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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 2891301, member: 82616&quot;]This weekend I&#039;ve been feeling a bit under the weather and decided to binge watch season 2 of Netflix&#039;s <i>Stranger Things. </i>Oddly enough, this inspired me to think about any coins in my collection which might seem a bit strange or possibly from the an &#039;Upside Down&#039; mint. In other words, coins that don&#039;t fit in the normal scheme of things and are a bit &#039;off&#039; in some way. I believe I have one.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]694972[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Vespasian</b></p><p>AR Denarius, 2.80g</p><p>Antioch mint, 72-73 AD</p><p>RIC 1542A (R3), BMC - , RSC - , RPC -</p><p>Obv: IMP CAES VESP AVG P M; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.</p><p>Rev: AVGVR above TRI POT below; priestly implements</p><p>Ex G&amp;N, eBay, 22 November 2012.</p><p><br /></p><p>The type copies a contemporary Rome issue, but is clearly not from that mint. The best fit style wise is Antioch, which also issued this reverse type with a slightly different obverse legend. The lettering is rendered rather crudely similar to many Antiochene denarii. Until this specimen surfaced, this obverse legend combined with the priestly implements reverse was completely unknown for Antioch. Both the legend and the type are extremely rare for this mint. The new RIC II authors Ian Carradice and Ted Buttrey agree the coin is Syrian in style and have tentatively assigned it to the upcoming RIC II Addenda as 1542A, although Carradice hasn&#039;t completely ruled out the possibility it is a barbarous copy. Harry Sneh also agreed the best fit is Antioch, proposing that there may have been several mints operating in Syria and this may be the product of one of them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Five years on and there is still no definitive answer concerning this coin&#039;s home mint. I&#039;m still patiently waiting for more evidnece to turn up, hopefully not in vain.</p><p><br /></p><p>Share your strange coins![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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