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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 6172637, member: 26430&quot;]Great example of a Clodius Sestertius! That&#039;s what I was thinking I would get, albeit in worse condition, based on the group lot photo (could only see that distinctive face on the Frugiferum rev).</p><p><br /></p><p>The absence of any die matches on the reverse is certainly a concern so far, but you&#039;re right, that prominent face is a good place to start looking again. If the reverse is of a slightly different legend, for year one, though, I may not find it. That&#039;s always a problem with unpedigreed/unprovenanced coins; even if you find a rare or special one, it&#039;s very hard to ever trust it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now that you mention it, another good next step may be to check for any die matches on this obverse to his Year 2 Sestertii, based on the portrait (if there&#039;s enough left), which would tell me if someone had just cut a new legend into it.</p><p><br /></p><p>If someone changed SS into CA&#039;s face, that will be terribly sad! (Partly because I think it would require a talented (re)engraver using their skills for the dark side.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I hadn&#039;t looked too hard at Septimius yet, but your comment prompted to go skim through my ERIC II (which I find especially useful for this kind of thing, since Ras lists all the legends alphabetically; finding where they&#039;re used is trickier, since he has 1175 entries for SS).</p><p><br /></p><p>I see three different Saeculum Frugiferum type legends listed for Septimius, each for a different denomination, and seeming to be in use for two years. In 193/4: Denarius (SAEC FRVGIF COS; RIC 19, Cohen 622, ERIC II 297) and Sestertius (SAECVLO FRVGIFERO TR P COS; RIC 655, C 637, E2 922). For Year 2, 194/5: Dupondius (SECVLO FRVGIFERO COS II; RIC 664corr., C 638, E2 1073).</p><p><br /></p><p>So it seems they both stopped using them at the same time. If mine is, in fact, 193/4, then they both used them in both years. </p><p><br /></p><p>(I&#039;m definitely going to have to take a very close look to see if I can find any more detail on the legend for mine.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I actually find it quite curious and interesting that Septimius, and also Pertinax (at least on a denarius), also used Saeculum Frugiferum reverse types. I hadn&#039;t realized that at first. It made a lot more sense to me as an homage to Clodius&#039; hometown. I wonder why the &quot;Fruitful Age&quot; reverse would have come into use by the others coincidentally with Clodius&#039; rise.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Do you think those pattern are caused by a modern hand? I wonder if the texture is caused by machine &quot;cleaning/restoration&quot; of the coin? Someone lacking in skill or caution using a motor-driven needle to remove crust from the fields? I&#039;ve seen lots of interesting patterns seem to embed themselves in surfaces from contact with fabric or wood or other fibers while buried, as well as odd geometric surfaces from crystallization, but I guess those usually wouldn&#039;t form separate patterns.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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