Septimius Severus, COS II

This denarius has COS II along Mars on reverse. Sear 6327.

 

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keep on going buying those great coins

 

Very nice selection everyone!

@ro1974 Thanks for sharing and the compliment.

 

Guys - I'm struggling with decision whether this one is from Laodicea or Rome.

I've read several topics on how to differentiate between those mints, but it's still very unclear for me. Laodicea is said to have a bit thicker letters and a bit "crude" style. Problem is, it seems too subjective to me.

Can anyone please share how do You differentiate Laodicea and Rome? What do You look at?

 

Laodicea.

 

Thx! But how do You determine that?

 

*edit*

 

Through studying many examples attributed to both mints. Handling many examples. Learning. The difference is stylistic.

If you are asking for a three word answer then I am afraid I am going to disappoint.

 

While this is obviously Laodicea style, I am not familiar with a Victory with this legend from Rome. That means you don't need the style to make the separation in this case. Is there one? There are many Victories with some from each mint. Most can be separated by looking the legends up in the catalogs but it is most easily done by learning the 'look' of the styles.

 

Thank You all for answers. I'm using mostly Wildwinds and there is a Victory with this legend under RIC 125.

I'll do as You propose - will get a lot of pictures of both Laodicea and Rome severuses and will try to find differences in style.

Cheers and thanks again.

 

Wildwinds does unfortunately have many errors.

 

I have checked the wildwinds entry for RIC 125 and both examples are from Laodicea. There are many coins on Wildwinds that take the attribution from the seller without any further analysis. If the seller was wrong then the entry is wrong.
I will email Dane to try and get these removed.

 

In RIC itself there is a footnote to 125 saying the type may be 'perhaps' only from the Eastern mint which would mean there is no 125. One can never prove that something does not exist but it can be said not to have been seen.

 

Thx again.

And bows to You Mr Smith. When about 17 years ago, in my early 20s, I got interested in ancient roman coins, I was learning a lot from resources created by You. There was already a lot of resources in internet back then, but Your articles were by far the best I read. It's an honour )

 

Thank you. In the late 1990's there was a small fraction of today's material available online and amateur sits like mine and Warren's (CT Valentinian) played a larger role in free public numismatic education than we realized then. Today, we have been surpassed by so really great sites some even sponsored by governments that value education on subjects as trivial as coins. I would love to see more who benefited from those early efforts to step up and ensure there will be a place for beginners to go for introductory information other than commercial Forums like Coin Talk.

 

I intend to create some resources aimed at getting new people interested in this topic. There is a lot online, but nothing really easy in my native language (polish). I feel it's my duty, especially when our new government decided to reform education and among many changes, remove history of ancient europe from curriculum. It's just like they try to teach kids that there was God, later Christ was born (not so important where and when) and right after his crucifiction, great Poland was born to prosper )

I have one more Septimius Severus denarius. Tried to compare many images I found online and I'm inclined to believe it's from Rome.

Looked for some distinctions in style. Tell me please if I'm more or less right.

Laodicean portraits are not that full - frame of head is a bit smaller and because of that, eyes seem bigger. Often neck is thinner and longer, also cheeks are less considerable. I think word "shriveled" fits here

I'd love to hear oppinions on this denarius. I think it's Rome. Fingers crossed.

 

Laodicea.

 

Damn :/

But thx

 

I forgot to include the coins' descriptions relating to the above. As you can see there is two COS II (one with Parthian prisoner on the reverse, indicating IMP V, perhaps an error !).
SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS. Laureate head r. "L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX". Rev.: Victory walking l. holding wreath and palm. "VICTORIAE AVGG FEL". C.719, BMC. 139-40 & 678-9, RIC. 144b & 516. Rome: 198-200. AR.D.(3.484 gr.) g. VF

SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS. Laureate head r. "IMP CAE L SEV PERT AVG COS II", Rev. "T.R.P.III.IMP.V.COS II" Captive (Parthian) seated on ground, facing r. hands tied behind back, in front, bow, quiver and two oval shields, nothing in exergual space. AR,D, Mint: Emesa. 195 AD, RSC 659, RIC.433, Sear 636, (2.79 gr. 17mm. 1h)

SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS. Laureate head r. "IMP CAE L SPE SEV PERT AVG COS II". An interesting celator error in the spelling of the emperor's name on the obverse legend19, Rev.: "SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI" Sept Sev, in military dress, on horseback walking left, holding spear. ARD. Mint: Emesa, 194. RSC 1637, (20), RIC 415, BMC.389, ill.16.20("statue?") (2.68 gr, 12h, 18mm).