On Thursday, 20 Nov., I responded as follows to Tibor's e-mail query to me about this coin:
Tibor,
The
style and metal look official to me, so apparently a mislabeled
reverse die. The
rev. legend should have been
IOVIS STATOR or
IOVI STATORI, but by mistake the engraver thought the
type was
Hercules and so wrote
VIRTVTI AVGVSTI.
It is clear that as a general rule the
portrait or
reverse type was
engraved first on a
Roman die, and then the appropriate
legend was added around the
portrait or
rev. type. Note on this particular
rev. die the slight gap in the
rev. legend, VIRTVT - I, to accommodate the top of Jupiter's
scepter. That
scepter was present on the die before the
rev. legend was
engraved!
Yours,
Curtis Clay
-----Original Message-----
From: Tibor
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 5:32 AM
To:
Curtis Clay
Subject:
Gordian anto with
Jupiter instead of
HerculesDear
Curtis,
I bought this
Gordian anto. What is it? An ancient imitation? (22mm, 3.35g)
Best Regards,
Tibor
