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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 3099570, member: 57495&quot;]I picked up this denarius of Elagabalus a few months ago but only just got around to photographing it.&nbsp; I chased it for several reasons, but originally, I just wanted a decent portrait of our favorite fruitcake emperor wearing the infamous &quot;horn&quot;/dessicated bull penis/extra frilly laurel wreath on his head. </p><p><br /></p><p>Beyond that, this particular coin was interesting to me because for this issue, the horned portrait was supposedly already abandoned, and RIC lists this reverse with only a standard laureate, draped bust obverse.&nbsp; In a brief auction writeup, CNG suggests that the change was likely because &quot;popular unrest provoked a sudden attempt by the regime to reform its image, one act of which would obviously be the removal of the horn.&quot;&nbsp; I suppose, then, that this coin was mistakenly struck using a leftover obverse die with a horned portrait. </p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse shows evidence of yet another mistake at the mint, a die clash that produced a &quot;ghost&quot; - the mirrored image of Elagabalus&#039;s head neatly framing the standing figure of him sacrificing at an altar.&nbsp; Rather appropriate, I thought, for a coin that was his last issue before he was assassinated, struck for less than three months, between 1 Jan - 11 Mar 222.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please feel free to share your coins of Elagabalus or coins struck with clashed dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]784270[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>ELAGABALUS</b></p><p>AR Denarius. 3.02g, 20.8mm. Rome mint, 1 Jan - 11 Mar AD 222. RIC 52 var. (laureate, draped bust, hornless). O: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust right wearing &quot;horn&quot;. R: P M TR P V COS IIII P P, Elagabalus, in Syrian priestly robes, standing left, sacrificing out of patera in right hand over lighted altar, and holding club in left hand; star in left field.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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