Hello...
It is about a
Commodus Sestertius "
Quadriga Type" minted under
Marcus Aurelius. As a picture attachment you can see my
Sestertius.
Obverse:
Commodus youthful
IMP CAES L AVREL COMMODVS
GERM SARMReverse:
Commodus in a
quadrigaTR P II
COS S C
In the
RIC catalogue, this
sestertius is available in two variants.
RIC 1563 -
https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.m_aur.1563 "
Head of
Commodus, bare, right"
RIC 1564 -
https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.m_aur.1564 "
Bust of
Commodus, laureate, draped, right"
And here there are several problems for me.a) My
sestertius is not a variant of either. It does not correspond to "bare" (1563) and it does not correspond to "laureate, draped" (1564).
b) It may be that
RIC once again has an incorrect description (would not be the first time). But I cannot check this, because there is no example image for
RIC 1563! For
RIC 1564 there is an example picture from the University of Göttingen and so one can compare the description and the coin.
c) On Numista there is also a
RIC 1563 entry - but there a completely wrong coin is shown:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces264276.html Conclusion* My
sestertius is only "laureate".
* Are there now three variants of this
sestertius? Or...
1. Bare (
RIC 1563 ?)
2. Laureate (my)
3. Laureate and draped (
RIC 1564)
* ... or are there only two
types BECAUSE the description of
RIC 1563 is wrong?
The problem is - there is one or the other example for
RIC 1564. At
RIC the description and the picture is.
Cohen also knows the
type RIC 1564 with "
Cohen Commodus 749" and "Son buste jeune laure et drape a droite" I have also found other specimens of the
sestertius "laureate, draped".
Old
Numiswiki Thread:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=56028.0 Oxford:
https://hcr.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/hcr22883 But I need something to check my variant against. But I can't find anything - I've been searching for days. Only
RIC knows different variants.
Cohen knows only one variant (laureate, draped). Unfortunately I don't have
Sear at
home (maybe someone here can look for me please).
To make a long story short, in order to be able to check my variant, I would need an illustration of
RIC 1563 (or of a
Commodus quadriga sestertius WITHOUT laureate AND draped).
I am at my wits' end - if any of you have any clues, I would be very grateful.