Acquired One Of My Dream Coins

While browsing I came across what at first glance looks to be a pretty nice but otherwise average As of Domitian. Something caught my eye on the obverse, however. A group of marks, XLII, carefully engraved to the left of Domitian's bust. To those not in the know, this would probably be considered distracting damage, making the coin worthy of a passing by. But these marks are a lot more significant than meets the eye.

In 6th century Ostrogothic Italy, a hoard or various hoards of 1st century imperial bronzes were uncovered. By that time these old bronzes were long obsolete. However, there existed a need to neatly divide the silver coinage into smaller fractional coinage, and better facilitate trade. Local officials took it upon themselves to have these bronzes revalued by chiseling the new values onto the coin, taking care to not damage the bust. Bigger bronzes such as sestertii were revalued more than the smaller Asses and Dupondii

These are very rare but they do come up occasionally, usually going for a couple hundred dollars or more. Fortunately I was able to acquire this for a lot less, less than $50 as a matter of fact.

More info: http://www.oudgeld.com/webbib/countdefweb.htm

I may be jumping the gun a bit posting it now seeing as how I just purchased it, but I had to share my new acquisition. A revalued imperial bronze was one of my dream coins, and I still can't believe I got one for a pretty low price...

Domitian, Roman Empire (revalued under the Ostrogothic Kingdom)
AE As/42 nummi
Obv: CAESAR AVG F DOMITIAN COS II, laureate head right, countermark XLII (42 nummi) in left field
Rev: VICTORIA AVGVST, Victory advancing right, standing on prow, holding wreath and palm branch, S-C across fields
Mint: Rome (struck 73-74 AD)
Ref: RIC 677


(seller's photos. Will update with my own when its in hand)

If anyone is having trouble seeing the XLII, I'll edit the photo sometime later today.