I recently received this interesting coin, which I believe is a very worn
Commodus /
Tyche from
Pautalia It is
countermarked with a Δ on the
obverse and NIKO on the
reverse (respectfully
Howgego 782 and 553).
Howgego explains these
countermarks as: a denominational mark on the
obverse and the city attesting to its worth,
Nikopolis ad Istrum, on the
reverse. These
countermarks were
applied to worn-out coins.
Howgego noted only specimens from Nikopolis and
Hadrianopolis (
sic none from
Pautalia) with either
Septimius Severus or
Commodus busts.
I have tentatively made the ID of (
Ruzicka, Die Munzen von
Pautalia p.80 #203;
Varbanov II (E) 4529 depicted, obv Md)
cf. attached
Varbanov scan. The
style of the profile and the shape of the
cuirassed part of the
bust make me fairly certain that this is
Varbanov’s Md obv; this
obverse is not depicted in
Ruzicka’s plates. This
reverse is not in
CNG archives or
coinarchives.
The seller listed it as
Septimius Severus from Nikopolis, but I think it is certainly
Commodus, and different in
style from the Nikopolis dies of
Commodus. I can make out three letters, …] ΛIA […, to the right of
Tyche’s
head, which would match the
legend of
Ruzicka 201. and
cf. attached
Varbanov scan
This coin was very
harshly cleaned, but interesting as an unlisted
type with the Nikopolis
countermark.
If anyone has an example of this
reverse die;
Pautalia Tyche issued under Caelius Servilianus (Stein; perhaps 186-7 AD?); I would be appreciative to see it,
countermarked or not.
John Wrenn
***the
reverse legend is as follows for
Ruzicka 203:
HΓΕ KAI CEPOYEI ΛIANOY OYΛ : in
exergue ΠAVTAΛI
AC
