L SEPT SEV PERT – AVG IMP X

Bust of Septimius Severus to the right, with drapery on left shoulder and laureate.

VICT AVG – AE – OS - II

Victory advancing to the left, holding a crown with the right hand and a palm with the left hand.

Type imitated: obverse RIC 120 B, L SEVEN SEV PERT - AVG IMP X. For the reverse, it is in my opinion, impossible to pronounce. Imitation seems to borrow several legends. This may be:

RIC 29: VICT AVG P II COS II

The RIC 29 A: '' '' COS II P P

The RIC 56 A: VICT AVG TR P II COS II

The RIC 120: VICT AVGG COS II P P

it is likely that the reverse side is that of the RIC 120 B as for the obverse. Just as the type VICTORIAE AETERNAE that we see on the denarii may have influenced the legend. Indeed one reads well VICT AVG AE and the letters AE can come from AETERNAE, the C of COS is missing. Conclusion, it is very likely that this reverse is an imitation of several legend added, but the legend of the RIC 120 B is more likely and given that the obverse is undoubtedly that of the RIC 120 B also, I named the type imitated on behalf of the RIC 120 B. In addition, the obverse date this imitation end 197 AD or later. If we consider that the reverse represents a victory and that the title IMP X appears from late 197 on the coins of Septimius Severus, and that we add the victory on the parthes that are neighbors, in 198 AD. It seems likely that this coin was minted in 198 at the earliest.

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot, 320, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923463, link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

SEVIERVS – PIVS AV

Bust of Severus Pius to the right, laureate.

C - OS V (or II ligate) I

Victory advancing to the left and holding objects that can be a crown of the right hand and a palm suggested by the small ribbon behind the character.

In my opinion, there are several possibilities for attribution of imitated coins. The legends are readable: obverse SEVERVS PIVS AVG and reverse: COS VI. The reverse is read COS VI but it is certain that it is about COS II or III. The first coins with the mention COS III with victory and associated with the obverse SEVERVS PIVS are silver coins. Thus, the RIC 258 seems to be a good base of reference for this imitation. RIC 258: obverse SEVERVS PIVS, laureate head, reverse COS III P P, the victory advancing to the left and holding a crown and a palm. So we have a bust, legends and a type of reverse that match, it is simply missing P P on the reverse. However! These silver quinarii are extremely rare and it is unlikely that this coin has served as a model.

If we search an association with this type of bust and the legend of the obverse, combined with a reverse showing a victory on the left with a short legend approaching the one we see ... No other coin match. It is almost certain that this is a hybrid obverse / reverse. Because the quality of the obverse shows a known type, but which is not associated with this type of reverse on aureus or any other denomination (except the quinarius quoted above).

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 321, 05.01.2011. Link to he sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923459. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/index.html.

L SEPT SEV PE - RT AVG IMP III

Bust of Septimius Severus to the right, laureate.

P M TR P – II – COS II P P

Jupiter seated left, holding small victory with his right hand and scepter with his left hand.

Type imitated: RIC 34. There is no doubt that the coin imitated is an aureus of the same type. The resemblance between this coin: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=522646 and the imitation above is very large. Even the cut of the legends on the obverse and the reverse is similar. PE - RT on the obverse and reverse side: TR P - II - COS.

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 322, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923460. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/index.html.

VSVERVS – PIVS AVIC

Bust of Septimius Severus to the right, laureate.

V?VNVTAVVS – VAGVTNIS

Bust of Caracalla to the right, laureate draped and cuirrased.

Imitated type: RIC 157.The obverse legend should be: SEVERVS AVG PART MAX. It is therefore a hybrid of an obverse with the reverse of the RIC 157.

Reverse legend contain ''?'' because there is a hole and we cant know what was the letter. The 3 latest letters are wrote NIS, this is probably what is inscribed but the form cant permit to be sure. ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS being the imitated coin as mentioned above (RIC 157)

Coin sold byThe New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 323, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923461. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/index.html.

SEVERVS – PIVS AVG

Bust of Septimius Severus to the rgiht, laureate.

P M TR P XIII – COS III P P

Jupiter standing left, holding thunderbolt with right hand and scpeter with left hand. Below, eagle standing left with head turned right.

Imitated type: RIC 196. Imitation of very good quality, sold by Classical Numismatic Group, link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=351404, link to their http://https: // www.cngcoins.com/website: . As indicated by Classical Numismatic Group, there is a double strike on the obverse. This element indicates to us that this coin was struck and not molded. However, given the appearance, I think the dies that struck this coin come from mold. A continuous line on top of the grenetis also directs me to the idea of using a mold.

ZVTV(S inverted) N (inverted) R P (inverted) – ITVSVTN

'' ''

TA P A II (L inverted) S – I – VT II TV (S ou Z, undetermined)

'' '' without eagle

Imitate type: RIC 196 var. "Var" for variant, since the eagle misses on the left and is therefore a variant of the known type. Coin sold at The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 325, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923463. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

VI(?)VN (inverted) P (inverted) I – V (?) SV (T or I) (undetermined).

