Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 7916470, member: 19463&quot;]27. As we near the end of the month, I have to be careful to insure certain favorites make the list.&nbsp; Earlier a few &#039;less than official&#039; coins were shown including a fourree.&nbsp; Today&#039;s coin is from the group that are not/can not be official but that are not plated.&nbsp; The &#039;profit&#039; in making them would have been smaller leading us to the belief that they were made to serve as money in a place that was short on change.&nbsp; Today, two of our local grocery stores have posted signs saying cash payments must be in exact change since they can not get enough coins to support business as usual.&nbsp; The Credit Union we use told me that they have no shortage of coins but they do not have commercial accounts of the supermarket size.&nbsp; It is a bit confusing.&nbsp; So is my coin for day 27.</p><p>Septimius Severus, AR denarius, IMPCAELSEP&nbsp; SEVPERTAVG / COS III PP Mars, bearded, standing right, ex PeteB, 1998</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1367883[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I consider this coin to be of reasonable style but it is just not a match for any of the regular, recognized mints.&nbsp; The metal seems (has not been assayed) similar to official coinage but it is a bit thin/light at 2.2g (as are some coins of Alexandria).&nbsp; Most strange is the combination of the &#039;First Legend&#039; obverse (193 at Rome but as late as 196 at Alexandria) with the date COS III (202 and later when Rome was the only mint).&nbsp; There are many unofficial coins that will never make complete sense.&nbsp; This is one that happens to have been cut by a better than usual craftsperson.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>First back-up position is a copy of the standard Rome mint type showing Hercules.&nbsp; While the coin has a small flan losing much legend, there is no reason not to believe the obverse was correct for the issue L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP IIII but what remains of the reverse legend is IOEPES.&nbsp; The die cutter replaced the lion skin with a simple cloth.&nbsp; The bow is a bit strange reminding me of a Rhythmic Gymnastics ribbon but I&#039;m sure that that thought is colored by this being an Olympic year. 3.0g. ex. Brian Kritt, 1998.&nbsp; If anyone has any idea what IOEPES was meant to be, please share. [ATTACH=full]1367895[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Compare it to a standard issue Rome mint coin HERCVLI DEFENS showing a perfectly fine lion and recurved bow worthy of the god. 3.3g. Stacks (Coin Galleries), 1987.&nbsp; This would be a nice coin were it not for the weak strike on the laurel wreath and Hercules legs.&nbsp; There was not enough metal to fill both dies.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1367896[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in