Numismatic and History Discussions > Roman Coins

Hostilian antoninianus overstruck on Severus Alexander denarius

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Luuk S:
Hi all,

Yesterday i received this very interesting coin that i'd like to share with you. It is an antoninianus of Hostilian (itself already quite rare), however the coin is clearly overstruck on a denarius of Severus Alexander, as part of his name is visible on the obverse, together with a contour of his portret (hard to see on the photo, better seen in hand).
The reverse shows the jumbling of two legends: the MARS PROPVG of Hostilian, together with IOVI PROPVGNATORI of the original Severus Alexander coin.
Very lazy and sloppy way for the Roman state to turn a denarius into something nominally worth 2 denarii  ;D

gr Luuk

Obverse: C VAL HOS.. [XANDER P].. NTVS NC
Reverse: MAR..[OPVGN]..OPVG
Diameter: 22 mm
Weight: 2.84 gr
Struck: 250-251 AD (antoninianus), 231-235 AD (denarius)
Literature: RIC 176 (antoninianus), RIC 235/238/239 (denarius)

Mat:
Neat find, congrats. Shame the photo isn't larger.

Joe Sermarini:
Nice coin!

curtislclay:
As Harold Mattingly was the first to observe in his publication of the Dorchester Hoard in Numismatic Chronicle 1939, quite a few earlier denarii were restruck as antoniniani by Trajan Decius towards the end of his reign in 251, and Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian then briefly continued the same practice at the beginning of their reign in the summer of the same year.

About 30 identifiable overstrikes from the Dorchester Hoard, including four of Hostilian as Caesar, are described by Mattingly on pp. 42-43 of his article. Interesting coins, especially when some or many details of the undertype can still be identified, as on your piece!

Luuk S:

--- Quote from: curtislclay on September 23, 2023, 01:50:05 pm ---As Harold Mattingly was the first to observe in his publication of the Dorchester Hoard in Numismatic Chronicle 1939, quite a few earlier denarii were restruck as antoniniani by Trajan Decius towards the end of his reign in 251, and Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian then briefly continued the same practice at the beginning of their reign in the summer of the same year.

About 30 identifiable overstrikes from the Dorchester Hoard, including four of Hostilian as Caesar, are described by Mattingly on pp. 42-43 of his article. Interesting coins, especially when some or many details of the undertype can still be identified, as on your piece!

--- End quote ---

Thanks for this reference!

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