Common type, but if you like looking at coins of Augustus...

Doug, I too, have noticed the large number of fourrees from this period. Would you care to venture an opin ionion why this might be so?

 

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Well I noticed the OP wrote, "if you like looking at the coins of Augustus". Well, I do and I'll take this opportunity to post some of my own. I have more coins of Augustus in my collection than those of any other emperor except Nero. As I wrote just above I have several which I suspect may be fourrees, although they were not sold to me as such and I don't think came with a substantial discount. From left to right, Octavian, ca. 30 BC with Mars on obverse, shield on rev. 3.28 grams and well circulated and over cleaned. Next a bare headed Octavian, ca. 28 BC, Curia Julia on rev., 3.63 grams. Third, a scarcer piece with some corrosion, full facing Augustus, rev. Mars. Probably the year 16 BC as this coin may have been issued to celebrate the recovery of Augustus from a serious illness in that year. It weighs 3.8 grams. Fourth is a copper As, also of ca. 16 BC. Fifth and sixth are both the ever present Caius and Lucius coins, probably the most common denarii of Augustus. Number five weighs 3.61 grams and six comes in at 3.7 grams. Six is another more common coin with the butting bull on the reverse and it weighs 3.6 grams. Number eight is with Gaius Caesar on horseback weighing 3.35 grams. Number nine is an As from a Spanish mint with a somewhat different appearing Augustus, but pretty good style for a provincial mint. The bull looks a good deal like the much latter bull on the coinage of Julian the Apostate. Lastly is a denarius that I think may be a fourree. it has a shield with SPQR around it and weighs just a tad under 3 grams, somewhat light and if you look closely one can see, I think, some copper through the silver, especially on the reverse. From the wear it looks like it circulated for a while.

 

Very nice coin VK - I owned one of the type briefly but promptly sold it - I'm sure I have the pictures in my archives somewhere. Finding one in good style, high grade, and with decent centering is tough, and the hammer price will reflect that!

Ultimately, I opted for a Cistophorus for my "main" Augustus; IMO the best trade-off between price and "wow" factor as these are usually quite well made and pleasantly large



I also have this one to fill the "posthumous slot"


And the rest - either purchased for the other personages on the coin, or else kept because I'd rather have the coins than $5.50 from the eBay sale!

Augustus & Agrippa, Nemausus Gaul


Amphipolis, Macedon with Artemis Tauropolis


Tarraco, Hispania, with Gaius and Lucius


With Rhoemetalkes, client king of Thrace

 

Spectacular, Carausius!!
New to me!

 

Excellent coin with a great style to it @ValiantKnight

Here'smy example :


ROMAN EMPIRE, AUGUSTUS Denarius, RIC 207 Rome mint, 2 BC
CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE, Laureate head of Augustus right
AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT, Caius and Lucius holding shields and spears
3,65 gr
Ref : RCV # 1597, Cohen # 43, RIC # 207

Q

 

Octavian AR quinarius

AE As

 

RI Augustus oak crown Agrippa rostral crown L AE Dupondius 26mm 12.6g Type III 9-3 BCE Nemausus chained Croc wreaths RIC I 158

 

If you look it up at coinarchives you can find at least 5 sold up to now in auctions. Doesn't seem to be less common.

It is an X, not a star and according to Reinhard Wolters cited in the Künker auction, p.36 at https://issuu.com/archaeologymatters/docs/kunker_eauction_31__29-30.10.2014_

this type celebrates the Lex Valeria Cornelia and was struck 5 AD in Lugdunum or even in Rome. This law established 10 voting centuria for the preselection of Consuls and Praetor. The X on the reverse and the use of the Gaius/Lucius type after the death of Augustus' grandson is explained by the naming of the 10th Centuria fafter Gaius and Lucius Caesares. For dating, and mint see Wolters, "Gaius und Lucius Caesares als designierte Konsuln und principes iuventutis". Lex Valeria Cornelia and RIC I² 205 ff., in: Chiron 32 (2002), p. 297 ff. "

 

Could you please elaborate why you suggest to be wary ?

At the German forum
https://www.numismatikforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=61495&start=90

Altamura2 recently wrote that the ancient subaerat or Fourrées also have a place in history, and some collectors find them even more interesting than the official / original ones since the circumstances for their production and circulation are not known.

For attribution of subaerats / Fourrées there seems to be no rule. Some collectors use the RIC number followed by (for prototype).

This is one of my subaerat denarii:
18 x 19 mm, 3.445 g
Lugdunum (Lyon), ca. 2 BC - 4 AD
RIC 207 (for Prototype); RSC 43 (for Prototype);

​

Anyway, to each his own

 

Those are all beauties in this thread
Trying to find one that is not already shown: a Capricorn Denarius from Colonia Patricia (not a subaerat) quite different than the original Cistophori:

17 x 20 mm, 3.731 g
Colonia Patricia, Lusitania, 18 - 17 BC
RIC 126; RSC 21; BMC 347;

Ob.: Head of Augustus, bare, to r.
Rev.: AVGVSTVS Capricorn right with cornucopia, holding globe with attached rudder

​

 

The fact that this coin type of Augustus is so common (and therefore was produced from many dies) made my finding this double-die match extra special. I'm proud to have both examples in my collection!

Close inspection reveals that even though "Coin A" is more worn, it was produced when the dies were more fresh than when used for "Coin B".

 

That's interesting, as a light weight is usually an indication of a plated coin but yours is pretty close to the average for these coins.

 

Denarius of Augustus 2BC to 12 AD Lugdubum mint. Obv. Head right laureate. Rv, Caius and lucius standing facing between them two shields RIC 208 3.81 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen

 

Some new Augustus added for me as the only 1 I have was feeling lonely.
Kings of Thrace. Rhoemetalkes I and Pythodoris, with Augustus 11 BC-AD 12.
Bronze Æ


Mysia, Kyzicos
Obverse design bare head of Augustus, r.
Reverse inscription ϹƐΒΑϹΤΟϹ
Reverse design capricorn, l., with head turned back

 

Several years ago I went to my favorite local coin shop in search of an Augustus denarius for I no longer had one in my collection. The shop owner, who was a good friend of mine, said he didn’t have a denarius in stock but he had a fairly nice aureus that he recently bought at a very good price ($800) that he would sell to me for just about what he paid for it. Inasmuch as Augustan aurei are hard to come by, I snapped it up:


Augustus, RIC Vol. 1, Lugdunum, No. 206 (c. AD 1)
3.6 gm

 

Thanks all for the comments and awesome coins! Also forgot to include in the original post that my Augustus denarius is ex- @Sallent collection.

Count me as one that did not know this. Very interesting.

Thank you for sharing this information. I had been confused as to why the minting of this type continued after the death of Lucius in 2 AD. Also, I was not aware until now it continued after Gaius's death as well.

For sure a great find! I don't think I own two (or more) coins that are die matches but I do have several that match up with other coins I've found online, notably a few of my provincials.