Severus Alexander Denarius Bust Type Question - IOVI PROPVGNATORI

Just in the mail, this common denarius of Severus Alexander - this is RIC 238 I believe, IOVI PROPVGNATORI where Jupiter is holding an eagle.

My question has to do with the bust type - mine seems to be draped (and cuirassed?) seen from behind. I looked at dozens of these, and all of them - I mean all - are busts seen from the front.

Here's mine, with bust seen from behind:



Here's a typical from-the-front bust (from a Vcoins listing):

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ro...natori_jupiter_ric_238_vf/639134/Default.aspx

Here is a Coin Archives search with a bunch of these - bust types are all from the front:

https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=IOVI+Alexander+PROPVGNATORI

Am I interpreting this correctly? Bust from the front = shoulder lines up with back of the head and both shoulders visible / Bust from the rear = shoulder lines up with jaw, only one shoulder visible.

My worry is that mine could be a fake - it is a bit heavy for these at 3.47 grams. Or I'm missing something in OCRE, etc. Any help much appreciated.

 

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Unfortunately I'm afraid you are correct: your coin cannot be authentic, combining as it does the obv. legend of 222-228, IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, with the IOVI PROPVGNATORI Eagle rev. type of 232-235.

Any chance you can return it for a refund?

 

Don't know nothing but can provide the RIC pages :

 

Well darn! I hadn't gotten around to checking the obverse legend yet. Thanks for pointing this out - I'd rather know the truth!

I'm just going to put it in my black box and not return it - it came in a lot from a seller who had a bunch of ancients he admitted he didn't know much about. The rest of the batch is okay, I'm pretty certain, and the price was right; if there's only one dud I feel it was still a good deal (especially that Claudius II tet and the two sestertii):


This seller had four or five other lots of Roman/Greeks and there were a couple of obvious fakes here and there, but most of the stuff looked pretty good - the prices went higher than I was willing to go for the others. They looked like the typical hodge-podge from an estate or dealer clean-out. If any CTers won these, please share.

Thanks again for the info!

 

Thanks for the info Octarinetabellatchitichix, - unfortunately my "not in RIC" is not in RIC because it is a fake. Ah the perils of bottom-feeding!