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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Meat man, post: 25294265, member: 135271&quot;]You know how sometimes you see a deal that looks so good, you just buy it without doing your research? Yeah, most times that doesn&#039;t end well - but occasionally you get a happy ending.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was browsing MA-Shops and spotted a coin labeled as a &quot;Trajan As&quot; but was unlike any type I&#039;d seen before. The coin was worn and rough, but the price was so low - after doing some lightning searches on OCRE and ACSearch without results - I decided that whatever it was it must be rare enough to excuse an impulse buy.</p><p><br /></p><p>After the coin was safely secured I started digging in for some serious attribution research. And I got nowhere - couldn&#039;t find anything even remotely similar. Then I realized that I&#039;d been looking in the wrong spot - the coin was a provincial issue.</p><p><br /></p><p>It still took me a long time searching but then, I found an entry on RPC Online - a perfect match! And no wonder the coin&#039;s identity had eluded me for so long. The coin is apparently a just-identified type, with the first specimen sold by Rex Numismatics in September of 2023. The auction house listing suggested it might be the first known example and it was submitted to RPC online, who created a post-publication entry for it: <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/2906A" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/2906A" rel="nofollow">Vol III No. 2906A.</a></p><p><br /></p><p>It would seem that RPC also could not find the type in any other reference; at least none were given in the RPC listing and I assume they would check available references. All RPC did was note that it was missing from &quot;Dalaison &amp; Delrieux, Néapolis-Néoclaudiopolis&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Aside from the extreme rarity, it&#039;s an interesting type design, depicting a bound captive (which RPC identifies, logically enough, as the personification of Dacia.) This motif of a bound, seated captive is found on a few other provincial coins of Trajan but it is not common. (Imperial issues are another matter.) The portrait is also decent. Although the coin has seen better days, I am happy to have acquired such a rare piece for what was essentially the price of a McDonald&#039;s meal!</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for looking! Feel free to post your own &quot;happy ending&quot; impulse buys, lucky rarities, or any other comments you deem appropriate. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1615613[/ATTACH] </p><p style="text-align: center"><i>GALATIA-CAPPADOCIA, NEOCLAUDIOPOLIS</i></p><p><i><p style="text-align: center"><i>Time of Trajan</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>AE (26.02mm, 11.44g, 6h)</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>Struck AD 109/10</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>Obverse: ΑΥΤ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ ϹΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚΟϹ, laureate and cuirassed bust of Trajan right, seen from rear</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>Reverse: ΝΕΟΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΠΟΛΕΙΤωΝ ΕΤΟΥϹ, Dacia, bound, seated on rocks right; ΡΙΕ in exergue</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>References: RPC III 2906A.2 (this coin)</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>An interesting and extremely rare type, apparently unknown except for this coin and one other specimen, both cited by RPC Online.</i></p><p></i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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