I recall reading somewhere, perhaps on Moneta, a discussion on the rarity of dupondii of Septimius Severus. I do not think there was much of a discussion as to the reasons for it - the dupondius became increasingly less common after the reign of Antoninus Pius ca. 138 to 161 AD. In fact, dupondii of the children of Septimius Severus are pretty darn rare as well - and much less common than the As. My theory is that the dupondius was not produced in large numbers for a variety of reasons, including that the Roman Administration was simply far more interested in precious metal coinage, since that was how the legions got paid. Also as the antoniniani became more debased there might have been a concern about confusing the two. Or it may be that the coin was no longer filling an important need But, in my humble opinion dupondii are extremely beautiful coins - the way the celators were able to portray the portrait underneath the crown illustrates the skill of the die makers. The dupondii of Vespasian and Titus are extremely beautiful although I do not have any examples. I do have a beautiful dupondius of Gordian III (and how often do you see these?) which I will be posting. Although this example - RIC 804 or thereabout - is a bit worn, I really like the portrait. I have thought about attempting to clean it a bit better but decided that such an effort would more likely result in damage to the coin!
I don't really focus on Rome and have only owned one Dupondius of Caracalla which I unfortunately parted with a few years back. Caracalla, Dupondius Obv:– ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT, Radiate head right Rev:– PROVIDENTIAE DEORVM / S - C, Providentia standing left holding staff and wand over globe Minted in Rome. Reference:– Cohen 534. BMC 254. Hill 1347. RIC 514
Excellent coin! I was never sure which of the first two to keep so I kept both. Caracalla I have no Geta.
