RIC 0756 Vespasian

Æ Dupondius, 12.00g
Rome mint, 74 AD
Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.
Rev: PON•MAX•TR•POT•P•P•COS V CENS•; Winged caduceus between crossed cornuacopiae
RIC 756 (C). BMC 886. BNC 904. RPC 1982 (3 spec.).
Acquired from CGB.fr, September 2020.

Traditionally, the issue this rather strange laureate dupondius is from has been attributed to various different mints over the years. It has been attributed to Commagene (BMCRE II, pp.217-222) and Antioch (e.g. RPC II 1982-2005). T. Buttrey writing in the RIC II.1 unpublished A&C explains - 'The correct attribution to Rome is proved by mules of the dupondii with regular issues (Buttrey, “Vespasian’s Roman Orichalcum: An Unrecognized Celebratory Coinage” in David M. Jacobson and Nikos Kokkinos, Judaea and Rome in Coins, 65 CBE – 135 CE (2012). The series had nothing to do with Syria or with the East at all, yet it was purposefully designed to appear non-Roman: the suppression of the traditional reverse sub-inscription S C throughout; the suppression of the radiate crown of the Dupondius; the shifting of the consular dating from the obv. to the rev.; the striking of all four denominations in orichalcum; and most obviously the selection of rev. dies which reek of the East. There is nothing like this series in the whole of Roman imperial coinage. It is a deliberate act of Orientalism, imposing the flavour of the East on a Western coinage.'

This is the less common right facing portrait variant, seemingly struck at a 1:2 ratio against the left facing.

Fine style and good clean brassy surfaces.