I have wanted a coin of Trajan with FORT RED reverse for a while. For some reason other coins took priority in auctions. That all changed last weekend when the only coin I wanted was this. Trajan AR denarius, 116 AD. Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GERM DAC, laureate, draped bust right. Rev: PARTHICO P M TR P COS VI P P SPQR - Fortuna seated left, holding rudder and cornucopiae. FORT RED in ex. RIC II, 315; RSC 150; BMCRE 634; Sear 3139 var 17 mm, 2,80 g A number of other Emperors also have a FORT RED reverse, so post your FORT RED reverse, Trajan or otherwise.
This type was issued as a result of Vespasian's safe trip to Rome (to serve as Emperor), after his lengthy travels to Syria, Judaea, then Egypt: It was shortly after this coin was produced, that his son Titus led the Roman army in capturing Jerusalem. Although the obverse is perfectly centered, the reverse suffered an off-center strike which lost "COS ITER" -- but fortunately preserved the key portion (imo) of the reverse's legend.
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Fortuna/ Fortuna makes an interesting mini-theme. Most are "FORTVNA REDVX," but this one refers to a different aspect of Fortuna: Faustina II, 148-175 Denarius. 19-17 mm. 3.07 grams. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA Struck c. 161-176 FORTVNAE MVLIEBRI "To the fortune of women" Fortuna enthroned left holding rudder and cornucopia RIC Marcus 683. BMC IV Marcus 96. Sear II 5253 That page has more. The URL is, again, http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Fortuna/
