Unique(?) Septimius Severus Denarius

394, Lot: 492. Estimate $200. Sold for $4500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AR Denarius (20mm, 2.36 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 206. Laureate head right / ROMAE AE TER NAE, Roma seated facing in the center of a hexastyle temple with a statue at the base of each column; in the pediment, Jupiter standing between two reclining figures. Cf. RIC IV 292; cf. RSC 619; cf. Nomos 2 (2010), lot 201 (Geta, as Caesar denarius–same reverse die). Good VF, toned with some remaining find patina, some roughness and a few cleaning marks. Extremely rare if not unique.

A fascinating type, perhaps unique for Severus, which appears to share the same die as a Geta denarius sold by Nomos in 2010. In the Nomos catalogue, it was noted that “The reverse of this coin shows the Temple of Roma and is remarkable for the great detail the die cutter has managed to show on such a small flan. It is also one of the rarest of all Severan denarii, of which only the specimen in Paris seems to have been known previously (all references to the type in literature go back to that piece). The same reverse also appears on an apparently unique aureus of Caracalla (BMC p. 210, ‡ = Calicó 2810 = Hill 780 = RIC 143A, all referring to a piece that appeared in the NCirc of 1925).

The present coin of Septimius Severus can now be added to the census for this reverse type.