So I am working on trying to discern anything from some of the worse-off coins in my non-cleaned lots. This thing was so nasty that nothing could be made out on the obverse or reverse. A tough scrubbing later and I was able to make out some details on the reverse. The thing that interested me was the mark on the right side of the reverse. It looks to be a reversed "S". Am I right? If so? Is this common? Based off of wildwinds, I believe this to be: Gratian AE3. DN GRATIANVS PF AVG, pearl-diademed, draped bust right / GLORIA ROMANORVM, Emperor walking right, looking left, holding labarum, dragging captive right by the hair. Variety of fieldmarks left and right (35 known combinations). Mintmark TES. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/gratian/_thessalonica_RIC_026c_2.jpg Sorry for the poor photos!
I've done some more digging and found this example of my coin with the "S" properly oriented. http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=portrait_facet:"Gratian"&start=180 Would the die engraver just have made a mistake? Was this common?
