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RIC 108 Titus (2)
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AR Denarius, 3.26g
Rome mint, 80 AD
Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P; Curule chair; above, wreath
RIC 108 (C2). BMC 66. RSC 318. BNC 53.
Ex JW Harper Collection.
Most dies of this 'pulvinar' type depict the wreath sitting atop the chair unadorned. Here we see what appears to be some sort of semi-circular backing. Ben Damsky in his paper 'The Throne and Curule Chair types of Titus and Domitian' speculated the semicircle variant may be the result of a literal minded engraver who included the support device that held the wreath in place(!). I'm not quite sure what it is. Possibly it is just some sort added decoration. Regardless, it is a Rare variant of this common 'pulvinar' type. A quick scan of asearch.info turned up 80 specimens with an unadorned chair and only 7 with a semicircular 'frame'.
Well centred and good metal.
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