Postumus GERMANICVS MAX V reverse

The Gallic usurper Postumus ceased striking sestertii and double sestertii in the year 263. Unofficial mints continued the production of double sestertii.

Unofficial mints continued the production of double sestertii seemingly until towards the end of Postumus’ rule in 269. The imitations declined in size so much that the radiate bronzes are frequently mis-described as dupondii.

Postumus, double sestertius, "atelier II" mint, PAX AVG

Initially the imitative coins continued the designs used for the official bronze coinage but, through time, additional reverse types entered the repertoire. The majority of the new reverses sought to mimic the reverse types of the official radiate silver coinage of Postumus, for example PAX AVG is frequently encountered.

Gallienus, antoninianus, Trier mint, GERMANICVS MAX V

Occasionally other coins serve as prototypes. During the 250’s Gallienus struck a silver antoninianus at the Trier mint with the reverse of two captives sat beneath a trophy of arms accompanied by the legend GERMANICVS MAX V. The reverse design, including the legend, can be found on this pair of significantly reduced imitative double sestertii of Postumus, perhaps manufactured c.267-8.

Postumus, double sestertii, irregular mint, GERMANICVS MAX V

These two coins quite clearly share the same reverse die, the obverse though, are from different dies. I know of another coin that uses this reverse die and is also an obverse die duplicate with the bottom coin above. It was found in a hoard of Postumus coins from Mericourt-l’Abbe. 

Postumus, imitative double sestertius, Mericourt-l'Abbe hoard

The Mericourt-l'Abbe hoard comprised official, unofficial from “atelier II”, now thought to be a significant unofficial mint complex making (striking and casting) both silver and bronze coins of Postumus located at Chateaubleu, and other irregular coins of uncertain mint location.

Proximity of Mericourt-l'Abbe (yellow 8) to Chateaubleu (Blue 13)

You might speculate that what the die cutters were aiming for was a similar reverse type that did occur in the official large bronze of Postumus, the captives and trophy but with the legend FELICITAS AVG. The fact that they legend used was from a coin of Gallienus may demonstrate that the overall design was more important than accuracy of the accompanying lettering. 

Postumus double sestertius FELICITAS AVG (from de Witte) 

An Aurelian antoninianus with a 1936 pedigree

With the various MoUs regulating international trade in cultural objects and the UNESCO convention provenance or pedigree is playing an ever increasing role in the marketability of ancient coins, particularly high end specimens.

I was doing some research into provenance of some low end Roman coins of Aurelian when I hit upon an unexpected result for the coin at the top of the page.

The coin is an antoninianus of the 3rd emission from the Mediolanum (Milan) mint, RIC 138 corrected, RIC MER 1468 (temp), MIR 61b2(3) (this coin, plate 9, described as 4th emission by Gobl).

The coin is unremarkable in itself, except for the excellent state of preservation, has a very prominent die break on the reverse extending across half of the coin, leaving a raised line. It was apparently sold by Munzhandlung Basel in 1936 in their 18th March sale, lot 1990 where the described as FDC, no mention of the die break, and sure enough, it appears on plate 24.

Munzhandlung Basel was formed by an offshoot of the Cahn family in 1934, having left Frankfurt to avoid persecution. They purchased a huge and impressive collection of Greek and Roman coins from Prince Waldeck, “Prince W” identified on the auction catalogue frontispiece, seemingly put together in the 18th century by his ancestors. This collection formed the backbone of their first five ancient coin sales.

Searching Wikipedia there are a couple of Princes of Waldeck that could have been responsible for the sale of the family collection. The most likely, I would think, is Friedrich (1865-1946). He was the last reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, abdicating on 13th November 1918 when the monarchy was abolished.

Unusual Abassid fulus identified after 35 years!

Some thirty-five years ago I had a desire to get a better understanding of non European early mediaeval coins. A friend gifted me a dozen, or so, out of his oddments box and off I set, armed with two basic references, Richard Plant's “Arabic Coins And How To Read Them” and “Marsden’s Numismata Orientalia Illustrata” by Stephen Album.

Most coins fell into place but one has defied me until today!

