Unpublished Denarius

442, Lot: 186. Estimate $300. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Denarius (19.5mm, 1.93 g, 5h). Rome mint. 6th issue, AD 260-261. GALLIENVS P F AVG, laureate head left / V[I]CTO[RI]A AVG, Victory running left, holding wreath and palm. MIR 36, –; RIC V –. Good Fine, red deposits on reverse, flan flaws.

Bought from CGB, Paris, 2012. Ex CGB Rome 32 (2012), no. 283425.

The correct position of this previously unpublished denarius within the coinage of Gallienus is by no means certain. I have tentatively placed it here by association with MIR 445l, an As which has the same obverse legend and reverse, but this bust appears in Issue 6(4) only on a silver offstrike from a putative gold 4-aureus piece (MIR 437q). Left-facing busts on denarii are exceedingly rare anyway, and it is possible that this coin is an offstrike from dies intended for a so far unknown gold aureus. It appears on the surface to be of fairly good quality silver.