A Very Strange Diocletian Abdication Follis

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 850
Paul Bulgerin Pillar of the Community United States 3098 Posts	Posted 05/12/2022 4:42 pm I recently purchased this abdication follis of Diocletian but it has me puzzled in a number of ways. The obverse legend reads D N DIOCLETIANO FELICISSINO SEN AEG instead of the listed D N DIOCLETIANO FELICISSIMO SEN AVG. The reverse legend reads PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVICT AVGG instead of the usual PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG. I also can't find the mint mark BM (dot) SD for Serdica. RIC only seems to show (dot) BM (dot) SD (dot) as an option. The coin looks good. I don't think it's a modern fake. It's in very high grade and is mostly silvered. It weighs 8.46 grams and is 27 mm. in diameter. Are these simply blundered legends on both sides along with a blundered mint mark? Is it an ancient counterfeit? Is this some sort of imitative (which I haven't heard of for these large coins)? Any ideas out there? Paul Bulgerin Edited by Paul Bulgerin 05/12/2022 4:42 pm Report this Post to the Staff

JohnConduitt Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 725 Posts	Posted 05/12/2022 5:55 pm Has it been tooled? There's no wear on the beard and full legends without flatness is unusual. The patina seems to only be on the tops of the letters. Edited by JohnConduitt 05/12/2022 6:00 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Paul Bulgerin Pillar of the Community United States 3098 Posts	Posted 05/12/2022 6:12 pm Under my 10x loupe it does not appear to have been tooled but I am no expert at this. Paul Bulgerin Report this Post to the Staff
Paul Bulgerin Pillar of the Community United States 3098 Posts	Posted 05/12/2022 6:41 pm A link was provided on another forum which showed this coin was previously sold by Roma Numismatics where it was listed as "heavily tooled and smoothed", so I was wrong about it not being tooled. Paul Bulgerin Report this Post to the Staff
JohnConduitt Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 725 Posts	Posted 05/12/2022 8:48 pm Ok yes the smoothing is pretty apparent too. Well, it explains the strange legends. It's a pity they did it, and to even get the letters wrong. It's as if they just went with what they thought might be there. It's also terrible that the seller didn't mention the tooling when they bought it tooled. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 4 / Views: 850

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