Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1436. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DOMITIAN. As Caesar, 69-81 AD. Orichalcum Sestertius (26.88 g, 7h). Balkan mint. Struck 80-81 AD. CAES DIVI AVG VESP F DOMITIANVS COS VII, laureate head right / S C across field, Mars walking right, holding spear in right hand, trophy over left shoulder. RIC II 159 (Titus; Rome mint); RPC II 505 (Thrace); A. Burnett, "Regional Coinage in Thrace and Bithynia during the Flavian Period," Travaux Le Rider, pl. 8, 1; H. Cahn, "An Imperial Mint in Bithynia," INJ 8 (1984-5), 5; BMCRE -; BN 326 (Titus); Cohen 422. EF, dark green -black patina. Much better than all of the published examples. Very rare, and the finest known by far. ($5000)

Based on subtle stylistic differences from the typical Rome mint issues, this series was originally given to Lugdunum by Mattingly in BMCRE. Later scholarship, though, concluded that Lugdunum closed long before the Flavian period. I. Carradice, based on the close stylistic affinity of these to the regular Roman issues, opted for a separate officina at Rome (Coinage and Finance in the Reign of Domitian, BAR International Series 178, pp. 118-21). Hahn disagreed, and placed them at an unknown mint in Bithynia. Analyzing the extant examples, he noted that many existed in the museum in Istanbul, whereas none are known in the west. Furthermore, he also noted that all of the types in this Latin series were employed on the local provincial coinages of Bithynia, too. Carradice and Cowell (NC 1987, p. 49), though, noted that the metal content of the Latin and Bithynian issues were consistently different, as were their die axes. Burnett reexamined Hahn's analysis, and also noted a few problems: that in addition to Istanbul the coins were prevalent in museums throughout the Balkans, and that the provincial Bithynian issues were struck later than the Latin issues. Nonetheless, he also noted several stylistic variations and differences in the flans from the standard Rome mint coins, discounting a possible separate officina. Furthermore, he noted similarities with the Latin coinage of Nero and the provincial issues that were struck in Perinthus (RPC II pp. 87-88). Although he could not say for certain that the mint was Perinthus, he concluded that the mint was likely located in the Balkans region.