Extremely rare and desirable obverse legend with BONO ("bonus = "good"). Probus was the only roman emperor to use such an unusual title in the whole roman coinage!
On this coin there is additionally a very interesting and rare grammatical error; the legend is in the dative case and therefore the emperor's name should be in the dative case PROBO and instead it is in the nominative case: PROBVS.
Only the 2nd specimen of this exact type known! (the other being CNG auction 225 lot 553 = ex P. Zanchi collection.
This type with the grammatical error was first published by P. Zanchi in the article: "Quelques nouveaux antoniniens de Serdica", Schweizer Münzblätter 30 (1980), 95-100, Fig. 8.
Sol was the favorite and most frequently depicted God of the Roman pantheon in Probus' coinage. There are numerous variants of reverses with Sol; however the depiction of Sol in quadriga (left or central/spread) remains undoubtedly an iconic, classis reverse for Probus . This reverse type was struck in Lugdunum, Rome, Ticinum, Siscia, Serdica and Kyzikos mints, with each mint having its unique style
Provenance: Ex Philippe Gysen collection = Ex Heidelberger Münzhandlung H. Grün, Auktion 20 (1997), ex Lot 1130
OBVERSE: BONO IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG (SIC!)
REVERSE: SOLI INVICTO; Sol in spread quadriga, holding whip
BUST TYPE: A2 = radiate, cuirassed and draped bust right, seen from the back
FIELD / EXERGUE MARKS: -/-//KAB
WEIGHT 4.54g / AXIS: 12h / WIDTH 22,5-23,5 mm
