The
AVG in
wreath type of
Flavian denarii from
Ephesus regularly shows an oak
wreath on the
reverse, as on the first coin illustrated below.
Jay's new acquisition, however, seems to show a
laurel wreath rather than an oak
wreath, exactly as on the "
Rome mint for
Syria" bronze of
Vespasian also shown below, though the bronze
type shows berries on stems which are omitted on Jay's coin, which I have added as the third coin below.
This seems to be a new variant, which should certainly be reported to
Ian Carradice for inclusion in the revised edition of
RIC II ! I find no mention of a
laurel wreath in this
type, on any of its numerous varieties, in
RIC,
RPC, or the Addenda to
RPC published in 2006.
It is interesting that a succession of numismatists have seen Jay's coin without recognizing that it shows a new
wreath variant on the
reverse; they have all followed
RIC and
RPC and earlier
standard works in calling the
wreath an oak
wreath. So
Gorny & Mosch, in their
auction catalogue of 2006 where, as far as we know, the coin first emerged; then
CNG in their e-sale 433 of three weeks ago where Jay acquired the coin; then Jay himself in the description of the coin in
his Forvm gallery; and finally I must not omit myself, for I must have glanced at the coin in the
Gorny catalogue of 2006 and CNG's recent e-sale, but did not notice any difference in the
wreath until Steve P, in the
thread above, specifically but erroneously called it an oak
wreath!