Very neat!
ALL
denarii of
Domitian as merely
PONT at the beginning of
his reign are very
rare; there are two
standard legend forms,
IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG
PONT and the same with just
DOMITIAN.
After
Domitian became P M,
his standard legend was
IMP CAES DOMITIANVS
AVG P M,
but a
rare variant
legend added
his father:
IMP CAES DIVI
VESP F
DOMITIAN AVG P M.
Your new coin combines the two
rare titles,
PONT and DIVI
VESP F:
IMP CAES DIVI
VESP F DOMIT AVG
PONT!
This
legend form was unknown to
Cohen and
BMC, but the new
RIC records it with three
rev. types:
P P
COS VII DES VIII,
Wreath on curule chair,
RIC 11 and pl. 117, citing and illustrating a spec. from
Lanz 94, 1999, 377;
rarity R2 indicates that the authors knew of at least one more specimen.
TR P
COS VII DES VIII P P,
Altar,
RIC 44 and pl. 118, citing and illustrating a spec. in
Oxford, and citing a second spec. in Cederlind 126, 2002, 110. This is your coin, apparently the third known (
prob. not identical with Cederlind's), from the same
obv. die as the illustrated
Oxford coin, but a different
rev. die.
TR P
COS VII DES VIII P P,
Wreath on curule chair,
RIC 49, citing a single spec. in Vienna's Numismatic Institute. About five years ago I bought a second spec. of this
denarius, from a Cederlind
catalogue.
As to the reason for
PONT only,
Domitian presumably waited until he was elected
Pontifex Maximus by the appropriate popular assembly, which will have
met only a month or so after
his accession. The Acts of the Arval Brethren record that such assemblies to elect the emperor
Pontifex Maximus were
still meeting in the later first cent. AD.