Sorry for the delay in answering, but I did have to make a new picture first; off hand, but with
good lighting and angle.
It is a very heavy
PIETAS dupondius (16.25 gram) where, in my opinion, the
reverse text did not originally end on
COS DES II either. The letters here too, are bigger and clumsier than the other letters, and, more importantly, the whole text on the
reverse has become out of balance. My gut feeling is that dies with
COS II were made that
had to be altered into
DES II. Looking closely at the
dupondius, I think I can see the 'II' . To emphasize the end of the elongated text, a dot was added.
So, what do you think of my suggestion, apart from that it is 'wild'?
Frans