Unpublished Denarius / Aureus Offstrike

442, Lot: 287. Estimate $500. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Valerian I. AD 253-260. Denarius or aureus offstrike (20.5mm, 3.31 g, 7h). Viminacium mint. Issue 2c. IMP VALERIANVS P AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS AVGG, emperor standing left, foot on helmet, holding globe and sceptre. MIR 36, –; RIC V –. Near VF, green patina, minor smoothing.

Ex Freeman & Sear FPL 9 (Spring 2004), no. 99.

The reverse of this coin is as that of the aureus (Lot 286). MIR records only one ‘denarius’ of Viminacium (Lot 288), which is also listed as either a denarius or an aureus offstrike. A similar coin, probably from the same dies, was sold in the Obolos Webauction 6, 20 November 2016, lot 869, where it was described as a contemporary cast imitation. Without having seen the actual coin, I suspect that is not actually the case. My example is also in very base billon, but appears to have been struck in the normal way.