Julia Domna Venus standing left holding apple & sceptre.

[lorry66]

Hi,
I am unable to locate this Julia Domna denarius/drachm.

I have found many like this one in wildwinds, but they do not have the the T E (or ET E, my first E may be obliterated) on them.

The neares example I could find was a sold coin on FORUM. this coin has the ET E across the reverse flan, but venus is facing to the right. On my coin venus is facing to the left.

I have added the link to the sold FORUM coin for comparison.

If anyone could shed some light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated (as always).
regards,
Lorry

Wildwinds
RSC 188a
An early, and hence, scarce denarius of Julia Domna, the wife of
     the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, with her name shown IN FULL:
     IVLIA DOMNA AVG.

Julia Domna Denarius. IVLIA DOMNA AVG, draped bust right / VENERI VICTRICI, Venus standing left holding apple & sceptre.
...

14298. Silver drachm, Sydenham, Caesarea 440, VF, Caesarea mint, weight 1.731g, maximum diameter 18.8mm, die axis 0o, 197 / 198 A.D.; obverse IOVΛIA ∆OMNA CE, draped bust right; reverse ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛ ΚΑΙC [....] ET - E, Aphrodite standing right, holding apple in right; scarce; SOLD

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=14298q00.jpg&vpar=431&zpg=12484&fld=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/Coins/

...

[archivum]

Not in Isegrim with the head left; perhaps an ancient counterfeit --  note that the silver in your coin's a bit dubious.

[lorry66]

yes the silver is a bit tarnished and the weight is 2.4g (wear might account for this around the flan though)
I am tending to think maybe an ancient counterfeit. its noteworthy that I do not think it is silver plated copper, but a very low grade silver. I have had similar ugly results when mixing silver with other less noble metals.
Is this a possibility with this coin... low grade silver ancient counterfeit ?

[archivum]

Yes, I think that's the likeliest.

[lorry66]

great information, thank you very much archivum.... into my fouree folder she goes 

[curtislclay]

Nothing that I can see in the picture, however, speaks against the coin's being authentic and official.

[lorry66]

maybe an unpublished type then? 

[David M3]

From what I can see with my Domna coins the silver purity varies widely. Both high silver and low silver content. Here are two of mine. I also have some with no silver.

[lorry66]

I think I might post it up in the unlisted/ unpublished section then.

[David M3]

Is the amount of silver in these coins just a continuation of the debased coins of the Severan Period?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Not exactly. She was Severus' wife.

[Akropolis]

Your second attribution is closer to the mark. It is a provincial strike from Caesarea, Cappadocia.
It is a drachm, not a denarius.
PeteB

[David M3]

When these coins were minted did they look like silver or were they balkened like my first coin RIC 576, and the topic coin. The silver coin RIC 538 listed as scarce is an earlyer coin, the blackened a later one.

[lorry66]

Yes your right Akropolis, its a drachm. greek and much closer to the Drachm weight. I have continued to search hundreds more coins of this type, to no avail. My coin has venus facing to the left. I wonder if there is any significance to that? Anyway I will continue researching. if no luck I will re-post in the unlisted coins section and see if anything comes up there.
Thank you all for your thoughts.

[Akropolis]

The reference Sydenham 440 reads:
"Aphrodite standing r., in chiton; drawing her robe over r. shoulder; she holds apple in her l.; in field , ET - E."
So, either Sydenham was incorrect, or you have a new variety to Sydenham.
PeteB

[lorry66]

So far it looks like it might be a new variety. But i will continue searching for her standing left for a while yet and see what comes up. I am moving house tomorrow, so I will have another go next week. if no luck i will list her in the unlisted.
Cheers all.
lorry

[Catalin N]

I will revive this topic because a similar coin appeared in the last auction of Themis, auction 7, lot 308 (17 mm, 2.62 gr). I was curious to find out what it was, and I could not find anything similar online, except this coin, posted long time ago, and whose identification was not actually concluded.

I could find only this type with Venus left on wildwinds: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/julia_domna/_caesarea_Mionnet_125.jpg

with this mention: "Reverse: (MHTROP) KAICAPIAC, date ET E (across fields), Venus standing facing, head left, holding apple in right hand and sceptre in left.
Mionnet IV, 125; Sydenham:-; BMC:-; Sear:-;.
A rare reverse which is apparently listed only in Mionnet."

The reverse appears to be the same, while the obverse is clearly not; obverse seems to be common for the Cappadocia drachms of JD.

It might very well be a new, rare type, if another copy surfaced 10 years later.