Yes, that
head .. it doesn't really look like a
head, though, it's just that it's in the place where a
head could be if that were a dragon or a
snake.
Maybe it's a round clasp of some sort, with an embellishment or a small flaw in the die. Or, maybe the engraver made that odd cloak edge to cover up a mistake he
had made earlier, and what you see coming out from the round blob is the remains of that mistake. He's covered that up with a big blob and some wide cloak edging, then rather carelessly continoued on round to make it look as though that was always what he meant to do. You can see one bob on top of a
leg, another careless slip, and then he has just carried on round. If that were a
snake it would have a big gap in its body.
That engraver is not very skilled. Look at the globe
Sol is carrying! It's not round so much as egg-shaped with a pointed top. We only call it a globe because we know that's what the engraver was trying for.
Bill
