This coin is a head scratcher. I purchased it from a well known coin dealer several years ago but still haven't been able to attribute it. At first I thought it might be a mule but after extensive research it appears to be an extremely rare unlisted denarius. The only information I could find about it was published in a research book Varian Studies Volume One Varius by Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado; May 2017 (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). The coin is shown on page xix, no. 71 and mentioned on page 343 and is located at the BnF museum in France, item # 1196. The BnF coin is the only other sample I could find. Here is the coin in my collection: Reference from Varian Studies Volume One Varius by Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado Coin in my collection, extremely rare CAES obverse with PROVID DEORVM reverse. Authority: Elagabalus (Augustus 218 – 222 AD) Denomination: AR Denarius Mint: unknown Obverse: IMP CAES ANTONINVS AVG – should be IMP ANTONINVS AVG; Laureate, draped bust right Reverse: PROVID DEORVM; Providentia standing left with legs crossed and leaning on column, holding wand over globe and cornucopia References: RIC -; SEAR -; RSC -, OCRE -; unlisted type
Unless I'm misunderstanding, Victor isn't your second example the same specimen as the OP coin? (Even the same photo, but color saturation is turned down in the top comment?) Maybe OP bought it from you or someone who bought it from?
Yes, sorry it is the same example. That's what happens when drinking while posting! Both pics came from acsearch.
The bottom one is mine. The top one was sold at auction by Munz Zentrum Rheinland - Auction 175, Lot 683, January 13, 2016. I also found another specimen from an old 2015 chat room post: https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=195502. So for now four known: 1. BnF Museum 2. Coin Community Forum - 2015 3. Munz Zentrum Rheinland Auction - 2016 (obverse die match to #4) 4. Mine - 2020 (obverse die match to #3) The auctioneers at Munz Zentrum Rheinland also thought that it may be a hybrid based on their auction listing.
Very interesting: the CCF (2015) 195502 coin looks like a Fourrée (plated) to me. Comments in the thread suggested Limes, but usually those aren't so coppery (more pot-metal, like lead and tin, with vivid colors). The style is seems pretty good (certainly not amateurish like you sometimes see), but it doesn't appear to match any of the other dies shown above, so I wonder if they're official or not. Sometimes you see ancient counterfeits with mismatched obv./rev., so they could've even been mixing & matching the more common types with these two separately, and just happened to come up with an actual type that was just rare. Or they had a genuine protoype of this rare obv/rev combination.
The CCF could be a fourrée since denarii are around 95%-98% pure silver and therefore shouldn't weather like that. Upon magnification it looks like the silver delaminated from the base metal core and then began to oxidize. It's definitely not a limes; they a grayish/green color and are typically made of zinc so they couldn't oxidize like that. Here is one of mine: The possibility of dies being mixed up to create a hybrid (mule) is the most likely option. If that's the case since Elagabalus coins were produced in Denarius and Antoninianus the only denarius obverse matches would be RIC IV 68(b) / 121(b) / 139(b) / 153 / and reverse match of RIC IV 130.
