Yet Another Rare Pont Denarius For Domitian

This will be my third PONT denarius for Domitian. All of them were struck in 81 CE, Domitian's first year as Augustus and all of them are rare to extremely rare. While the coin is worn, I really like this young portrait with the characteristic early nose. I also like that the legends are readable.


I have no idea why but some rare coins seem to appear in groups. I had not seen any of these for sale in over 2 years and all of a sudden I was able to grab 3 of them. The same thing happened with a Vespasian denarius I was looking for. When one came up I bought it and it was the second known. Then within a few months another one appeared after none being available for years. Actually this happened with two separate Vespasian denarii this year.


I also wanted this coin because of an obverse legend variation. On my other 2 PONT denarii the legend reads IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG PONT. This coin however reads IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG PONT. There are 10 types of Domitian denarii using DOMITIAN and 18 for DOMITIANVS. These PONT denarii use one other legend: IMP CAES DIVI VESP F DOMIT AVG PONT. I do not have an example using this legend. There are only 3 types with this legend and they all R2 (few examples known). One of these is definitely on my target list. For now I will enjoy the 3 PONT denarii I have managed to find.


Domitian AR Denarius
(3.13gr 18mm)
Obv: IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG PONT; laureate head right
Rev: TR P COS VII DES VIII P P; seat, draped, above, a winged thunderbolt placed horizontally.
RIC 68 (R2)
ebay: August 24, 2019