Sabina Sunday -- Cool Sabina/Hadrian Hybrid Denarius!

[Roman Collector]

I saw this coin for sale at a fixed price dealer and picked it up because I had never run across this reverse type before and I didn't have it in my nascent Sabina subcollection.

Sabina, Augusta 128-138 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 3.01 g, 17.5 mm, 5 h.
Rome, 130-133 CE.
Obv: SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P, diademed and draped bust, right, with hair in queue.
Rev: PIETAS AVG, Pietas seated left, holding patera and scepter (reverse of Hadrian, RIC II.3 (2nd Ed.), 1412).
Refs: RIC II.3 (2nd Ed.), 2509; RIC II (1st Ed), 405; BMCRE p. 355*; Cohen 51; Strack 372; RCV --; CRE --.
Notes: See ANS 1956.127.310 and BM 1950,1006.423. Cohen cites M. Hoffmann. Reverse die match to denarius of Hadrian, Leu Web Auction 13, lot 1191, 15 August 2020.

The coin is very rare and limited to a handful of examples. Searches at acsearchinfo, Coin Archives, and Wildwinds yielded nothing, though two specimens are illustrated at OCRE: one at the ANS and on in the British Museum. My coin is a double die match to the ANS specimen and a reverse die match to the British Museum specimen, illustrated below. This indicates that all three specimens I could find online were struck by the same reverse die.

ANS:

BMC:

This led me to suspect it was a hybrid, although it is not listed among the hybrid coins of Sabina in BMCRE, pp. 361-62. I thought I'd look through acsearchinfo at the denarii of Hadrian with this reverse type and I STRUCK GOLD!! I found a denarius of Hadrian struck with the exact same reverse die, proving my coin's hybrid nature!!

Denarius of Hadrian, Leu Web Auction 13, lot 1191, 15 August 2020.

Do you have any hybrid coins? Let's see them!!!

Edited September 12, 2023 by Roman Collector
Update attribution information; new photo

[Coinmaster]

That's a great find, worth publishing!

Congrats!!!

[maridvnvm]

A very interesting find.

Here is an early eastern style denarius of Julia Domna.

Obv:– IVLIA DOMNA AVG, Draped bust right
Rev:– VENE-R VICT, Venus standing left, holding apple in right hand, sceptre in left
Minted in early eastern style (Emesa?), A.D. 195
References:– BMCRE 422, RIC 630, RSC 188a

Here is the same reverse type but on a Septimius Severus obverse. I can only assume that it is a mule.

There were errors made at the mint during this period. Was this engraver coming off a shift of engraving legends for the VENER VICT type and moving on to a VICTOR AVG type?

Obv:- IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right
Rev:- VENER AVG, Victory advancing left holding wreath and palm
Eastern COS II mint (RIC - Emesa). A.D. 193 - 195
References:- BMCRE -. RSC - RIC -.

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Nice catch RC!

[Roman Collector]

35 minutes ago, maridvnvm said:

A very interesting find.

Here is an early eastern style denarius of Julia Domna.

Obv:– IVLIA DOMNA AVG, Draped bust right
Rev:– VENE-R VICT, Venus standing left, holding apple in right hand, sceptre in left
Minted in early eastern style (Emesa?), A.D. 195
References:– BMCRE 422, RIC 630, RSC 188a

Here is the same reverse type but on a Septimius Severus obverse. I can only assume that it is a mule.

There were errors made at the mint during this period. Was this engraver coming off a shift of engraving legends for the VENER VICT type and moving on to a VICTOR AVG type?

Obv:- IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right
Rev:- VENER AVG, Victory advancing left holding wreath and palm
Eastern COS II mint (RIC - Emesa). A.D. 193 - 195
References:- BMCRE -. RSC - RIC -.

Very cool examples, @maridvnvm!

5 hours ago, Coinmaster said:

That's a great find, worth publishing!

Congrats!!!

Thank you for the kind words!

15 minutes ago, Ancient Coin Hunter said:

Nice catch RC!

Thanks!

[Roman Collector]

I want to thank @Marcus for looking up this coin for me in Strack. He generously scanned the Strack plate coin (Nationalmuseum, Sofia). He notes that Strack cited two specimens, one in Sofia and one from the Trau Collection (Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Vienna, and Adolph Hess Nachfolger, Lucerne, lot 1388, May 1935; coin not illustrated in the auction catalog). The Sofia specimen is apparently the one from the Reka Devnia hoard, per the Oxford hoard site. See also Mouchmov, Reka Devnia p.44. The Sofia specimen is Strack's plate coin, illustrated below.

I note the specimen in Sofia illustrated by Strack was struck with a different die pair altogether.

