|
|
RIC 0895 Vespasian
|
Æ As, 7.20g
Rome mint, 76 AD
Obv: IMP CAESAR VESP AVG COS VII; Head of Vespasian, laureate, l.
Rev: S C in field; Spes stg. l., holding flower
RIC 895 (R). BMC -. BNC -.
Acquired from eBay, February 2021.
An extremely rare left facing portrait variant of the common COS VII Spes. The right facing variant of the type is considered by RIC (p. 51) to be the single most common bronze coin struck for Vespasian. The left facing portrait is another story! RIC cites only Berlin for the left facing variant, although the catalogue's authors Carradice and Buttrey must have known of a few other specimens in order to assign it a frequency rating of just 'rare'. I could not locate any other specimens online either in trade or in a major collection. A truly scarce coin!
|
|
