It seems however that Balbinus' earliest
bust type, appearing on only a small number of
denarius obverse dies, was draped only, seen from behind, without
cuirass flaps on the shoulder, the same
type that also appeared on
Balbinus and Pupienus'
contemporary coins of
Gordian III as
Caesar (picture below).
A
denarius of
Balbinus with this
rare earliest
bust type showed up in
Lanz 40, 1987, lot 766, coupled with the
rare early
reverse type IOVI CONSERVATORI. I tried to acquire it, but was outbid by my English friend David
Walker, who bequeathed this coin and the rest of
his outstanding
collection to the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford when he died a couple of years later.
In
Gorny & Mosch 169, 2008, lot 365, another
denarius of
Balbinus with the same
bust type turned up, apparently from the same
obverse die as the Lanz-Walker coin, but coupled with another
rare, early
reverse type,
LIBERALITAS AVGVSTORVM; see second picture below. I don't remember bidding on this coin, but in any case, because of its excellent condition, it sold for more than I could have afforded, $1760 plus fees, so around $2000.
Just recently a third such
denarius of
Balbinus has appeared, from a different
obverse die and coupled with the
standard VICTORIA AVGG reverse type:
Roma Num. E4, 28
Dec. 2013, lot 768 = Vico 136, 7 Nov. 2013, lot 567; see third picture below. This coin I did manage to acquire, though with a
bit of luck: on originally going through the
Roma lots I
had overlooked the unusual
bust type, and I only happened to notice it as I was scrolling from one of my bids to the next one in the course of the sale. Unfortunately I hadn't been aware of the Vico sale, where I might well have acquired the coin for a couple of hundred dollars less!
This is the kind of
rarity that hardly affects the
price of the coin, because very few dealers or collectors notice it, or even care if it's pointed out. Of the four dealers named above who sold such a
denarius, only Vico noticed that the
bust type was different, but he didn't realize that that difference is interesting and very
rare, so worth paying a
bit more for.
Rarities of this sort probably won't cost you any extra, if you happen to notice them yourself!