P. Aelius Paetus AR Denarius. Rome, 138 BC. Helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) to left / The Dioscuri riding right; P•PATVS below horses, ROMA in exergue. Crawford 233/1 var. (this reverse type usually reads P•PAETVS). 2.88g, 17mm, 3h.
Almost As Struck, from a faulty die (?), attractive deep old cabinet toning with hints of golden iridescence. Variant unrecorded by Crawford.
From the Andrew McCabe Collection;
Ex Vecchi 14, February 1999, lot 970.
As Andrew McCabe notes:
One can hypothesise on the reasons for the greater differences with the usual coins of P.PAETVS; a trial die by a different cutter, a proof made prior to the main issue, a type struck outside the main mint, perhaps with a travelling magistrate. The light weight is interesting but probably not significant, the coin is on a short flan (see the right hand Dioscuri) and the surfaces indicate corrosion but nothing including the edge cracks nor surface effects are suggestive of plating. The very fine style and good quality of execution of the piece suggests it is not an imitative coin, which invariably use morphologically copied dies from an original, in contrast to this which was struck from separately engraved dies.
The sharpness of details such as the hair or the face of the Dioscuri as well as surface effects on the field suggest to me that the coin was struck from fresh unworn dies whose field surfaces had the original manufacture defects and with the sharpest details unblunted. Perhaps when the error was noticed the die was scrapped and the die-cutter sent off to work in the mines, rendering this coin a unique example.""