Hybrid Imitation

CNG 90, Lot: 1610. Estimate $10000. Sold for $27500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.07 g, 4h). Local imitation. IMPER ‘ A ‘ EL ‘ SEPTI SEVER ‘ PERT III, laureate head of Severus right / CONCORDI ΛVGVSRVM RTP III, COS IIIII in exergue, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, each bareheaded, togate, and holding rolls, standing vis-à-vis, clasping hands. Unpublished. EF, lustrous.

This imitation is actually a hybrid. The obverse copies an early issue of Septimius, although the legend is somewhat a novel creation. At the same time, while the reverse appears to be similar to the CONCORDIA AVGVSTORVM or CONCORDIAE AETERNAE aurei of Septimius and Caracalla, this particular type, with the additional legend in the exergue, clearly is imitating the CONCORDIA AVGVSTOR aurei of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. It is plausible to assume that the workshop that produced this imitation had made dies from both types, which were subsequently intermingled.