Of the thrills awaiting me at a small local show Friday was this Republican denarius of C. Vibius C.F. Pansa. I am probably the only one who likes it because of its major fault and I'm sure that the price paid was reduced considerably because most collectors would consider it damaged goods. This is my least extreme example of a flan reduced in weight before striking by gouging out a scoop of silver creating a recess on the reverse that the striking failed to erase. A more extreme coin showing this normal mint practice is shown on my grading page as 'Adjustment Marks'. What I see here is a normal coin with better than usual strike, toning and wear that was selected before it was struck as 'victim' of the need to put out a certain number of coins from a certain weight of silver so it was eliminated from consideration by most collectors. I'd rather have it than a 'normal' one off center, harshly cleaned or more worn. Auction results I have found for the type suggests I am the correct strange person to own this 'defective' coin. To me, this is like the early US dollars with a silver plug in the center hole (you wouldn't want one of them either - right?). Several other coins I got at the show were strange as well but this is probably the leader of the pack.
Beautiful toning & good strike is right. It honestly doesnt look bad at all. If the price is right, I would have bought it with that "fault" too.
Coming soon to a thread near you.... Someone on another thread asked if a coin I was showing was hard to find so I did some research and this coin turns out to be the rare one. However there is a version with the quadriga facing right that is very common with over 20 currently on sale on VCoins including three (!) that show the weight adjustment scoops. I was aware that some moneyers were more careful about weights than others but finding that many scooped coins for sale all at one time seems like a lot!
