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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;benhur767, post: 3121470, member: 36818&quot;]Here are three Severan coins from the mint of Rome with dots that look more like dashes or hyphens. As others have already said, they seem to function as spacers or &quot;space fillers&quot;. On the second coin below, a more-or-less round dot appears directly below Caracalla&#039;s portrait.</p><p><br /></p><p>They were used inconsistently, though. Why are some parts of the inscription worthy of spacing or separation, and others not. For example, for the inscription LIBERALITAS AVG • V, it seems logical to separate the number from the rest of the inscription, as a way to emphasize that this is indeed the V liberalitas and not the IV or VI. But on the coin of Septimius Severus (first coin below), with the inscription PM TR P X • I COS III • P • P, it seems random and irrational to separate XI, and also to separate P P but not the other abbreviations.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is a typographic term for these &quot;dots.&quot; They are more properly called <i>bullets</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––</p><p>[ATTACH=full]794350[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Septimius Severus.</b> AR denarius, Rome, 203 CE; 18mm, 3.24g, 6h. BMCRE 432–3, Hill 602 (C), RIC 189b, RSC 461. Obv: SEVERVS – PIVS AVG; head laureate r. Rx: P M TR P X • I COS III • P • P; Fortuna seated l., holding rudder and cornucopia; wheel below seat.</p><p><br /></p><p>––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––</p><p>[ATTACH=full]794342[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Caracalla.</b> AR denarius, Rome, 211 CE; 18mm, 3.13g, 12h. BMCRE 76, Hill 1293 (S), RIC 216, RSC 129. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT •; man’s laureate head, bearded, r. Rx: LIBERALITAS AVG • VI; Liberalitas standing left, coin counter in r. hand, cornucopia in l.</p><p><br /></p><p>––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––</p><p>[ATTACH=full]794343[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Elagabalus.</b> AR denarius, Rome, 219 CE; 19mm, 3.74g, 12h. BMCRE 117–9, RIC 139, RSC 261. Obv: IMP CAES ANTONINVS AVG; laureate and draped bust r. Rx: SALVS • ANTONINI AVG; Salus standing r., feeding a snake, which she holds in her arms.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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