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A silver antoninianus of the empress Herennia Etruscilla with a mis-spelling on the obverse. Coin Type: Silver antoninianus of Herennia Etruscilla, 249-251 CE
Mint and Date: Rome, 249-251 CE.
Size and Weight: 19mm x 23mm, 4.04g
Obverse: HER ERVSCILLA AVG
Diademed, draped bust right, resting on a crescent. Hair ridged, in waves.
Reverse: PVDICITIA AVG
Pudicitia seated left, holding transverse sceptre in left hand and pulling out veil from her face with right hand.
Provenance: 2201wl (eBay), November 2007.
Ref: RCV (2005) 9495 var; RIC IV Trajan Decius 59(b) var.
BW Ref: 005 035 118
Click on the picture for a larger scale view of the coin

Note 1: This interesting coin has a rare mis-spelling in the obverse legend, omitting the T of ETRVSCILLA, so that it reads HER ERVSCILLA AVG.

There is clearly one character too few. The lettering at the start of the obverse legend is not very clear, though I am confident of the reading given above. This opinion is shared by "Rupert" on the Forum Classical Numismatics Discussion Board, who said:

"The reading of the obverse is made difficult by poorly shaped letters (which is common in that era) and the die which isn't really fresh anymore.

The first letter, IMHO, is an H with the serifs on top and bottom of the vertical bars quite strong and thus suggesting horizontal bars which aren't really there.

The second one is a clear E.

The third is a clear R that looks typical, badly shaped for us today, but they seem to have written it like this - we must remember that they had no ball pens and round curves were generally harder to engrave than straight lines. The fifth is a clear R too.

The fourth letter is clogged in the die and might be an E as well as an H, but in the context I see no real reason to doubt that it be an E.

So I think the — official — coin really does read, as suggested by moonmoth, HER ERUSCILLA. This is a coin that won't rewrite history but which many people, including me, would certainly like to have."

Note 2: RCV 9495 gives Herennia's hair as "carried up the back of the head in a plait," but on this coin it is clearly "ridged, in waves". RIC IV 59 does not make this distinction.


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