Lot 3330

Description

(Titus), from Moesia & Thrace, period of Titus (A.D. 79-81), (8.676 grams), AE 26 with countermarks of AVG (twice), TI.CAE [Ti{tus} CAE{SAR}), dolphin right (on reverse) and helmet on obverse, on Augustus AE as from Ephesus, (Martini No. 83, 90, 95 and 98 Howgego 495, 577 and 602). Countermarks very fine, host coin poor, and very rare with all these known countermarks.

Martini notes the letters to mean TI(tus?) Cae(sar) and Aug(ustus) and which are always closely associated. He further notes the issues as struck generally are Ephesian coins of Augustus. Martini places the the countermark of dolphin and helmet as an earlier issue but still in the period of Vespasian and Titus. It was in a Thrace-Moesia area that these countermarks were applied to circulating worn coinage. The Pangerl collection contained very few examples with all these countermarks. Type 95 with dolphin are those mostly found with these additional countermarks.