202, Lot: 344. Estimate $100. Sold for $92. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.54 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck late AD 203. Laureate head right / Dea Caelestis, with elaborate headdress, seated facing on lion right, holding thunderbolt and scepter; below, water gushing from rocks. RIC IV 266; RSC 222. Near EF, lightly toned.

From the White Mountain Collection.

There are two varieties of this type with Dea Caelestis holding a thunderbolt and scepter: one with the deity’s head facing, the other with the head to right. Neither RIC nor RSC differentiate between the two. Interestingly, the direction of the deity's head appears to have a chronological significance. An examination of the dated bronze and gold reveals that the examples with the facing head were struck late in 203 AD. Those with the head to the right were struck early in 204 AD.