I have recently obtained a couple of obverse legend errors from the COS II series of Septimius Severus that I thought worthy of sharing. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– IMP CAE L SPE (sic) SEV - PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right Rev:– TR P III IMP V COS II, captive seated right with peaked cap, hands bound behind, quiver and shields behind, curved sword in ex Minted in Emesa. A.D. 195 Reference:– cf. RIC 432 . cf RSC 660. I had seen one of these SPE for SEV errors elsewhere last year. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– IMP CAE L SP(sic) SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right Rev:– INVICTO IMP, Trophy with captured arms below Minted in Emesa. A.D. 194 – A.D. 195 Reference:– cf. RIC 389. cf, RSC 232. Martin
Where do you find all these SS coins Martin? Between you and Doug, I think you have a corner on the market.
An obverse die match to the SPE for SEV captive coin above but this time with a Moneta reverse. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:– IMP CAE L SPE (sic) SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right Rev:– M-ONET AVG, Moneta standing left, holding scales in right hand, cornucopiae in left Minted in Emesa. A.D. 194 - 195 References:- RIC -. RSC -. BMCRE -.
Errors are errors. To me, they get more interesting when we see the same error made on more than one die. What make someone write SPE? This is not the only SS example of die errors repeated but is the one that seems to find their way to Martin's place. I have one and bought it in 1992. When did you start collection SS Martin? I have bought very few Eastern SS this millennium. Below are two with SE for SEP, CA for CAE and PER for PERT. The second one wins by also shorting AVG to AG. The first, however, does VICI for VICT (or is that an homage to Caesar and I need to find the VENI and VIDI coins?).
Doug, I started collecting eastern SS in about 2001. I have a real soft spot for the IMP CA ... PER variants and have around 15 examples from a variety of obverse dies. Your second obverse dies is one of my favourites because it was the first IMP CA I bought and I have three examples all from different reverse dies to yours.
