RPC III, 4185

 

Image of specimen #6

 

Coin type
Volume III
Number 4185
Province Egypt
Region Egypt
City Alexandria
Reign Trajan
Person (obv.) Trajan (Augustus)
Issue L ΕΝΑΤΟΥ = year 9
Dating AD 105/6
Obverse inscription ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ΣΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚ
Edition Αὐτ(οκράτωρ) Τραϊαν(ὸς) Σεβ(αστὸς) Γερμ(ανικὸς) Δακικ(ός)
Translation Emperor Trajan Augustus Germanicus Dacicus
Obverse design laureate head of Trajan, right
Reverse inscription L ΕΝΑΤΟΥ
Edition (ἔτους) ἐνάτου
Translation of year 9
Reverse design Nilus reclining on crocodile, left, holding reed and cornucopia
Metal silver
Average diameter 25 mm
Average weight 12.37 g
Specimens 6 (1 in the core collections)
Note The coins seem at first sight to be coins of year 5 (L Ε), but they have a later obverse inscription, which is why Emmett 389 included them under year 15. A. Geissen has made to us (in litt.) the clever suggestion that they are actually coins of year nine with a partially retrograde reverse inscription, so VOTAN = retrograde ΝΑΤΟΥ and the full inscription was intended to be L E –NATOV. This attractive suggestion would also explain the otherwise anomalous (for year 5) obverse inscription.
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Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     NY: 1973.66.569
2 2     Amsterdam
3 3     Frankurt 251
4 4     Kurpfälzische Münzhandlung 69 (2005) lot 147
5 5     Sotheby 22 Feb. 1929 lot 216
6 6     ✸ Kölner Münzkabinett 122, 4 Oct. 2024, lot 214 = DS6872 (pl. 26)