Eastern Mint Septimius Severus - Obverse Die Matches

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Author	Replies: 10 / Views: 1,661
maridvnvm Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2100 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 09:41 am One of collecting themes is the eastern mint denarii of Septimius Severus. I primarily concentrate on the earlier issues but sometimes wander into the later issues though they are not my primary focus. Some years ago I obtained a few coins from the "L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG P M IMP XI" issue particularly with the "PAR AR AD ....." legends, which commemorate the victory over the Parthians. Some years ago I became aware of the existence of an odd variant of these coins with the unusual obverse legend "L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PIV IMP XI PAR P M" after Curtis Clay illustrated an example of this rare type that he had obtained. These became added to my very long "wish list" of coins to keep an eye open for. I have managed to obtain three different examples from this rare issue that I thought it worth sharing. All three coins share the same obverse die which is different to the only other example from this issue that I have seen. All three coins would appear to be rare with the only examples know to RIC or BMCRE being misread coins from the RD Hoard. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:â€" L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PIV IMP XI PAR P M, laureate head right Rev:â€" AR AD [T]R P VI COS II P P, Victory walking left, holding wreath in right hand, palm in left Eastern mint. A.D. 198 Reference:â€" BMCRE page 280 *, citing RD page 105. RIC 494a corr. Septimius Severus denarius Obv:â€" L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PIV IMP XI PAR P M, laureate head right Rev:â€" AR AD TR P VI / COS II P P, Two captives seated back to back at the foot of a trophy Eastern mint. A.D. 198 Reference:â€" BMCRE page 280 Sword, citing RD page 105. RIC 494b corr. Slightly double struck on the reverse. Obv:â€" L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PIV IMP XI PAR P M, laureate head right Rev:â€" SALVTI AVGG, Salus seated left feeding snake coiled around altar Eastern mint. A.D. 198 Reference:â€" BMCRE page 281 Note, citing RD page 102. RIC 497b corr. Holed and worn but with enough detail to determine the die match to the other two coins illustrated here. Regards, Martin Report this Post to the Staff

Ben Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 4208 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 10:15 am Its pretty cool that the die was in use for so long and it was used for different designs. I wonder if this was common practice. Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 11:46 am I'm amazed how much use these dies went through and show no sign of die wear. Report this Post to the Staff
IndianGoldEagle Bedrock of the Community United States 36878 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 12:22 pm It would be interesting to know just how many coins they were able to get out of a die before it wore out or broke. Report this Post to the Staff
Gil-galad Pillar of the Community United States 2044 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 12:23 pm Very nice coins! It's awesome to run into a die match. Report this Post to the Staff
MetDet71 Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 1569 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 2:37 pm Sorry if this seems a silly question, still learning here, but what do you mean by a die match? You will never soar like an eagle if you hang around with turkeys..... Report this Post to the Staff
Ben Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 4208 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 2:43 pm MetDet - its when the same die is used for two coins. So many coins were produced using so many dies - its very rare to find two coins struck from the same die. Here, the same obverse die has been used with several reverse dies. Report this Post to the Staff
maridvnvm Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2100 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 2:47 pm The obverse of these three coin was struck from the same die. Each die was hand engraved. A blank planchet was placed between an obverse and a reverse die and the coin was struck. Each strike produces a coin with slightly different characteristics due to the alignment of the dies to the blank, the strength of the strike, the evenness of the strike, the gradual wear of the dies, flan splits, cracks etc. Once a die became too worn to continue in use it would have been destroyed. Regards, Martin Report this Post to the Staff
MetDet71 Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 1569 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 2:50 pm Ahhh! I see, the light is slowly dawning lol. So they would use a die for a few thousand coins until it became worn and then carve a fresh one and this is why all the coins are generally all different!! By gum Ben, I think I get it!! I love the reverse of the first coin.... And thanks also Martin! You will never soar like an eagle if you hang around with turkeys..... Edited by MetDet71 04/03/2013 2:52 pm Report this Post to the Staff
maridvnvm Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2100 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 3:41 pm The obverse die might have been used with a couple of reverse dies on one day and then combined with different reverse dies the next. They would have been locked away overnight. Here are a couple of my coins which illustrate the effect on a coin of the different types of strike can have. They are both L Papius coins from the republic but they serve the purpose for illustration. The first coin shows a coin where the dies were not central on the blank:- This second coin was even more off centre and the strike was very uneven as can be seen by the edge on view of the coin where the coin is much thinner on the side where the detail is better as the silver was squashed into the die but much thicker where there was less pressure to push the silver into the die leading to little/no detail. Martin Report this Post to the Staff
maridvnvm Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2100 Posts	Posted 04/03/2013 4:04 pm To answer the question posed by Ben earlier as to how common it was for obverse dies to be used for different reverse dies I thought it worth illustrating with some coins from my collection. The following obverse die, which is the only die known with this rare legend variety, is known to be paired with 9 different reverse types. I only have 6 of them at present with one reverse type represented by two different reverse dies. This is not even the busiest know die but the best I have to illustrate. BONAE SPEI BONI EVENTVC (sic) LEG VIII AVO ... MINER VICT MONETA-E AVG MONET-AE AVG VICTOR IVST AVG I am still searching for FELICITAS TEMPOR, INVICTO IMP TROPAEA, and INVICTO IMP TROPAEA II. Martin Report this Post to the Staff
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