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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7633950, member: 110350&quot;]To be precisely accurate, I thought that by contrast to the clearly and perfectly spherical object (acroterium?) at the top of the conical spire of the [USER=99412]@PeteB[/USER] example, the object at the top of the British Museum example was more oblong. However, after looking again at the British Museum example, I believe it&#039;s possible that the object on top is in fact spherical, and that what I thought was the bottom portion of an oblong object is, in fact, the topmost portion of the conical spire itself, with the two blurred together. (Note that on the [USER=99412]@PeteB[/USER] example, one can see that the spire is not entirely conical, but flares outwards slightly at the very top.)</p><p><br /></p><p>What concerns me more about both the [USER=99412]@PeteB[/USER] and the British Museum examples is the very fact that the object at the top of the spire on both -- whether spherical or oblong -- clearly lacks the two additional &quot;leaves&quot; (water spouts?) of the tripartite object at the top of the Meta Sudans as represented on all of the genuine Titus Colosseum sestertii, and the (probably?) genuine Paris example of the Meta Sudans dupondius. As well as the parallel provincial examples of similar fountains in Corinth and elsewhere, as shown above and in the article I posted.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can&#039;t help being suspicious that the most logical explanation for the absence of those additional &quot;leaves&quot; is that the [USER=99412]@PeteB[/USER] and British Museum examples -- however they were manufactured -- are 17th century forgeries modeled after the 17th century prints like the one I posted, which &quot;imagine&quot; a sphere at the top of the Meta Sudans.&nbsp; (Which was only a stump at the time those prints were created.)&nbsp; Why would a genuinely ancient coin be engraved to show a sphere at the top, rather than the tripartite object shown on all known genuine ancient representations from the 1st Century AD (putatively including the Paris coin) of the Meta Sudans and equivalent provincial fountains?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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