Roman Imperatorial period AR denarius(4.04g, 18mm), L Hostilius Saserna, moneyer, 48 B.C., Rome mint. Female head(Pietas or Clementia?) right, with head covered by oak branches / Victory advancing right, holding winged caduceus and trophy. Crawford 448/1a; Sear HCRI 17; Sydenham 951.
Ex Dr. Lawrence D. Sporty Collection, ex CNG e-auction 259, July 6 2011, lot 287
The moneyer, using the same obverse as that on Caesar's military mint issue of the same year, Crawford 452/2, and a reverse of Victory carrying an obviously Gallic trophy with a Carnyx and shield, is showing his support for Caesar and referring to his victories over the Gallic tribes. This coin also has a feature that I've been looking for a good example of for a bit: the bumpiness of unstruck areas of Imperatorial-era flans. I chose this example because it illustrated the interesting feature without detracting too much. Notice on the bottom of the obverse bust's neck the four dots. These are some sort of remnant from flan preparation and appear often on unstruck or weakly struck areas of Imperatorial flans though I am not exactly sure how to explain them just yet.
This particular coin is an interesting and rare variant of an otherwise common type where instead of the usual oak wreath worn like a headband(as in this example), the oak branches have instead covered the hair of the obverse bust entirely(cf. NAC 63 lot 344 for a similar example).
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