Unpublished Denarius?

442, Lot: 207. Estimate $750. Sold for $1700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Denarius(?) (16mm, 1.65 g, 7h). Rome mint. 8th issue, AD 263-264/5. GALLIENVS AVG, laureate head right / FORT RE[D], Fortuna seated left, holding rudder and cornucopiae; wheel below seat. MIR 36, – (type as aureus 545d, but with abbreviated legend on rev.); RIC V –. EF, green patina. Apparently unique.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 42 (29 May 1997), lot 1043.

This is a puzzling item. The weight and module would suggest that it is a quinarius, but the size of the bust and the reverse figure are more appropriate for a denarius, as which it was catalogued when previously sold. The seated figure on the reverse indicates that it belongs to issue 8, as defined in MIR, and antoniniani with the full legend are plentiful (MIR 545 and 546). However, not only is the denarius denomination not recorded for issue 8, but no quinarius with this reverse type is recorded either. The coin type seems not to have been recorded previously at all.