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Research Coins: The Coin Shop

 
978587. Sold For $1450

The Triumvirs. Octavian. 28 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.74 g, 4h). Pergamum mint. Countermarked under Vespasian at Ephesus, circa AD 74-79 . CAESAR • DIVI • F COS • VI, bare head right; below, small Capricorn right / AEGVPTO above, CAPTA below, crocodile standing right with jaws closed. For coin: RIC I 545; CRI 432; RSC 4; BMCRE 653 = BMCRR East 246; BN 928-30. For c/m: Howgego 839. Host Coin Good Fine. Countermark Fine.


A denarius of Vespasian (Classical Numismatic Group 45 [18 March 1998], lot 1965), dated to the emperor's fourth consulship (72-73 AD) and countermarked MP VES, suggests a starting date of 74 AD for this countermark's use. This countermark appears mostly on late Republican and Imperatorial denarii, although denarii of Augustus and denarii of the Flavians struck at Ephesus are also recorded. The MP VES countermarks circulated specifically within the province of Asia Minor. Martini noted that the output of silver coinage in relation to the civic bronze for this region was much smaller during the Julio-Claudian period. This suggests the denarii were countermarked to validate locally circulating silver coinage at an acceptable weight while the regional mints opened by Vespasian were gearing up production, a theory which the countermarking of cistophori with the contemporary MP VES AVG countermarks seems to support. The similarly countermarked Flavian denarii struck at Ephesus can be accounted for then as examples accidentally countermarked by unobservant mint workers during the transition.