The mother of a fake
AR Denarius (19mm, 3.21g, 6h). Rome mint, struck Sept 18 - Dec 31, 81 (Third Issue, RIC's "Group 4"), ahgon.
IMP CAES DIVI VESP F DOMITIAN AVG P M, head laureate right; TR P COS VII DES VIII P P, Aventine Minerva cult statue standing right, with spear and shield (M1).
RIC 59 (R2), BMC --, RSC --.
Ex NFC Coins.
This coin is not a modern fake, although it was apparently used to make modern fakes. One of these fakes is featured in Dr Ilya Prokopov's Fake Ancient Coin Reports page on the Forum website as a teaching template (Domitian, files 1/244 and 48/244), showing what to look for in a fake Roman coin! By way of pedigree, my coin came to me from a reputable coin dealer in one of those little plastic coffins NGC likes to provide with the coins they certify--I have since freed it from its confinement, paroled it, so to speak, because I figure what wild and disreputable acts it performed in its notorious past are none of my business. The NGC Cert# is 3599658-016, Grade: NGC Ancients, and anyone can look it up on the NGC website.
