Yesterday FedEx delivered my one win from the last Pecunem sale a full two days ahead of the predicted Thursday. So far since Thanksgiving, most of my deliveries from USPS, UPS and FedEx have been ahead of schedule. It is like they are competing. Another Septimius Severus from Emesa. I had to have this one since it is the fifth reverse I have with this obverse die which is the one used on 'My Favorite Coin'. The coin could have better surfaces having suffered modern cleaning. I'm serious about this problem. Of my five, two are toned and decent surfaced, two are modern style overcleans and one has been raped. The two are known to me to have been in collections for a long time. Today we are batch processing too many coins and sending off to market coins that would not be appreciated fifty years ago when I got 'My Favorite Coin'. Will the overcleaned ones look better in another 50 years? Will I care? The new coin is in the middle. The reverse legend appears to read MINFP VICT. Barry Murphy had a die dupe with the R normal so that may be damage on my coin but the F is certainly not a standard E. http://bpmurphy.ancients.info/severan/ssemesa2.htm Minerva types are all scarce from Emesa and this is not the most rare one. I would like to figure out (from die wear) the order in which my five were struck and am always looking for other examples with more clear details whether I can buy them or not. Barry Murphy had a reverse with this obverse that I do not have so I am not yet finished. I have no idea how many more there are.
It's visually striking to see five of the same obverse die with different reverse types. It makes you wonder whether the reverse dies wore out much quicker than the obverse dies, or if there was a quota of so many different types that had to be met...
These are questions I fail to answer. I once believed that it might be evidence that the two dies were locked up separately at night and randomly assorted in the day but that suggests I should find these reverses (the dies, not just the types)used with other obverses and I do not). The faster wear theory would suggest we should see worn and damaged reverse dies but I fail to see evidence that any of these dies were used to failure. The questions need to be addressed by someone studying thousands of coins but I am not sure that there are that many coins from this period in existence. Other than the regular COSII obverses, I consider a coin known by ten examples to be a common one. This could be completely off depending on how many collectors there are who have these but do not share them online. I just noticed an old image I had showing the obverse with a Virtus reverse so there are at least seven (and two I need).
Doug, you should do the die study! You are as qualified as any for the task, and it would present a tremendous opportunity to share your collection and your expertise with the numismatic world.
And if you don't, I'll continue to pester you to every time you post an eastern mint Severan denarius.
I have posted elsewhere with pretty horrible examples of double die matches two the two Victory types to Doug's coin above but also posted this MINER VICT type from the same obverse die.
Goooooooooaaaaalllll!!! 2 - 1 Wow, that was a sweet wrist-shot!! ... hey Mentor, I'm not keeping score (just watchin')
Thats odd, the only thing I receive in the mail on time are my bills. One day I will get a Septimus too.
If I were to have only one Septimius, I would probably go for a Rome mint legionary. These Eastern mint oddities are more for those of us who are going for a bagful.
