Not a trial strike or a
mint error in my opinion, but an intentional
sestertius obv. die, though why the
portrait and
legend were cut in middle-bronze size is anyone's guess!
The
mint of
Rome may have begun its bronze coin production of 71 with two short issues, of which this was the second, before settling on its main first
obv. legend of the year,
IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG P M T P P P
COS III.
The latest
obv. legend on bronzes of the preceding year, 70 AD:
IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG P M T P P P
COS II DES III on
sestertii (only 1 die), the same but
CAES VESPASIAN and
COS II D III on middle bronzes (also only 1 die, with
bust laureate, draped,
cuirassed r.).
RIC 32-38. The middle bronzes of this issue might be
dupondii or
asses or both, since
Vespasian had not yet
restored the
radiate crown as a denominational mark for
his dupondii, as we will soon see.
Kraay, a very competent practical
numismatist, considered them
asses;
Carradice and Buttrey suggest
dupondii, though without being able to assure us that at least one example is definitely in yellow
orichalcum rather than
red copper. Hopefully renewed examination of the few surviving specimens, or new specimens that are clearly either yellow or
red, will eventually clarify the question.
My proposed first short issue of bronze coins in 71: with
obv. legend omitting
COS III, just
IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG
P M TR P,
RIC 50-65. Three such
obv. dies are known on
sestertii. The middle bronzes all have laureate busts, and at least one
type definitely occurs both as a yellow
dupondius and as a
red As (
RIC 64 with note), showing that by the beginning of 71
Vespasian had not yet reintroduced the
radiate crown as a mark of
his dupondii.
The second short issue of early in 71, to which KC's new acquisition belongs:
obv. legendIMP CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG P M TR POT P P
COS III on
sestertii (only 1 die, with
portrait and
legend in middle-bronze size,
RIC 137-140 and KC's new piece).
On middle bronzes two slight variants of the same
legend were used,
(a)
CAES not
CAESAR on the one known
dupondius,
RIC 141,
Kraay plaster
cast in
Oxford, with
Head radiate r. on
obv., so
Vespasian had now reintroduced the
radiate crown as a mark of
his dupondii, proving that this short issue was later than the other one that omits
COS III.
(b)
CAES not
CAESAR as on the
dupondius, but also T P instead of
TR POT,
Head laureate r., apparently an As,
RIC 31, a unique coin in
Oxford, formerly in my
collection, ex
Lanz Graz IV, 1974, Hohenkubin middle bronzes, lot 134. The
obv. legend might appear to end just
COS II, and Buttrey accepted this reading in
RIC, though I
had informed him that I believed it was just a slightly
tooled COS III.
Coming at last to the point, the
sestertius obv. die with middle-bronze-size
portrait and
legend cannot originally have been cut as an As
obv. die, because the one certain As of this issue has a variant, slightly shorter,
obv. legend, and because in that case no
sestertius obv. dies at all would have been
engraved for use in this short issue. I also suspect that the broad ring of empty space outside the dotted
border on this
obv. die, shown clearly by
RIC pl. 20, 137, suggests that it was always meant to be a
sestertius not a middle-bronze die.
The
Fortuna Redux
rev. die of KC's new coin
had earlier been used in the
COS II DES III issue of late 70 AD,
RIC pl. 15, 33, giving some support to my suggestion that this second small issue of bronzes in 71 was probably produced quite early in the year. The same
rev. die, as
Kraay observed, was also used a little later with an
obv. die of the main
VESPASIANVS issue of 71,
Paris pl. XLIV, 486. But it is not certain, of course, that these two small issues of bronze coins were produced one after the other early in 71, before the main
VESPASIANVS issue
had started, as I have here suggested. Perhaps they were instead produced early in 71 indeed, but as isolated experiments alongside the main
VESPASIANVS issue.