A British Countermark?

440, Lot: 276. Estimate $100. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRITANNIA(?). Æ Sestertius (35mm, 25.68 g). Countermark applied during the reign of Nero, AD 54-68(?). PROB(atvm) in a rectangular countermark on a bronze sestertius of Claudius. R.F. Kenyon, “The countermark PROB on coins of Claudius from Britain” in NC 148 (1988), 22, punch 7 = CNG 94, lot 1143 (same punch); cf. Pangerl 2 and 23 (for other PROB c/m’s attributed to Spain and Gaul). Host Fine, c/m, VF, green patina, some tooling.

From the Richard Baker Collection, purchased from Thomas Bentley Cederlind, 1997.

Kenyon notes two punch variants, numbers 4 and 7, that appear on Claudian sestertii found in Britain and that are not shared with examples in Italian collections. Martini, however, attributes all of the PROB marks to Spain and Gaul. Kenyon’s interpration was based on von Kaenel’s model of the Claudian coinage, which had all types and styles produced at Rome. With the new research of Besombes & Barrandon, it is clear that official or semi-official issues were being produced in Spain and Gaul as well. As further studies refine our knowledge of the series, a reevaluation of the PROB countermark and its origins may necessitate reattributions of this punch, but a British origin for this specimen remains possible.