My "Croc" Coin

Augustus, AE As, 25mm (10.59 gm), Struck 16/15-10 BC, Nemausus.

Addorsed heads of Agrippa left, wearing combined rostral crown and laurel wreath, and Augustus on right, bare headed; IMP above and DIVI F below; D-D countermark / Crocodile chained to palm tip, wreath with long ties above; COL-NEM. RIC I 155 (pg. 51); RCV I 1729; RPC I 523.

RIC classifies this issue as an As, but this classification is uncertain, as indicated by the '(?)' after the listed denomination. Sear classifies this issue as a dupondius, as does David Vagi's flip ticket.

No, it's not 'the' croc coin... the coin so prominently displayed on my collection website:

http://www.socalcoins.com/collection

and here, on the webpage on that site:

http://socalcoins.com/collection/caesars/pages/AUGUSTUS_ric158.htm

That coin is long gone, having been sold in the January 2007 Gemini auction. It's one of my biggest regrets and should it ever come to auction again, I will make it mine again!

I bought this croc coin at the January 2006 NYINC show... my first, and so far only, visit to that wonderful show. I purchased it from David Vagi for the simple reason that I didn't have a countermarked coin in my collection. This particular coin carries the D-D countermark, which is within a dotted circle and with the two D's disected by a dotted line. This countermark stands for Decreto Decurionum, which means 'by decree of the town Decuria (or Council)'. This is a common countermark on the Asses from Nemausus. The purpose of this type of countermark is to appropriate officially sanctioned Roman colonial coinage for local use in another colonial city.

This, along with a few other coins, serve as reminder of my first NYINC show and all the great people I met.