This Titus Thracian dupondius was up for auction today on eBay. Nice looking coin, right? Can anyone guess why I passed on it? BTW, it sold for $247. If not for my reservations, I would've been all in for it.
Is there an extra POT at the end of the obverse legend? You id not give a weight or diameter but the fabric looks more like I expect of a sestertius than a dupondius. I am no expert on Flavians let alone Thracian mint coins so any 'wrong' feelings I have are founded on ignorance rather than knowing what I am doing.
Copied from the listing: Titus Bronze Dupondius. AD 80 - 81. Mint in Thrace 29 mm. 12.40g. RIC 503; C. 189; BMC 314(Lugdunum); RPC 507; BN 325. gVF, with untouched olive-green patina. I suppose I shouldn't have been so coy in my post. My reservations don't have anything to do with rarity or authenticity doubts.
I still have more to learn than I know so mine is a guess. I cant figure out what is going on with the Obverse legend, has it been tooled and wrongly at that ?
Metal gouged out at his temple, filled and repatinated, maybe a bronze disease cure? Maybe a plugged hole?
The cuirass looks a little 'funny' but I have not seen enough of these to know. Everything seems pretty good, but you are the expert on this series. I'll be watching close so I can learn something.
@Plumbata and @John Anthony expressed my concerns. The smoothing in the fields and the gouge that looks purposely chiseled were deal breakers. It's hard telling what else was reworked that isn't so obvious. I would've gladly paid 3 times the hammer price if it had been untouched. Surprisingly, it was correctly attributed!
