Overtype: This
reverse type was normally that of
Herennius Etruscus not
Hostilian.
Apparently very
rare for
Hostilian.
Cohen 38 (normal
obv. legend) and 39 (shortened
obv. legend like yours) could quote both variants only from the coin dealer Rollin;
RIC 183d-e in turn cited
Cohen. Neither of these
antoniniani was in the Dorchester
hoard.
The
undertype is very likely to have been a
denarius not an
antoninianus, since it is known that in 251 AD
Trajan Decius and then
Trebonianus Gallus undertook an operation to
overstrike denarii in circulation as
antoniniani, thereby doubling their
face value. It would have been pointless to
overstrike earlier
antoniniani, since they were already worth two
denarii! It was probably in connection with this operation that
Decius and Gallus issued their
restored series of
antoniniani for earlier emperors who
had been consecrated, some of which can also be seen to have been
overstruck on earlier
denarii. It was
Mattingly in
his publication of the Dorchester
hoard, Num. Chron. 1939, pp. 42-6, who first called attention to this overstriking operation of 251; among the Dorchester coins he was able to find 25
overstruck coins with identifiable undertypes, namely 9 of
Decius, 3 of Etruscilla, 4 of Etruscus (3 as
Caesar, 1 as
Augustus), 4 of
Hostilian as
Caesar, 1 of
Divus Augustus restored, 3 of Gallus, and 1 of
Volusian as
Augustus.
You read just NVS from the
obv. legend of the
undertype; I seem to see NVS P for sure, probably even NVS
PIVS. Flipping quickly through
BMC, it appears that only four emperors before
Decius used NVS
PIVS in their
obverse legends, namely
Caracalla,
Elagabalus,
Maximinus Thrax, and
Gordian III.
Antoninus Pius always inserted
AVG between ANTONINVS and
PIVS;
Marcus Aurelius never called himself
PIVS;
Commodus was both Antoninus and Pius, but never with ANTONINVS written out and immediately followed by
PIVS. We may also note that the undertypes identified by
Mattingly on the 25
overstruck Dorchester coins began with Sept.
Sev. and ended with
Gordian III; none earlier.
As to the
reverse of the
undertype, it seems to be the bottom of a
military standard that survives on Hostilian's neck, the two lowest elements on the shaft being a curved
handle and a round disk. Possible candidates, illustrated below: Caracalla's TR P XVIII
denarius with
Fides holding two standards; the
FIDES MILITVM denarius of
Maximinus Thrax also with
Fides holding two standards; and the
denarius of
Maximinus Thrax with dated
rev. legend beginning
P M TR P and
type emperor standing between two standards.
Elagabalus or
Gordian III seem unlikely, because Elagabalus'
FIDES MILITVM type, four standards, almost always has shields at the base of the standards, which seem to be missing below the remains of the
standard on your coin, and because an
undertype of
Gordian III should be a
denarius not an
antoninianus, and none of Gordian's common
denarius types shows a
military standard.
Are those remains of the original
reverse legend along the bottom of Hostilian's
bust on your coin, below the remains of the
standard on
his neck? If so, might they be the remains of either
P M TR P or
FIDES?