Hello everyone,
Been quite some time. Like to share these three
denarii which I acquired this year:
The first was was issued by
Septimius Severus for
LEG III ITAL.
RIC IV 7,
weight 2.50g. The
obverse was likely struck from a worn die. In fact it was a very well used
obverse die, as I have three other
denarii struck with the same die (1 for LEG II ADIVT and 2 for
LEG VII CL). The
reverse was what I found special, as it's the sharpest
reverse for
LEG III ITAL I've seen, with a clear
eagle eye and pearls in the wings. Surprisingly this
denarius was sold in a group lot.
The second is a
denarius of
Vespasian.
RIC II 544, 2.85g. The
reverse is of the goddess
Nemesis (the personification of divine vengeance), which appears only very rarely on
Roman coinage.
Vespasian struck plentiful
aurei with the
Nemesis reverse in 71 CE (with the
legend PACI AVGVTSI, copied from
Claudius). By contrast
his Nemesis denarii were struck in 73 CE with the
legend PONTIF MAXIM for a very short period. Since
Nemesis was featured so rarely there could have been some special significance for the brief revival in 73 CE, but knowledge of the event has not survived.
The third is a
denarius of
Domitian.
RIC II 321, 3.18g. The
obverse has the idealised
portrait of
Domitian with an
aegis.
Domitian assumed the power of
Censor in April 85 CE and the coinage duly notes this new title in full. Coins bearing the
legend CENSORIA POTESTAT are from the second issue of 85. The
censor was an office responsible for public morals among other duties and is the source of the modern term censorship. The issue is quite
rare. This is one of the last issues before
Domitian reduced the silver
fineness to 90%.