This brings the inventory to the following coins:

1. Roman Collector specimen (unknown provenance), illustrated in the OP
2. ANS specimen=Tell Kalak Hoard (Metcalf), illustrated at OCRE and in the OP
3. British Museum specimen, illustrated at OCRE and in the OP
4. Sofia specimen=Reka Devnia Hoard, illustrated by Strack, above.
5. M. Henri Hoffmann, cited by Cohen (no. 51) but no illustration available
6. Trau collection, noted above but no illustration available

It's possible that my coin, the Hoffmann specimen and the Trau specimen may not be three separate coins.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Roman Collector
Correction of information cited in Strack

[Marcus]

I see I was misleading in the other post, sorry: There are only two specimens in Strack - one in Sofia, and one in the Trau coll. The RD and the Sofia will therefore be the same. I corrected the post there.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Marcus

[Roman Collector]

9 minutes ago, Marcus said:

I see I was misleading in the other post, sorry: There are only two specimens in Strack - one in Sofia, and one in the Trau coll. The RD and the Sofia will therefore be the same. I corrected the post there.

I shall edit my post accordingly, so as not to be misleading. Thanks for the correction.

[Ryro]

Ooh lala! Nice portrait and cool reverse. Seated "Pie"tas handing out a free pie🤪

Here is a Sabina that I've not yet shared to keep the fun going:

Sabina, wife of Hadrian Denarius Rome circa 136-138, AR 17.00 mm., 3.08 g.
Diademed and draped bust r. with hair waved and knotted in plait. Rev Venus standing r., holding apple in l. hand and drawing up robe on shoulder with r. C 73. RIC Hadrian 2576.

Very fine

[John Conduitt]

Interesting coin. Did they strike Sabina's in the same officina as Hadrian?

I don't have anything rare for Sabina...

Sabina Denarius, 130-133

Rome. Silver, 17mm, 3.07g. Diademed and draped bust to right, wearing stephane; SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P. Concordia seated to left, holding patera and sceptre; cornucopiae below throne; CONCORDIA AVG ([RIC II.3, 2052). From the Londonthorpe II (Lincolnshire) Hoard, also known as Ropsley, found in March 2018. Portable Antiquities Scheme ID: LANCUM-F93E5B (This coin is in Image 1, first in second row).

[John Conduitt]

This 'hybrid' is a counterfeit, where hybrids are a lot more common. The reverse (also Pietas) is typical of Julia Domna’s coins from 198-200.

Caracalla Contemporary Counterfeit Denarius, 198-217

Imitating Rome. Silver-plated bronze, 2.74g. Laureate, draped and cuirassed right, seen from behind; ANTONINVS - PIVS AVG. Pietas standing left at altar, raising both arms; PIETAS PVBLICA. Found near Andover, Hampshire in 2019. Portable Antiquities Scheme: CAM-C08C4B.

[Roman Collector]

6 hours ago, Ryro said:

Ooh lala! Nice portrait and cool reverse. Seated "Pie"tas handing out a free pie🤪

Here is a Sabina that I've not yet shared to keep the fun going:

Sabina, wife of Hadrian Denarius Rome circa 136-138, AR 17.00 mm., 3.08 g.
Diademed and draped bust r. with hair waved and knotted in plait. Rev Venus standing r., holding apple in l. hand and drawing up robe on shoulder with r. C 73. RIC Hadrian 2576.

Very fine

Nice! I'm glad she's making her NVMIS FORVM debut!

1 hour ago, John Conduitt said:

Interesting coin. Did they strike Sabina's in the same officina as Hadrian?

I don't have anything rare for Sabina...

Sabina Denarius, 130-133

Rome. Silver, 17mm, 3.07g. Diademed and draped bust to right, wearing stephane; SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P. Concordia seated to left, holding patera and sceptre; cornucopiae below throne; CONCORDIA AVG ([RIC II.3, 2052). From the Londonthorpe II (Lincolnshire) Hoard, also known as Ropsley, found in March 2018. Portable Antiquities Scheme ID: LANCUM-F93E5B (This coin is in Image 1, first in second row).

That's a lovely coin. It's an interesting question about the officinae at the mint. There are four examples illustrated of this coin, struck with three obverse dies and two reverse dies, which seems a little odd for a "one-off" mistake, right? This coin might illustrate a problem with the whole concept of mint hybrids.

Image this scenario – the workshop charged with producing a certain output of silver denarii had produced sufficient dies to complete the task. Perhaps owing to misfortune, or a poor standard of die metal, all the reverse dies had broken before the production run had been completed (for reverse dies were always subject to more damage than the obverse ones).  With no time to commence carving new dies, production was resumed with dies retrieved from storage or borrowed from the neighboring officina that was producing coins for Hadrian.  And after all, there is nothing controversial in the design of Pietas – it was appropriate for both Emperors and Empresses, and may have been chosen for that reason.

This is only an exercise in historical imagination, but it would account for an increased number of die-combinations.  An officially sanctioned hybrid.

1 hour ago, John Conduitt said:

This 'hybrid' is a counterfeit, where hybrids are a lot more common. The reverse (also Pietas) is typical of Julia Domna’s coins from 198-200.

Caracalla Contemporary Counterfeit Denarius, 198-217

Imitating Rome. Silver-plated bronze, 2.74g. Laureate, draped and cuirassed right, seen from behind; ANTONINVS - PIVS AVG. Pietas standing left at altar, raising both arms; PIETAS PVBLICA. Found near Andover, Hampshire in 2019. Portable Antiquities Scheme: CAM-C08C4B.

That's a cool coin with a cool provenance! I have a couple of these contemporary plated counterfeit hybrids of the Severan period, too.