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Message:: [QUOTE="Nemo, post: 3257251, member: 58462"][ATTACH=full]856014[/ATTACH]PESCENNIUS NIGER. 193-194. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.2 g). Antioch mint. O: Laureate head right, IMP CAES C PESC NIGER IVSTI AV / BONIE V ENTVS, Fides standing left, holding plate of fruit and two grain ears. Obverse double struck. RIC IV var When Pescennius was proclaimed emperor by his troops in AD 193, he knew his reign as emperor would not be peaceful. He quickly set out to issue huge sums of denarii in his name to pay his troops and to win the loyalty of others. To do this, like so many before him, Pescennius reduced the fineness of his denarii to a point that they were equivalent to the Caesarean drachm. Considering his short bid for power, the variety of Niger denarii is amazing. The scarcity of his coinage belies the fact that it was struck on a monumental scale, and we can only assume that after his defeat at the hands of Septimius Severus in AD 194 his coins were meticulously recalled and melted. Although it has been extensively published, there are such a huge number of minor varieties that no single catalogue is without numerous lacunae. It appears that the all of Niger's coins were struck at Antioch and possibly a subsidiary mint operating at Caesarea in Cappadocia. This example illustrates the high level of quality control at the mint![/QUOTE]