Hadrian Crescent and Star denarius - Eleven Rays!

[OldMoney]

Has anyone seen a Hadrian denarius of this type with as many rays on the star?

I count eleven (11) rays, whereas all of the others I have seen appear to have eight, seven, six, or sometimes as few as five.

I don't yet have the new RIC II.3 and wonder what, if anything, is mentioned therein about this type and the number of rays.

Personally, I find it most interesting and wonder what others might think about it.

All the best, - Walter

[curtislclay]

Walter,

Not many people appear to have counted the rays, though I agree with you that such details can be interesting.

Mattingly apparently noted the variation, for otherwise he would not have bothered to illustrate two BM specimens of this type, one with a five-rayed and the other with an eight-rayed star, BMC pl. 55.13-14, though his text doesn't point out the difference or explain why he illustrated two examples.

B.A. Seaby (RSC) had sharp eyes, so spotted what Mattingly had left out, and accordingly commented, "the rays of the star...vary from five to eight." That observation probably just depended on the BMC plates, but at least he looked and noticed the difference!

At some point I too had penciled into my copy of BMC: pl. 55.13 Five-pointed star, pl. 55.14 Eight-pointed star.

But I have probably never before noticed an eleven-pointed star, or I would have written that variety too into my BMC!

I found no ray counts in several of the other standard catalogues: the new RIC, Cohen, Strack, Melville Jones, Stevenson.

[OldMoney]

Hi Curtis,
I had a look in the various references I had here, as well as those online link to which I had
access, without finding anything like this. As you note, along with others before you, there
seems to be a range from eight down to five rays. This is a clear 'outlier'. Most interesting!
Thanks as always for your generous contribution.

- Walter