Here I discovered the benefits of die matching in examining coins of the
Provincial series.
This first coin I bought as there was the possibility it could have been a
Diadumenian - though two dies that I
had never before seen. The coin was reasonably well preserved with only the first
part of the
obverse legend missing (quite an important
bit though) and while the photo was small the
head was bare and youthful and similar (ish) to a 4 asaria example from the same
mint that I remembered. It was already attributed to
Diadumenian and while I wasn't entirely convinced, could not afford to let the possibility go by.
Province
Moesia Inferior
City
Nicopolis ad Istrum Size (mm) 18
Weight (g) 3.32
Die Axis 180
Tariff 1
assarion Ob.
Leg. [...]LI ANTWNINO-[C]
Ob. Desc.
Bare head right – seen from behind
Rev. Leg. [
NIKOPOLI]T
PROC ICTR
Rev. Desc.
Tyche standing left holding rudder in right hand and
cornucopia in left
arm As it turns out the
Obverse legend was wrong - it was not LI but AI -- however
This second coin I spotted (unattributed) and thought - "I recognise that
obverse die" In this one the missing letters are determinable and so I could fill in the blanks of the first one.
Province
Moesia Inferior
City
Nicopolis ad Istrum Size (mm) 18
Weight (g) 2.25
Die Axis 160
Tariff 1
assarion Ob.
Leg. M AV P KAI ANTWNINO-[C]
Ob. Desc.
Bare head right – seen from behind
Rev. Leg.
NIKOPOLIT PROC ICTRO
Rev. Desc.
Apollo standing left holding
patera and branch
Now it is clear that both coins are those of
Caracalla. The second is
Varbanov 2968.
Malcolm