"Emesan"
rev. dies including II
COS in their legends, generally coupled with the
obv. legend "of 193" specified above, are interesting and all
rare. My casts include the following examples:
1.
FELICITAS TEMPOR II
COS, two wheat ears and poppy between two crossed cornucopias,
obv. CE...PEPT, my new coin.
2, 3. FEIICITAS (
sic) TEMPORVM II
COS, basket of fruit,
obv. CE...PEPT,
Vienna (above). Same
rev. die but
obv. CAE...PERT,
overstruck on a
denarius of
Pescennius Niger, in BM ex coll. Roger
Bickford-Smith; another spec. from the same dies but not
overstruck, formerly Marc Melcher
Collection, sold by
CNG, image given below by
Roma.
4.
BONAE SPEI II
COS,
Spes advancing l., muled with
obv. legend ending II
COS,
Martin Griffiths, shown by him below.
5, 6.
BONI EVENTVS II
COS,
Fides standing l. holding plate of fruit and two wheat ears, two
rev. dies, BM ex L.A.
Lawrence Coll., Barry Murphy (2 spec.), and
Bickford-Smith ex P.V.
Hill Coll. One of the same
rev. dies was also used with an
obv. of IVLIA
DOMNA AVG, on a coin in
Vienna.
7, 8. CERER
FRVG II
COS,
Ceres standing l. holding wheat ears and long torch,
Budapest, Barry Murphy (2 spec.),
Martin Griffiths (see image below), all from the same die pair. The same
rev. die muled with an
obv. legend ending II C, BM ex
Bickford-Smith and
eBay Dec. 2008, the second pointed out by
Doug Smith and shown below.
9.
FORTVNAE REDVCI II
COS,
Fortuna standing l. holding rudder and
cornucopia, muled with an
obv. legend ending II
COS, my coll. ex Michael Kelly.
10.
LEG VIII AVG II
COS, TR P
COS in
exergue,
legionary eagle between two standards,
BMC pl. 15.7,
Paris, 2 in
Oxford,
Doug Smith (all from the same die pair).
11. MINER VICI (
sic) II
COS,
Minerva standing l. holding
Victory and spear,
shield at feet,
Oxford ex D.R.
Walker and Arnold Coll.
12-15.
MONETAE AVG II
COS,
Moneta standing l. holding
scales and
cornucopia.
12.
Obv. CE...PEPT,
Martin Griffiths, shown by him below.
13. Normal
obv. "of 193", BM ex
Bickford-Smith, Barry Murphy ex John Aiello,
Doug Smith, from a second and third
rev. dies, different from that used for 12.
14. One of the same two
rev. dies used for 13 was also muled with an
obv. legend of Septimius ending II C, in
Athens.
15. Both
rev. dies of 13 were also used with a IVLIA
DOMNA AVG
obv. die, not the same die noted above as occurring with the
BONI EVENTVS II
COS type, on coins in
Vienna,
Paris, and M. Griffiths Coll., the last of these three coins being shown by M. Griffiths below.
16. MONETE (
sic) A[VG II CO]S, same
type as last, engraver's error omitting A from
MONETAE, known only for
Julia Domna, in BM, same
obv. die as the
Vienna,
Paris, and M. Griffiths coins with the correct
MONETAE AVG II
COS just referred to.
17. MONAE SPEI II
COS, same
type as last, my coll. The engraver meant to write
MONETAE AVG, but the ON misled him into finishing as though it were
BONAE SPEI.
18.
VICTOR IVST AVG II
COS,
Victory advancing l. holding
wreath and
palm, no plaster
cast, reported by
Bickford-Smith from
Dura Europus 942. Addendum:
Martin Griffiths acquired a specimen of this coin in June 2009, which he shows below.
On two
types, finally, the engraver wrote II only at the end of the
rev. legend, leaving off the
COS:
19. FORTVNAE REDVIC (
sic) II,
Fortuna seated l. holding rudder and
cornucopia, BM ex
Bickford-Smith.
20, 21.
INVICTO IMP TROPAEA II,
trophy,
Martin Griffiths, my coll. (see image below); the same
rev. die muled with a II CO
obv. die of Septimius,
BMC pl. 16.8.
Maybe
Doug Smith, Barry Murphy,
Martin Griffiths and others can add further
types, not yet represented in my
cast collection!