I just purchased a very nice but fairly worn sestertius of Elagablus - I will post it when it arrives in the mail, probably a few weeks from now. One of the reasons I spent more on it than I expected was that the reverse indicated that it was struck "TRP V", which is rare - I could not find an example for a sestertius of Elagabalus for this year using the CNG search function or on Wildwinds. I'm going to check the British Museum and Fitzwilliams tomorrow. Thanks!
Wow! Nice catch. I’m looking forward to see your coin. Didn’t know that those Sestertius with TRP V even exist for this emperor.
Sestertii for Elagablus aren't that common in general and it sounds like yours is a real rarity - congrats!
Beautiful coin - I must have missed it in my review of the BM coins. It is far nicer than the one I purchased, and the reverse is from the same die - as I mentioned, I will post it upon receipt. This really is a magnificent example, but heck it is a museum! I have to admit that I like the portraits on the late coins of Caracalla better - I would love to know how often the Rome mint changed celators. There was one celator doing Caracalla sestertii who was a phenomenal artist, but I never saw his work duplicated. By the way, does anyone know how to make plaster casts of coins? I promised to send one of my coins to someone in order to make a cast, but I thought I might try doing one of my own. Also it seems like the British Museum has added a number of coins recently to its database - does anyone know if they have done so?
I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for your purposes, but you could get a silicone mold-making kit, suspend the coin in the silicone mixture in a conveniently-sized container, then carefully cut the coin out after solidifying, leaving a reusable 1-piece mold that with minor modification wax, plaster or other materials could be poured into. https://www.smooth-on.com/howto/basics-mold-making/
Curtis Clay gave a little course of how to make plaster cast of coins a few years ago: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=29974.0
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=29974.0 It is a lot of fun. Curtis's instructions IMHO play down the trouble with bubbles in the plaster. I use a spray called Airid that I find quite helpful. It is also possible to pour other materials in the molds besides plaster. I did some in a two part epoxy resin that made unbreakable coins. I had an article in the Classical Numismatic Review v. 16, no. 2 (1991), p. 2, 44 if you happen to have all your old CNG price lists. I stopped making casts when my friend with whom I exchanged them passed away. You can paint them to make them look 'real'. I once attended an exhibit at the Smithsonian in DC that was 100% plaster - not a real coin in the show. I could tell but some people did not know.
Oddly enough this is a die match on the obverse and reverse to my coin. That means that of the three coin, all share the same reverse, and two share the obverse. It could mean it is rare, it could mean that there are plenty more out there. Most of the ones of this type I have seen are COS IIII.
