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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 3016648, member: 82616&quot;]I am finally nearing the end of cataloguing my January purchases! This Domitian denarius has waited patiently in its mailer for over a month. It would be a cliché to say of the coin &#039;last but not least&#039;, but it is the last of the bunch and not any respects &#039;least&#039;.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]749130[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Domitian</b></p><p>AR Denarius, 2.93g</p><p>Rome mint, 81 AD</p><p>RIC 12 (R3). BMC - . RSC - .</p><p>Obv: IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG PONT; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r.</p><p>Rev: P P COS VII DES VIII; Dolphin coiled around anchor</p><p>Acquired from Marc Breitsprecher, January 2018.</p><p><br /></p><p>A lot of interesting things are going on with this 81 AD Group 2 <i>pulvinar</i> denarius. Firstly, there is the rare &#039;PONT&#039; obverse legend with DOMITIANVS fully spelled out. Secondly, an exceedingly rare reverse legend beginning with P P. And lastly, there is no TRP number. All of these elements combine together resulting in a very rare variant of a common type; as a matter of fact, this is the second known specimen! The new RIC II.1 was the first catalogue to publish this rare variant. Of note, my example is a reverse die match with the RIC 13 plate coin, which is the other rare dolphin/anchor variant from the group with the shorter DOMITIAN obverse legend.</p><p><br /></p><p>A brief word about the dolphin/anchor reverse type. It is carried over from Titus&#039; reign (as are all the <i>pulvinar</i> types) to the beginning of Domitian&#039;s for a couple of reasons: 1. Very likely the religious ceremonies the <i>pulvinar</i> coins commemorated were still ongoing. It has been proposed the opening of the Colosseum is the religious ceremonial occasion in question, a good possibility since the structure was completed under Domitian. 2. Domitian had yet to put his own stamp on the mint, so in the absence of any new types, the old ones were recycled, perhaps serving a duel purpose.</p><p><br /></p><p>NB: 1. I am at a loss to explain why this issue lacks a TRP number, considering the previous issue (Domitian&#039;s first) records it. 2. The &#039;PONT&#039; in the obverse legend came before Domitian completed the religious rites required to be Pontifex Maximus (P M).</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post any coins you feel may not be beautiful, but are of interest nonetheless.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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