" "

(undetermined) VIATS - TS – II VSVT (undetermined).

" " without eagle.

Type imitated: RIC 196 var (explanation above). Legend completely degenerate, I chose to put "–" (alt + 0150) to separate TS and II on the reverse (see article codification of legends here: https://www.all-your-coins.com/en/blog/antique/nouvelle-codification-des-legendes). Indeed, it seems pretty sure to me that TS is a derivative of COS and II the following number. Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 326, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923464. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

(inverted) ΦKAII CEPRT (?) – (inverted) O (or Φ) KA II (clokwise orientation) IMP XII

(read commentary below for reading legend)

Bust of septimius Severus to the right, laureate.

(undetermined) XIII – (undetermined) III (undetermined)

Jupiter? standing left and holding thunderbolt with right hand and scpeter with left hand. Eagle at feet, on the left, with head right.

Type imitated: reverse RIC 196. There is no doubt that the reverse imitated is that of the RIC 196 and we can guess that the legend of the reverse is P M TR P XIII - COS III P P. However the wear and the low quality of striking does not allow us to be certain that each letter is correctly written and is not degenerate. For the obverse, it seems to me, based on the style of the portrait already, that the coin serving as a model is a provincial coin. A coin with a similar reverse is known for the Anchialus mint (Bulgaria) reference: Moushmov 2813 and the style of the mint corresponds to the "large" portrait of the obverse; but this mint is only one example, we can look for similarities elsewhere. Given that the reverse is of a style close to the mint of Rome  and that the legend seems Latin, one can not conclude that the imitated coin comes from a provincial mint. However, it is almost certain that the obverse is provincial style. What to conclude? Two imitated coins? A provincial obverse and a reverse of the Rome mint? Strange. At this point, it can be said that the style of the portrait is caused by the style of the engraver, who can be considered as a "provincial" engraver, even if he is not based in a Roman colony. This engraver, "out of the empire" has a style similar to other engravers, far from Rome. This is where the legend of the obverse is important. If we look at the legend on the assumption that it is not Latin, but derived from Greek, then we can read it better and it becomes more logical in its construction. Indeed, even if we consider that the legend is readable in a anti-clockwise direction (inverted), which is not or rarely the case on provincial coin, the first letter, who look like "O" contains a vertical bar. '' Φ '' being a Greek F. Here, there is no logic to put this "F" at the beginning of the legend. If we look at the rest, we can interpret what I noted as AV, as AY degenerate. Similarly, assuming that the A is a K (a small protrusion at the top suggests the shape of a K) we can read KAI L CEPT or something close. With one or more inverted letters and to the left of the bust one finds a more Latin legend, unless we still read ΦKAI II but we can not conclude anything, because in any case, except the part KAI L CEPT, nothing corresponds to a known or logical provincial legend in its construction. Moreover, the W would become an '' ω '' but the form does not imply this letter but rather a M. Add to that, the XII read more easily IMP XII. It would be a mixture of Greek and Latin, with letters in various senses of orientation. Still, it can be concluded that much of this obverse is of a provincial style.

I noted the legend following what we see, or at least the letters that look the most. By specifying the orientation of each letter or group of letters.

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 324, 05.01.2011, link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923462. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

SEVERVS – PIVS AVG

Bust of Septimius Severvs to the right, laureate.

RESTITVTOR – VRBIS

Roma seated left on shield, holding palladium with right hand and scepter with left.

Official coin circulating in India: RIC 288. Coins sold by The New York sale, Auction XXV, lot 328, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923466. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

Board of styles

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 327, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923465. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

S (E degenerate) VERVS – PIV (S degenearate) AVG

'' ''

RESTITVTOR – VRBIS

'' ''

Type imitated: RIC 288, imitation of good quality with only two degenerate letters. I chose to write the missing letters as those of the original legend. It seems more likely that these degenerate forms are due to a dripping of metal. When we took the money out of its mold, there must have been something on that axis that caused some runs as well as some metal stuck in the mold. Hence the presence of these two badly printed letters on the same axis at 3h and 9h, still on this axis, the beard also seems to have a horizontal line surely caused by the same reason. Given the print quality of these imitations molded, I wonder if we did not remove the coin too early from its mold. As seen here, the details and the two letters remained stuck in the mold and one can suppose that still liquid dribbles formed these strange letters. The ribbon is also related to these runs.

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 330, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923468. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.

SEVERVZ – L (or P inverted) IVZ (Zeta lowercase?) AVG

'' ''

Z (Zeta lowercase?) IESX – SOTVIIP (inverted) I

'' '' to the right.

Type imitated: RIC 288. We can suppose a mixture of Greek and Latin legend. We must look at the provincial coinage and not only for Septimius Severus, to see if we find a semblance of legend corresponding to the reverse.

Coin sold by The New York Sale, Auction XXV, lot 329, 05.01.2011. Link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=923467. Link to their website: http://www.thenewyorksale.com/nysale/.