This might be a
mule struck early in 222 with a
rev. die surviving from 221 (TR P IIII).
On
denarii, at least, the "horn" was constant on the obverses of TR P IIII Sacrifice coins, and appeared with the earliest TR P V's too, then was dropped until the end of the reign in March 222. On a
denarius, the "hornless"
obv. of Heather's coin would certainly date to c. Feb.-March 222.
This particular
sestertius obv. die occurs otherwise with the reverses SACERD DEI SOLIS
ELAGABAL (e.g.
RIC pl. VI.10) and
LIBERTAS AVG, the latter apparently being a
type of 222. I noted a coin from the same dies as Heather's (or the identical coin, haven't rechecked the
catalogue) in Hess 1933 Laughlin 771.
What is
Elagabalus holding in
his l. hand? It's been called a club or branch, but no one really knows. All we can say is that it must be some object connected with the cult of
his sun-god.
Denarii of this
type almost always show a
star in l.
field, clearly representing the sun to whom the emperor is sacrificing, but the
star is quite often omitted on
sestertii, as on Heather's coin.
