Imitations of Roman Republic AR plated denarius(3.13g), after 75 B.C., imitating types of C. Egnatius Cn. F. Cn. N. Maxsumus and L. Papius. Diademed and draped bust of Libertas right, behind pileus and blundered legend(prototype=MAXSVMVS). Border of dots. / Gryphon springing right. Below, uncertain symbol. In exergue, L PAPI. Bead-and-reel border. Cf. Crawford 391/3 & Crawford 384/1 for prototypes. Cf. Davis Ne3(this reverse die)
Purchased from Andre Cichos via eBay, 11/11/2018
The seller I purchased this coin from simply identified it as a denarius of L Papius, and while the reverse matches the technical description of that type(though the style is off), the obverse is clearly something else. In this case, it's based on a denarius of Cn. Egnatius F. Cn. N Maxsumus though what I can see of the legend has been completely blundered.
Aside from the fact that the plating is in better than average condition for a fourée, what I found really interesting about this coin and what made me want to buy it is that I found it to be a reverse die match to Ne3 from Phil Davis's website which, itself, is yet another mismatched hybrid. The fact that this reverse die was used with at least two incorrect obverse dies makes me wonder if it was ever paired with the correct one. While this is obviously the product of an ancient forger and not anything from an official mint I find it interesting for the small window it gives us into the forger's workshop.
- Posted on
- Tuesday 1 January 2019
- Tags
- ancient.counterfeit, bead.and.reel.border, denarius, gens.egnatia, gens.papia, gryphon, hybrid, imitative, plated, silver
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