Hello everyone,
NB: Posted on the French site as well.
A couple of days ago I received a light weight as of Domitian. When I tried to find it in the usual catalogues and databases, nothing came up that is even close. Here it is:
- According to the eBay seller: 7.65g 26.3mm
- Obv.: IMP CAES DOMITIAN GERM COS X C EP
- Rev.: FORTVNAE AVGSTI S C
Some close ups of the uncertain (underlined) legends:
On the obverse, I don't see AVG before GERM, which would be unusual.
On the reverse, it most probably is FORTVNAE, a common type and legend under Domitian, but this is kind of problematic, because in both the old RIC II and new RIC2 II,1, this type doesn't exist before Domitian's 11th consulship (84 CE). On my coin he is COS X, which dates the coin precisely to 83. In wildwinds there are 12 instances of the FORTVNAE legend, none earlier than 86 (COS XII).
On top of this, there is an error in AVGSTI which should have been AVGVSTI. There are 8 instances of this error in OCRE, but not my coin.
Back to the obverse, where the end of the legend is problematic. At first I thought CEnsoria Potestate, but Domitian became Censor only in 84.
So…
- A provincial issue?? It doesn't seem to be in RPC II.
- A contemporary imitation?? That seems unlikely based on the quality of the portrait, but I don't rule it out.
- A Trajanic restitution issue?? I could find none of the sort in RIC II (the old one; I don't think the forthcoming RIC2 II,2 is out yet, though RIC II2,3 is).
- An unrecorded type?? That seems unlikely, but what other options are left?
Let me know if there is something I'm missing…