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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Nefarius Purpus, post: 7435162, member: 116505&quot;]An update on the Sponsian mystery for those who are interested.</p><p><br /></p><p>Münsterberg (1923 Tfl. 264) in fact photographed three, two from the Vienna Cabinet acquired in 1713 and one that turned up in 1770 at a monastery in Austria. They all appear to be cast from moulds made from the same hubs, as does the one that made its way to Glasgow</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1290273[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The Vienna ones were ‘found’ in Transylvania in 1713 (or so the story goes, according to a note by Heraeus who curated the Vienna collection at the time and reported by Münsterberg) along with several ‘barbarous’ gold pieces with various faux Republican and Imperial type designs and a possibly genuine Alexander the Great coin (which pieces present puzzles of their own). It seems the Vienna Cabinet coins were part of a larger group that was dispersed in 1713 into several major collections.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the Sponsians found its way into the collection of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal who was Governor of Transylvania between 1774 and 1787 and it was first illustrated by Naumann (1783).&nbsp; This is an oddity because, as I pointed out in a posting above, it appears to be made from different obverse and reverse hubs, unless the drawing is quite inaccurate, which it may be.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1290275[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This may or may not be the same specimen&nbsp; illustrated by Akerman (1834)(perhaps inaccurately again from Neumann’s illustration, exaggerating the gap between IMP and SPONSIANI for instance and straightening legs etc., changing outline and there is no blocky column base).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1290277[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Another puzzle is that the one illustrated by Cohen (1860 and 1892) is not the same as Neumann’s specimen (as Münsterberg seems to suggest it is) unless one or both illustrations are very inaccurate. In fact it does not appear to be an exact match for any of the others photographed above (look for instance at the beading down the column which is straight, not bowed). Cohen also mentions the existence of a silver specimen although the one in his catalogue is gold like the rest.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1290278[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Although Sponsian was listed in RIC and described as an ‘unsolved mystery’, and several historians have mentioned him as a possible usurper at around the time of Philip, Cohen and Munsterberg thought they were fakes, as do various other specialists. I have decided to bring the evidence together and may write a formal summary backed up by a close examination of the Glasgow piece when lockdown allows to try to put the issue to rest. It is an interesting puzzle one way or the other and I am trying to keep an open mind until all the evidence is in.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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