lonely Pius Tr.P. XIII coin

[Diederik]

Just recently I bought the only(?) bronze issued in the thirteenth Tribunician year of Antoninus Pius. Can anyone think of a reason why there was silver but no bronze?
Sorry I only have the obverse available at the moment.

Frans

[curtislclay]

There was bronze, just not very much: a scarce sestertius and a rare dupondius with rev. COS IIII S C, Aequitas standing left, Strack 1047.

[Diederik]

Thank you Curtis,
The sestertius is rated R2 in RIC.
Is this the one you refer to as scarce?


Frans

[curtislclay]

The sestertius was rated R2 in RIC because Cohen 244 valued it at 40 francs.  However that is just a misprint, carrying over the value of the preceding aureus.  In Cohen's first edition, this sest. is no. 557, and is valued "Common"!  The 40 franc price is obviously an error, since no collector now or then would pay that sort of premium merely for a rare year of a common type!

By coincidence, this sestertius IS rather rare, but not excessively so.  The Garonne Hoard contained just one spec. of this sest. dated TR P XIII, compared to 12 spec. of the same coin dated TR P XII and two spec. dated TR P XIIII.  I've had at least one TR P XIII coin in my collection and have seen a couple more offered.  I too was initially impressed by that R2 in RIC and 40 francs in Cohen, before realizing that it is just a misprint in Cohen, and a mistake in RIC!

[Diederik]

I did not pay too much for it either: just under 60 Euros which is very acceptable, I think. I have not been able to find an on-line picture/description of the coin; not on Wildwinds, Coinarchives or Dirtyoldcoins for that matter. This gave me the idea that the coin should at least be 'difficult'.
Thanks for you comment, Curtis.

Frans

[curtislclay]

It was a bargain at that price, well centered on a large flan with little wear, despite the light porosity!