The Reverse of the denarius reads TRP VIIII IMP COS VII P P with
slow quadriga carrying three corn ears in a round basket-like car decorated with a single
garland. The legend dates the coin to after July 1st 79 AD and before January 1st 80 AD
with RIC attributing the coin to Group III.
The obverse has the bust of Titus facing right with a laurel in
his hair and slight beard.
It is the obverse legend which is the intriguing feature of this
coin.
The normal legend for this type is IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P
M. Our coin bears the obverse legend IMP TITVS CAES VESPASI AVG P M. The standard spelling
used on Titus's coins is VESPASIAN or VESPASIANUS. There are some exceptions such as VESP
and a rare semis with VESPASI but the norm was for the name to be spelled out in full and
shortened versions are rare.
The weight of this coin is 3.3 grams; its style is very good.
There is very little doubt that this coin is genuine and can only be a rare example of
either a blundered legend or a little used abbreviation of the name Vespasian.
If indeed it is an error by the die engraver, one could imagine
the engraver stopping his work after cutting VESPASI A into the die. Upon returning to the
die he may have glanced at his work, spotted the A and instead of finishing with N cut VG
PM, leaving out the AN of Vespasian. Or possibly this may have been to save space. Our
coin, however, has plenty of space on it and this is unlikely. Also, the coins of Titus
generally have error-free legends. Missing letters only appear in proper abbreviations. If
this were an example of sloppy work by the engraver with lax control on the finished
product then we would expect to see many other errors on the coins of Titus.
If we consider Titus RIC 141, a semis with legend IMP CAESAR DIVI
VESPASI AVG, from an Eastern mint, we see the same abbreviation of VESPASIAN. Although it
is the second scarcest version and rarely used, nonetheless it occurs for Vespasian and
Titus and fits into the series of abbreviations used by them.
For example, VESP, VESPA, VESPAS, VESPASI, VESPASIA, VESPASIAN,
and VESPASIANUS.
VESPASIA, the next in the series after VESPASI, is an unusual
feminine spelling of Vespasian. We do not find this use of the word at all in the coinage
except for one example. Vespasian RIC 352 is a rare aureus from Alexandria with Vespasian
obverse and Titus reverse. Its obverse legend is IMP CAESAR VESPASIA AVG. This type also
occurs with the obverse legend using the unabbreviated name VESASIANUS.
We may conclude from the existing coins with the abbreviation
VESPASI for Vespasian that our coin is in fact an official issue. Abbreviations appear on
the coinage of Vespasian and Titus, some more often than others. The VESPASI abbreviation
is not the rarest of these and fits well into the series of abbreviations. As with the
VESPASI aureus of Vespasian, our denarius has a twin coin with the legend in full.
What criteria were used for determining whether to abbreviate or
not, may never be known. We can see, however, that these abbreviations are not just
engravers' errors and that a decision was made to use them. Perhaps to save time and
therefore cut costs? Sometimes, there is clearly not enough space on the coin and other
times, as is the case here, space is not short. Mr. Barber's denarius may be a unique
example but it demonstrates the complexity of Roman coin legends.
Mr. Barber hopes to offer this coin for sale in 2003 to Canadian
museums first. If there are no buyers then it will be offered in the store. Images of the
coin are available on the store website at www.arcadecoins.com.
John Gainor is a dealer in ancient coins in Toronto, and former editor of
CMNS publications The Anvil and The Picus. He currently lives on a farm
near Georgetown, Ontario.
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