MESSENE BRONZE BROCKAGE HEMIOBOL – RARE ANCIENT ERROR EX BCD – XF ROMAN PERIOD MESSENE COIN (Inv. 20065)

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20065. MESSENIA. MESSENE. PSEUDO–AUTONOMOUS ISSUE, 1st CENTURY AD.
Bronze Brockage Hemiobol or Hexachalkon, 7.18 g, 20 mm. Issue probably struck during the reign of Nero, AD 54–68.
Obv. ΜЄϹϹΗΝΙωΝ, veiled and draped bust of Tyche right. Rev. Incuse of the obverse design.
Cf. C. Grandjean, Les Messéniens de 370/369 au 1er siècle de notre ère (2003), 686.
Ex BCD Collection, Leu 96, 5/8/2006, lot 764 = H. W. Müller 42, 6/24/1983, lot 62.
XF, very well struck for this type of error.

Messenian civic issues of the first century AD featuring the turreted head of the Tyche of Messene on the reverse are known to feature three distinct obverse types: Zeus Ithomatas brandishing his thunderbolt, Zeus Ithomatas holding a scepter, and Asclepius. The die used to strike this piece is Grandjean’s R606, which was regularly paired with a Zeus Ithomatas with his scepter die (Grandjean 686). Presumably, this type would have appeared on the other side had the brockage not occurred. There appears to be some disagreement over whether the Tyche die served as the obverse or reverse. According to Grandjean it was the reverse die while the BCD catalogue treats it as the obverse. If the Tyche die did indeed serve as the obverse, it would make it easier to understand how this brockage error took place.