Rare Double Struck Flan, Julio-Claudian Denarius

If there is one coin I never really cared to own it was a Tiberius "Tribute Penny". I always found them to be pretty boring & of course, overpriced.

But back in September one caught my eye & decided to check it out more, and saw the obverse & reverse had both striking errors.

I placed a bid and ended up winning it for a reasonable price, I assume because most ancient collectors despise these kinds of errors.

I mainly wanted it because it had this unique error & I guess I still have that old U.S. collector mentality that errors can be special, even if most ancient collectors dislike them & find them flawed

So now I join the "Tribute Penny Club", but only because of its unique quirk.

According to @curtislclay, it's a double strike with major rotation of the flan between the strikes, especially rare that it happened to a Julio-Claudian denarius.

This is also my first "error" ancient.

Hopefully, you find it as interesting as I do.

Post your ancient "errors" that may be similar or Tiberius coinage.


Tiberius (14 37 A.D.)
AR Denarius
O: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, Laureate head right,
R: PONTIF MAXIM, Female figure seated right, holding sceptre and branch.
Lugdunum Mint
3.75g
19mm
RIC 26; BMC 34; RSC 16

 

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That's a very cool, dramatic error. Nice find!

 

Great error coin, @Mat . I agree with you that Tiberius denarii are way overpriced .

 

Mat, Nice score with clear doubling ! Pictured below is a flip-over double strike I scored this year.




Impressions of the obverse can be seen with the coin rotated 90 degrees CCW.


On this view feathers from the helmet. On the right view is an image of his shield.

 

Thats really neat. Never saw it on a tribute penny.

 

I agree! It's a type that belongs in the collection of any general ancient coin collection but the prices are so annoying for such a common coin whose primary claim to fame is the speculation about its ties to the Christian bible.

Your choice of "tribute penny" is fantastic! A very interesting coin! Congrats

My nod to the type is this horrible example but it has from-the-ground provenance:


Tiberius, CE 16-37
AR denarius, 20 mm, 3.46 gm
Obv: laureate head of Tiberius right
Rev:
Livia, as Pax, seated right, holding scepter and olive branch
Ref: RCV 1763 (I have not yet tried to confirm catalog numbers)
Found Quidenham hoard, Norfolk, 2014; purchased from Chris Rudd 26 July 2018

Portable Antiquities Scheme, record ID NMS-480CEE, coin #21

 

LOL, great find, @Mat !

Your Tiberius looks like he is SNEEZING!


RR Clodius Pulcher T Mallius AR Den 111-110 BCE ERROR Flipover Double-Strike Roma Triga Cr 299-1b S 176

 

Now there's a Tribute Penny I'd like to own! Beautiful error.

I like the double-struck ear. It looks as if Tiberius got half an Athenian owl stuck to his cheek.

 

Man, that's freaky-looking, @Mat! What a cool coin!



This is my most dramatic double strike. This sestertius was double struck on the reverse, turning "PVDICITIA AVG" into "DICITIA AVG," squishing Pudicitia in the midriff, and giving her a low-rider throne!


Herennia Etruscilla, AD 249-251.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 15.15 g, 28.3 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 251.
Obv: HERENNIA ETRVSCILLA AVG, draped bust, right; later coiffure; wearing stephane.
Rev: PVDICITIA AVG S C, Pudicitia seated left, drawing veil and holding transverse scepter.
Refs: RIC 136b; Cohen 22; RCR 9505; Hunter 16.

 

This is evidence of the first attempt in History to create a GIF picture !
Great find

I was fortunate to buy my example decades ago, while prices weren't crazy as they've become since


Tiberius, Denarius - Lyon mint, after 15-16 CE
TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGUSTUS, Laureate head of Tiberius right
PONTIF MAXIM, Woman seated right on a throne (Livia ?) and holding sceptre
3.71 gr
Ref : RIC # 30, RCV #1763, Cohen #16

Q

 

Very interesting coin @Mat
Those coins with striking errors are great !
My boring piece

 

This coin is so bizarre that I've just identified it as "Huh? At one time is was a Constantius II fallen horseman type, but who knows what else has been stamped into it. Is it rotated, flip-over, double struck, triple struck? All of the above?
One side:

The other side:

 

Many of us avoid the Tiberius 'Tribute Penny' type because it is so very common but higher priced because of the added demand from Bible reading non-collectors. My favorite TP is a copy from a group found in India. The theory is that the people there were aware of the Tiberius coins containing good silver but denarii after Nero's debasement were not as good so they made their own using proper metal.


