scepter.</p><p>Refs: RIC 141; Cohen 94; Sear 9793; Hunter 3.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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