Well, I said I wasn't going to post this until it was in hand, but I just can't wait. I purchased this coin thinking it was
RIC 539 (R2) under
Vespasian. However, after I won I noticed that the
legend is blundered. Instead of:
CAES AVG F DOMITIAN COS II it reads:
CAES AV
DOMITIAN COS IIIt's pretty clear from the photo it's missing the G and F on the
obverse. There is no footnote in
RIC noting an engravers error and I can't find another on
acsearch or
Coinarchives. In talking with David we both agree it looks like a product of an Eastern
mint like
Antioch or even the "O"
mint. David points out the clumsy lettering and
ragged flan. The
portrait doesn't look like a product of
Rome either, although the early
portraits of
Domitian are not as
stylized as they would become later on. I've never seen an Eastern
mint for this issue. It's wonderfully executed and it's nice to
still get the centering
circle on the
reverse. So, the question is...official coin or ancient
counterfeit?
I won't have it in hand for at least a week but I thought the sellers pictures were
good enough to start the conversation. Claimed
weight is 3.4g.