OCTAVIAN / AUGUSTUS SILVER DENARIUS – EXTREMELY RARE AND INTERESTING DOUBLE OBVERSE BROCKAGE ERROR – VF ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 19754)

SOLD

19754. ROMAN EMPIRE. OCTAVIAN (AUGUSTUS), 27 BC–14 AD.
Silver Denarius (BROCKAGE ERROR), 3.72 g, 19 mm. Issue of Rome, ca. 32–29 BC.
Obv. Head Octavian right. Rev. Incuse head of Octavian, brockage of obverse type.
Cf. CNG Electronic Auction 129, 12/21/ 2005, lot 362, a brockage piece with a similar style Augustus head and linear border.
Ex Jonathan K. Kern collection, said to be from a 1970s Knobloch sale and the John Wright collection.
VF, gray toning, a very interesting error coin created by striking with a reverse punch on which a previously struck coin had adhered, thereby becoming a die of its own (may be encapsulated upon request).

This remarkable coin appears to be a double brockage strike of an early denarius issue of Augustus. Due to the speed at which blanks were fed between obverse and reverse dies at the Roman mint, it sometimes happened that a finished coin would become stuck to the reverse (hammer) die without the knowledge of the striker. When this happened, the next blank placed between the dies received the normal impression of the obverse die while the reverse received the incuse impression of the obverse of the coin still stuck to the reverse die. While brockage strikes are not unknown for the denarius coinage of Augustus (some 48 examples are listed for his reign on CoinArchives), this particular example is exceptional in that the reverse is actually a double brockage, struck twice by the reverse die with a coin stuck to it. The remains of the first brockage strike are apparent in the repetition of the incuse linear border and the slight ghost of Augustus’ profile to the left of the incuse portrait.
Based on style, the absence of any legend, and the use of a linear border, it seems most likely that this piece belongs to the celebratory CAESAR DIVI F series (RIC 250a–263) of ca. 32–29 BC, struck before Octavian assumed the title of Augustus in 27 BC, and that the intended reverse type depicted either Venus (RIC 250a), Pax (RIC 252), Victory (254a) or Mercury (RIC 257). It might also be worth noting that one of the denarius brockages in Coin Archives also involves a similar style Augustus head with linear border (CNG Electronic Auction 129, 12/21/ 2005, lot 362).