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 Replies: 16 / Views: 2,209 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
Well, I won this today. It is a very rare bare headed Vespasian denarius. I believe there were 2 bare headed varieties. RIC 853 and my coin RIC 773. According to an expert in Flavian coinage there are 7 known examples of RIC 853. As for my coin, it appears to be the only example that has surfaced. It is also the RIC plate coin. I feel very privileged to be the custodian of this coin and it will take an honoured position in my 12 Caesars collection. Vespasian (69-79). AR Denarius (16mm, 3.24g, 6h). Rome, AD 75. Obv: Bare head l. R IMP CEASAR VESPASIANUS AUG Rev: Pax seated l., resting l. elbow on throne and holding branch. PON MAX TRP COS VI RIC II 773 (this coin); RSC -. Extremely Rare variety, near VF. Ex Vecchi sale 13, 1998, 757.  |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Nice! congrats on the new addition.
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Moderator
United States
34427 Posts |
Plate coin--my hat's off to you!  "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Valued Member
United States
219 Posts |
Really cool! It's not every day you come across the only known example of a coin.
Edited by Matt2727
06/11/2017 8:06 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Quote:
...it appears to be the only example that has surfaced. It is also the RIC plate coin.  Just amazing. Of all the upgrades you've made to the set, this must be the most satisfying. I thought the Julius Caesar elephant denarius was impressive, but geez. This one will be hard to top, Andrew. Might be easier to just stick with the historical figures collection for the time being! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Edited by Kamnaskires
06/11/2017 8:47 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1269 Posts |
Thank you Bob, I will do that. Your gallery is fantastic! Great job. You have a marvellous collection.
I am also going to send an email to Dane so that this coin can be added to WildWinds.
Edited by orfew
06/11/2017 8:50 pm
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Valued Member
Australia
205 Posts |
Congrats,
Nice acquisition! I would love to have a plate coin. The closest I have ever come is a die match from time to time...
Peter
Edited by greekandromancoins
06/12/2017 06:05 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
Congratulations, Andrew. Most impressive. How did you happen to acquire/win it?
Edit. - I just saw the listing. They mention the rarity, but don't go into it. Nice catch. What caught your eye in particular? Bare head?
Edited by lrbguy
06/12/2017 09:42 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
Hi @lrbguy
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, it was the bare head. When I was doing my scanning of upcoming auctions last week I noticed this. At first I thought maybe it was just worn, but then after a closer look I decided it was indeed the bare headed variety. Then I started doing my research and realized that it was indeed a very rare coin. Apparently there are 2 bare headed varieties, my coin RIC 773 and RIC 853 which has seven known examples.
Thanks again for the comments.
I kept hoping that no one else would notice, but alas, there was at least one other person who knew what it was. Still I was happy to get it for what I did.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
Question: are the RIC numbers you gave for this from the latest edition of RIC II in print (by Carradice and Buttrey from 2007?) or from something online? I know these are not numbers from the edition of 1984. I am trying to track down what you have in the printed literature. It is the only way to cross reference to the numbering used by Cohen and BMC.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
I believe the RIC #s are from the latest edition of RIC II. I cannot remember where I found this but I believe the coin is in the RIC II addenda. I also know it is not in the 1984 edition because I had a look through my PDF copy. I do not have access to the latest edition of RIC II. If you do, you would be doing me a huge favour by looking up the coin for me. I am interested in knowing as much about the coin as possible.
According to Dane of WildWinds, my coin is not in any other references. I looked through Sear and RSC and it is nowhere to be found. Dane has told me that my coin in RIC II is listed as R3 (Only one example known). I was also told that in RIC II "R3" is the greatest rarity while in other volumes it is "R5".
Sorry I could not be more helpful.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
@lrbguy
I do have one more small piece of information about the coin. According to Dane RIC II refers to the Vecchi sale of 1998.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
Quote:
I do not have access to the latest edition of RIC II. If you do, you would be doing me a huge favour by looking up the coin for me. I would love to help out if I could, but I do not have that volume either. Quote:
I was also told that in RIC II "R3" is the greatest rarity while in other volumes it is "R5". That simply means the 2007 edition is following a different reference standard than had been used in 1984 (based on the public and private collections consulted). But it pretty well confirms that the newer edition is the one being referenced. Here it is important to remember that rarity scales are always referenced relative to the references behind a catalog, never to an abstract marketplace. That said, a long term, broader picture of rarity can be gained by comparing editions as we are doing now. Quote:
According to Dane RIC II refers to the Vecchi sale of 1998.
He is referring to a footnote reference on the listing for RIC 773. But the date of that sale precludes anything for the earlier edition. Here we should note that coins for Vespasian with the bare head, left facing bust were known and listed in the 1984 edition for COS VII (RIC 101A) but not for COS VI. The reference I just gave is also cross indexed to Cohen (C. 374) which becomes RSC for silver. There a coin LIKE yours is listed for COS VII. These are curious little pieces. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
@lrbguy
Thanks very much for the information. It is greatly appreciated. It appears I have an interesting coin.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
I checked ERIC II and it is not in there either. The COS VII version is there. I assuming this is Old RIC 101A and new RIC II.1 853.
I love having all of these reference handy. I really like the fun of tracking down an attribution.
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Replies: 16 / Views: 2,209 |
Posted 06/11/2017 7:55 pm
