I thought I'd share another new addition. This brings the total number of tesserae in my collection to 129, with an additional two dozen or so waiting to be photographed and cataloged. The coin below appears to be unpublished, but Rostovtev admittedly tended to categorize radiate busts as emperors, so he may have listed it under "Nero?" Given the lack of inscription and the relative rarity of Imperial portraits, I'm inclined to call the obverse figure Sol. Before everyone asks, the hole is a result of the manufacturing process, it is not post-mint. There was not enough metal to completely fill the mold or, if there was, it was not distributed evenly. When casting my own tokens, I found that shaking or spinning the mold helps to spread the material better. ROME. 1st-3rd centuries AD PB Tessera (19mm, 3.40 g, 12h) Radiate and draped bust of Sol right Fortuna standing left, holding rudder and cornucopia Rostovtzev -
Interesting Arda. Radiate crown in the Nero era, Yeah Sol may be a better guess???? Reverse yeah Fortuna perhaps Feliciatas ???? Great stuff.
