David,
As you know, most of the
aurei and
denarii of
Titus as
Augustus were dated to either 79 or 80 by
his tribunician,
imperatorial, and consular numbers.
There are only three exceptions:
first and second, the
rare ANNONA AVG and
CERES AVGVST types, struck for him as
Caesar in 78 but then apparently briefly revived after Vespasian's death during the first week or so of Titus' reign, with
legend IMP T
CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG;
third, the BONVS EVENTVS AVGVSTI
type, with Titus' main
obv. legend IMP TITVS
CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M.
I think the BONVS EVENTVS AVGVSTI
type belongs to 79 not 80, because I noticed an
obv. die identity between this
type and a dated
denarius of 79 in the
Vienna collection.
The
type also about matches those of 79 in volume, about seven spec. each in the
Reka Devnia hoard, whereas most of the
types of 80 are considerably commoner, five of them having between 27 and 47 coins in the
hoard, though the sixth
type had only nine specimens.
I believe that the dots that occasionally occur at the end of the
obv. legend on coins of
Titus were merely space-fillers, used when the
legend didn't reach quite to the end of the space allotted for it.
The engraver's guide
circle is
still clearly visible on the
rev. of your new coin, as sometimes happens.
Yours,
Curtis
