Septimius Severus Trial?

[kc]

Hello,

this one came in yesterday.

Obv. SEVERVS PIVS AVG,  laureate head right
Rev. LIBER-LI-TAS AVG VI,  Liberalitas standing left, holding coin counter in right hand and cornucopia in left
Mint: Rome

AE 22mm  8.98g

RIC: -, cf. 278a

"This is an odd object that I can not really identify. It's clearly ancient and it's struck on an orichalcum flan. It's not a dupondius and it's not a Limes denarius and it's a bit too heavy to be an aureus weight. This was once owned by Cornelius Vermeule who purchased it from M&M on March 19, 1960. The accompanying ticket calls it an Æ essay for an aureus (?). The style is Roman and the dies appear to be official, though they don't look fine enough to be aureus dies. So what is it other than interesting? Your guess is as good as mine",
so the seller's description.

I think it is a trial piece for an aureus, too. What do you think?

Best Regards

kc

[curtislclay]

I agree with the cataloguer's description, by Barry Murphy if I am not mistaken: the dies aren't fine enough to be aureus dies.

Like him, I have no idea what this is. It looks ancient, but I wouldn't entirely exclude the possibility that it could be a very cleverly concealed modern concoction.

[kc]

I agree with the cataloguer's description, by Barry Murphy if I am not mistaken: the dies aren't fine enough to be aureus dies.

Like him, I have no idea what this is. It looks ancient, but I wouldn't entirely exclude the possibility that it could be a very cleverly concealed modern concoction.

That would be bad
Are there any types of coins from this period which have a similar weight as this piece? Maybe it is a counterweight for two antoninianii (2 x 4.5g)?

Regards

kc

[berserkrro]

Antoninianus is a later coin.

[kc]

Antoninianus is a later coin.

The first antoninianii were issued under Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus. Would it be possible that this piece was created under Caracalla in honor of his father Septimius?

Regards

kc

[curtislclay]

Assuming it's ancient, the most likely explanations would appear to be a dupondius struck with denarius dies, or perhaps a token copying denarius types, produced outside the mint for an unknown purpose.

I don't think we are ever going to really know or come up with a probable explanation, the piece is so exceptional and bizarre!

[silvernut]

It would be nice to find a denarius die match of this piece. Is the circle of dots of the same diameter as a denarius? If so, I would scan the web for Septimius' denarii of this type to see if I was lucky.

Of course, even if a die match is found, we would never know why it was done on the first place...

Regards,
Ignasi

[dougsmit]

It would be nice to find a denarius die match of this piece. Is the circle of dots of the same diameter as a denarius? If so, I would scan the web for Septimius' denarii of this type to see if I was lucky.

Of course, even if a die match is found, we would never know why it was done on the first place...

Regards,
Ignasi

I hope someone does find this match but I am not terrible hopeful.  This was a pretty good period when it comes to craftsmanship at the mint and the OP coin even strikes me as a little clunky (certainly not aureus grade) throwing me into the camp that it might have originated outside the mint.  My example is not a match but I think pretty typical of the denarius work of the day.



Questions: Are 'trial strikes' in a metal harder than that intended for the dies a common thing?  Were dies prepared for gold finished in the same way as those for lesser metals so the only difference is in the cutter quality?