Roman coins from later periods when mints were under extreme pressure to keep up with demand often show errors. I had not seen a first century coin with that much of an error. Good catch.

My favorite error is an AE2 of Magnentius that was, on first strike, a brockage error but 'corrected' with a second strike resulting in one obverse and three reverse strikes of which one is incuse. This shows best with the VOT V MVLT X shield on the reverse die. Brockages are common as are doublestrikes. The combination is unusual.

 

Silver Coin (AR Denarius) minted at Lugdunum during the reign of TIBERIUS between 14 - 37 A.D. Obv. TI.CAESAR.DIVI.AVG.F.AVGVSTVS. laurel. hd. r. Rev. PONTIF.MAXIM.: Livia std. r. in a chair with ornate legs, and her feet rest on a small footstool. RCS #567. RSCII #16a. RIC #3. DVM #8c.

 

A double-struck Greek AE of some sort - Zeus nodding vigorously obverse? It came in a lot with a couple of respectable Roman Imperial asses:

Autonomous Issue? Æ 26
Syria, Antioch ad Orontem?
c. 1st Century B.C. ?
Laureate head of Zeus (?) right (double-struck) / Zeus seated left, [holding Nike] and sceptre (?)
See notes
(10.71 grams / 26 x 23 mm)
eBay Sep. 2021
Attribution Notes:
Obverse bust resembles Zeus on various issues from Antioch ad Orontem, the reverse is badly pitted, but a figure is barely visible, back to the right, seated or standing, possibly Zeus seated as found on so many Antioch issues.

 

I own quite a few error coins, however none of Tiberius. These are my latest acquisitions:

Gordian III as Pinocchio-nose


and a really messed-up Cappadocia, Caesarea drachm of Caracalla

double strike with 90 degree rotation and offset (or a really drunk Moneyer).

 

Well, since this thread has been revived, I will update my incorrect Antioch-maybe attribution above - here is what I've since found:



Syracuse Æ Pentonkion Messana, Sicily, The Mamertini (220-200 B.C.) Laureate head of Zeus right, no symbol behind head / [MAMEΡTINΩN], naked warrior, holding transverse spear and shield on arm, [Π in right field]. (10.71 grams / 26 x 23 mm) eBay Sep. 2021

Notes: Obverse double-struck; reverse hard to see. I originally thought it was from Antioch, but a new purchase (Dec. 2022) from Messana matches this very closely. If no symbol behind Zeus, it is probably: Attribution: BMC 26; Hoover HGC 853; Calciati 40; SNG ANS 441.

 

Ancient Errors can be pretty fun. I don't usually "collect" them, but I do like having a range of examples, and find them helpful for understanding the processes of coin production.

I'll limit it to a couple AR Denarii for this post...

"Brockages" are always nice, being among of the most dramatic errors:


Here's my most recent "error" denarius, a Marcus Aurelius with an extreme clashed die (showing a faint incuse image of the obverse on the reverse, "behind" the proper image). It could easily be mistaken for an overstruck brockage, but at least one other specimen from this set of clashed dies is known (and was, in fact, erroneously sold as an overstruck brockage -- not only one, but also a second time!):

 

Here's my most recent "error" denarius, a Marcus Aurelius with an extreme clashed die (showing a faint incuse image of the obverse on the reverse, "behind" the proper image). It could easily be mistaken for an overstruck brockage, but at least one other specimen from this set of clashed dies is known (and was, in fact, erroneously sold as an overstruck brockage -- not only one, but also a second time!):

It's amazing that it only sold for 40£ in the 2018 Spink auction while blowing up to 460£ in the 2022 Roma auction. I recently acquired a couple of brockage coins, the first ones for my collection:

 

This is very exciting @Curtis - I think I have a die-clash die-match to yours! This makes three known specimens:



Mine and yours compared:


Mine came from eBay, and the seller didn't note the die-clash, as far as I can (dimly) recall.

Thanks for sharing this - I'm going to add yours and those auctions to my files.