I finished email, closed down the program and am now trying to get my blood pressure and focus to a point where I can write for realz. I still want a relatively short post with as little navel-gazing as possible.
The above and below images are from Binder 14 (page 127 of the paper archivist’s numbering system, exposure 162 of the digital archivist’s numbering system).
The fantasy denarii is apparently inspired by the restored type attributed to Trajan’s reign but I’ve seen no examples of verified specimens of the restoration coinage either. I don’t have
Die Reichspragung Des Kaisers Traianus (98-117) by Bernhard Woytek (2010).
on my shelf but I just ordered it so when it arrives maybe I’ll fill out this post with whatever I read in there about Cocles. Here’s what is in OCRE:
The one specimen is in Göttingen and is clearly plated.
The whole ‘female head below’ was mysterious to me until I saw this (cf. RRC 127/1)
Becker dies are known for the restoration type (Hill 164)
I’ll withhold judgement until I read Woytek.
Update 11/7/2025:
The vast majority of circulating COCLES coins, at least all those without the female head in the field, are modern forgeries; see the compilation in Komnick TE. 23. The Becker forgery (Hill, Becker No. 164) in particular often goes undetected; see, for example, Milan, Belloni 181 or SBV 30 (September 15, 1992), 201 (3,45).
So Woytek. He does however illustrate a specimen in Naples weighing 3.19g with the head which I take him to be considering genuine, no. 802 (Plate 128).
Here’s Mattingly in BMCRE p. 138. The same coin as above is illustrated on these plates.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 
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