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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3192343, member: 19463&quot;]I know nothing about Indo-Sassanian coins but in Greek/Roman I would not expect an imitation to be in the standard references.&nbsp; I would expect half the imitations I have seen are rare enough that they could be thought to be unique especially if half the people studying the series ignore (do not record) unofficial looking coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In general I am unimpressed by claims of &#039;only x known&#039; unless the claim is accompanied by a good explanation of where they looked.&nbsp; People tend to mistake &#039;not seen by me&#039; with &#039;does not exist&#039;.&nbsp; I have several coins that I have not seen duplicated in the literature but I know enough private collectors that most exist elsewhere as well as in my collection.&nbsp; The ones that do not may be unique but there is an excellent chance that there are a dozen other private collectors&nbsp; (not to mention museum basements) that it is not really safe for me to claim more than they are rare.&nbsp; I show a few here but would really appreciate you showing me yours.&nbsp; Burst my bubble!&nbsp; All are Eastern mint Septimius Severus and Julia Domna.</p><p>These exist with right heads and other reverses have left heads but I have not seen this reverse with a left head.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]824412[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>There are several Septimius Minerva coins but this pose has an owl,</p><p>[ATTACH=full]824413[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This is a relatively common Emesa mint Severus reverse but I have not seen another with the X support under the chair.&nbsp; Is that too picky to count?&nbsp; I have owned this coin for over fifty years.&nbsp; Make me feel bad for missing the others.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]824417[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Alexandria mint Venus coins are rare for Julia Domna.&nbsp; This is the only Septimius I have seen.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]824419[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Julia Domna has a few, too.&nbsp; The Venus type is common from Emesa but this die spells out the reverse legend VICTRICI that is usually abbreviated VICTR. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]824421[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Some people will claim any Domna with a reverse more appropriate for a male ruler is a &#039;hybred&#039; error and not worth study.&nbsp; I do not consider them errors and buy what I find (unique or not).&nbsp; I admit the II COS&nbsp; on the reverse is a bit strange since women were never Consul but there are many other signs that the workers at the Eastern mints followed a different drummer. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]824423[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally is a Pescennius Niger with a spelling error BONI EV<span style="color: #ff0000">I</span>NTV(S) on the reverse.&nbsp; Unlisted coins of this emperor are so common that I wonder if they outnumber the one that did make it into the references.&nbsp; How many of these are unique?&nbsp; Is this a category where being common is more rare than being rare? [ATTACH=full]824425[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Ancient coins were made from individually cut dies each with their own little quirks.&nbsp; Terms like rare and unique need to be applied with care.&nbsp;&nbsp; I hope none of you have a bucket full of any of my candidates for &#039;unique&#039; status but that is just as possible as any one of them actually being the only one in existence.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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