I didn't even know about the "mystery"
mint in the east striking
Flavian denarii! Trust you to be able to track down an excellent example David! Looking at it now, I can see similarities to the more "classic" Ephesian
style. But I would probably not have noticed the subtle
style difference unless you
had pointed it out. What is clear is the slightly larger
portrait in relation to the
flan. I really like that characteristic, because I'm a
portrait lover, although I can see the obvious difficulty, unless the strike is super
well centered and the
flan surface
area large enough, you are likely to miss out on some of the
legend, which has happened on your example.
To me this is a small
price to pay for the larger
portrait, but what is that hinting at? Perhaps for political reasons it was more important to have a clear, easily identifiable
portrait of the emperor than to have
complete legends in Latin, when the literate population of the
area was more than likely to be Greek. Just a thought.
A very nice and very interesting addition to your
collection.
