The Rarest of Domitian’s TRP XVI Denarii
One of Two Known

Triton XVII, Lot: 672. Estimate $1500. Sold for $4500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Domitian. AD 81-96. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.19 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck 14-18 September AD 96. IMP CΛES DOMIT ΛVG GERM P M TR P XVI, laureate head right / IMP XXII COS XVII CENS P P P, Maia advancing left, holding bird in extended right hand, winged caduceus in left. RIC II 817; RSC –; BMCRE –; BN –; Mazzini d. 297 (same dies). Good VF, lightly toned. Extremely rare, one of only two known.

This coin is from the very rare last issue of Domitian's coinage, signified by his tribunician year 16, which he held for only 5 days (14-18 September AD 96) before his assassination. The particular reverse type had been a great enigma, until the figure was definitively identified as Maia in a study by T.V. Buttrey ("The Goddess Maia on Denarii of Domitian" in Journal of Roman Archaeology 15 [2002], pp. 261–3). The type was first identified for Domitian's TR P XV coinage, but was doubted in the major references until a specimen was confirmed by H.A. Cahn ("Flavia Inedita" in NC 1934, 50). Curiously, all of the references missed the Mazzini specimen, which is the sole published example of this type in Domitian's TR P XVI coinage. Interestingly, all of the published specimens for both the TR P XV and XVI denarii with Maia share the same reverse die, attesting to the rarity of this type.