Purchased this coin this morning. It appears to be an unlisted Titus denarius. @David Atherton had some suspicions that it was possibly a fouree and not an official issue. However, I believe there is enough evidence to believe it is the real thing. First, in some cases we see coins that exist as both denarii and aurei. While there is no RIC listing for this denarius, RIC 696 is an Aureus of the same type. That is it has the same obverse and reverse just in gold. Next, Some of the coins in this issue for Titus under Vespasian are very rare. For example RIC 694 is a very rare coin and my RIC 695 is one of only 2 known and is the RIC plate coin. Next is the portrait. The coins of this issue have strange portraits. Below you will find a photo from RIC of 695 and 696. While not an identical match there are numerous similarities between the portraits on the coin I bought and the Aureus depicted as RIC 696. Also not the lettering on RIC 696 below. take a look at the E. Do you see serif like features on the E? I do. Compare the P on both coins. The letters look identical. It is the same story with the T in T CAESAR. Go ahead and compare the other letter on both Obverse and Reverse, the similarity is "striking". Also there is the weight. It weighs 3.75 g. While this is not definitive proof that the coin is good , I believe this is significant evidence. I think when all the evidence is added up that there is a really good chance that this is what it looks like-an unlisted Titus denarius.
I get the suspicion, unfortunately, that it may be just a modern cast of an aureus. The rev. die is very similar to that of this aureus from a Künker sale, but the aureus shows much more detail than your denarius, detail that was presumably lost through the casting procedure.
Thanks very much Curtis. I appreciate your opinion on this. Oh well, I will not give up looking for these rarities.
Wow -- good eye! I used Photoshop to make a quick comparison of the relative geometry of a few features on the obverses: The straight lines within each circled area show the similar relative position and absolute distance for just a few of the reverse's features (click to get a larger picture and see the lines more clearly). At the very least, they certainly appear to be from the same reverse die.
