This sestertius was struck in 72 AD when Titus held the tribunician power jointly with his father Vespasian, making him effectively co-emperor in all but formal title. The previous year, Titus had commanded the siege of Jerusalem, and the Flavian mint was already capitalizing heavily on that victory — the Jewish War and its aftermath dominating imperial coinage for the first years of the dynasty. RIC II.1 #474 falls within that heavily propagandistic output, even where individual pieces don't explicitly reference the campaign.
Bronze production under early Vespasian suffered from inconsistent flan preparation, and many survivors from this issue show casting seams or irregular surfaces beneath the strike.
This sestertius was struck in 72 AD when Titus held the tribunician power jointly with his father Vespasian, making him effectively co-emperor in all but formal title. The previous year, Titus had commanded the siege of Jerusalem, and the Flavian mint was already capitalizing heavily on that victory — the Jewish War and its aftermath dominating imperial coinage for the first years of the dynasty. RIC II.1 #474 falls within that heavily propagandistic output, even where individual pieces don't explicitly reference the campaign.
Bronze production under early Vespasian suffered from inconsistent flan preparation, and many survivors from this issue show casting seams or irregular surfaces beneath the strike.