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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 6363441, member: 82616&quot;]I almost forgot about this one. What with acquiring a major &#039;grail&#039; coin last week and working on yet another (stay tuned!), this big beauty was sitting at the bottom of the &#039;to go through pile&#039; in its mailer. It deserves better!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1251927[/ATTACH]</p><p><b> Domitian as Caesar [Titus] </b></p><p>Æ Sestertius, 24.47g</p><p>Eastern mint (Thrace?), 80-81 AD</p><p>Obv: CAES DIVI AVG VESP F DOMITIANVS COS VII; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r.</p><p>Rev: S C in field; Mars, with cloak over shoulders, adv. r., with spear and trophy</p><p>RIC 509 (R2). BMC p. 296 *. RPC 505. BNC 326.</p><p>Acquired from Aegean, January 2021.</p><p><br /></p><p>An unidentified Eastern mint struck coins for Titus and Domitian as Caesar sometime between 80-81 AD. The style (heavily seriffed letters, large portraits, massive reverse figures), and uncommon fabric (flat, almost convex flans) all suggest a mint other than Rome. Attributing exactly where these coins were struck has historically been a moving target - Mattingly in BMCRE thought Lugdunum, H.A. Cahn believed somewhere in Bithynia. More recent scholarship has looked towards Thrace as a possible location for production based on the Balkan distribution pattern of found specimens. Although the region of mintage has been narrowed down, the city itself remains elusive. RPC has suggested possibly Perinthus. Presumably a shortage of bronze coins in the region during Titus&#039; reign prompted a localised imperial issue. The striking of imperial bronze outside of Rome was an exceptional step at the time considering the last imperial branch mint at Lugdunum had shuttered late in Vespasian&#039;s reign. The issue consisted of sestertii, dupondii, asses, and semisses which copied types struck at Rome. This very rare sestertius produced for Domitian as Caesar copies the more commonly found Mars type contemporaneously struck for Titus at this mint. Missing from the BM&#039;s extensive collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>Admittedly, the coin is not the most beautiful example out there, but in hand it certainly has its charms![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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