Domitian AR Denarius 81 CE (Group 3)

Domitian AR Denarius 81 CE (Group 3) Rome

(20 mm )

Obv: Head laureate right; IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG PONT

Rev: Minerva standing left with victory and spear, shield at feet; COS VII DES VIII P P

RIC 29 (R3)

Purchased from ebay October 3, 2019.

I was very pleased to grab this one when it appeared for sale. I wanted to buy it quickly as I know there are others out there who are seeking out coins like this one. It is a PONT denarius. That is it has PONT in the obverse legend.

This is also a very rare coin. All PONT denarii are rare. In fact all of them are rated R2 (very few examples known) or R3

(one example known to the authors of RIC II part 1). I know of 3 other examples of this coin. One is owned by a Flavian specialist on Forum Ancient Coins, one is owned by another Forum Ancient Coins member, and the 3rd is the RIC reference coin which is owned by Curtis Clay.

This coin is RIC 29. I also happen to own RIC 28. RIC 28 uses the obverse legend used on more common coins: IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG P M. RIC 28 is another rare coin (R2) and it features a different Minerva than RIC 29. RIC 29 has the Minerva holding Victory and with spear while RIC 28 does not have the Minerva with Victory. There are only 3 coin types for Domitian that include Minerva with Victory and spear (RIC 29, 30, & 99). It so happens that I now have RIC 29 and RIC 99. Of these 3 types RIC 99 is the most common, but it is still designated as rare. I quite like the Minerva with Victory type and wish they would have used it more often. The coin is a bit rough, but i think the portrait has a lot of charm.