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Pescennius Niger - denarius - unpublished
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Pescennius Niger
Denarius, 18 mm, 2,14 gr. Caesarea (?) 193 - 194 AD
[IMP CA]ES C PESC NIGER IVST AVG, laureate head to right / [V]IRTVTI AVG, Mars, nude, standing head to the right, helmeted, with shield over shoulder, holding spear and parazonium.
The position of the shield and the presence of the parazonium is what makes this coin likely unpublished (since I don't own all the references works on this planet, I'll have to take the word of the auctioneer for it). The importance is however not very significant. Because the coins of Pescennius Niger were likely struck in huge quantities and the fact that mint workers in Caesarea and Antioch had little to zero knowledge of Roman coinage or latin language, mistakes were easily made. Legends are full with errors (or, variations), deities are mixed up and attributes are wrongfully allocated.
Fact is, the figure on the reverse is male, nude, wears a helmet and carries a spear and shield, so it's most likely Mars. The parazonium makes for a nice feature.
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