I knew the remaining coin was an Abassid fulus but I saw a word at the top of the central reverse legend. I read the word as Zahir, Richard Plant agreed with me and suggested it may be a fulus of caliph al-Mamun (198-218 AH/813-833 AD) naming a local official, given the abundant bronze coinage of that caliph. However, nothing was forthcoming as a positive identification in the literature, even on subsequent searches of more advanced references.

Today I had another go and, yes, I got it! From a paper in Journal of Archaeological Research and Studies 6, issue 1, published June 2023, I discovered that I had misread the word and that it was Tahir. It would appear that this fulus, previously unpublished (although known from several specimens in sales) names Tahir ibn al-Husayn and records an alliance with the Tahrid dynasty. The fifth line on the reverse contains the word Al-Harb, for Al-Harb ibn Isa.

There are four styles of fulus recorded in the paper, this one being of the third style and is the variant with the letter alef after ta. They all date to AH 200 and were struck at a single mint, Sur al-Ma’muniyyah, modern day Tyre in the Lebanon.

No alef type

With alef type

It’s good to finally have a secure positive identification after so long. The original research paper cited can be downloaded from the link below:

LINK TO DOWNLOAD CITED PAPER

Two large gold medallions of Carausius

Reading the 25th anniversary volume of The Asylum, the journal of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, I came across an article titled "Blunders, hoaxes and lost masterpieces from the numismatic literature of the Renaissance" by John Cunnally.

The article seeks to describe coins now known to be false, paduans and other copies, that were in collections documented during the boom of collecting coins that came with the expansion of the humanist movements across Europe. It brought to mind a couple of records of gold medallions of Carausius that I had recently noted.

Today we know of only three large base metal medallions of Carausius, all different, housed within the British Museum. It has been suggested by Toynbee that they may be off metal strikes and that there were gold versions also produced, now lost. This view is not universally accepted.

I came across a letter, on deposit at the John Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries, of the antiquary William Stukeley to John Collins, dated 3rd September 1753. He was thanking Collins for the loan of some coins to engrave for the plates in the forthcoming second volume of his book Medallic History of Carausius. There is a passage in the letter where Stukeley notes that he has acquired a gold medallion of Carausius the size of a half crown. There is sadly no description of the reverse type in the letter and no sign of it engraved in the plates of the Medallic History. Was Stukeley bluffing, trying to make the recipient of the letter envious? Or did he, perhaps, discover the piece to be a fake? 

That brings me on to the next large gold medallion of Carausius. Whilst searching for Stukeley's specimen in the Medallic History I came across a large votive piece at the top of plate XVI, coin 1.

The medallion, noted by Stukeley as being in the collection of Jacomo Musselius of Verona, is of a reverse type wholly unknown in the repertoire of Carausius numismatics and is much more akin to the silver medallions of Constantius II. I wonder, as the piece is now lost, whether it is a fantasy piece, concocted from the description of the later fourth century medallions and if it ever existed beyond the illustration on the page. 

The Tropaeum Traiani of Adamklissi as a coin type of Trajan

Rescued from my junk bag and winning no prizes in the beauty contest (devastated on the obverse by corrosion, sadly) I think this is an interesting building reverse.

The coin is one of Trajan, Tomis (modern Constanța, Romania) in Moesia Inferior, AE 20mm, RPC 779. It shows why the RPC physical books are so valuable compared to the website listing. The "trophy on pedestal", paraphrased from their website, is described fuller in the book text where they suggest the reverse is actually the memorial at Adamklissi, the Tropaeum Traiani, recording the first victory of Trajan over Decebalus.

The circular monument, topped with a sculptural trophy of arms (now preserved in the museum) at Adamklissi, was restored in the late 1970s. The coin would seem to show the detail of the top of the structure.

The location of Adamklissi is in the hinterland of Tomis and so the memorial would be familiar to the residents of the city. The coin type may have served as a warning to those with a mind set on further unrest. As it turns out, that was an unsuccessful ambition.

Around the base there are a series of 54 vignettes or metopes, not wholly unlike the sciences on its more famous counterpart Trajan’s Column in Rome.

The funeral of Septimius Severus (again)

Septimius Severus, denarius, Rome mint, RIC 191f

I have recently been gifted this wonderful Consecratio denarius of Septimius Severus with the funeral pyre reverse. It is a type I have been looking for for quite a while now and it seems to be much less frequently encountered than the alternative type of the eagle on a globe.

As the a follow on from my post “The supposed site of the cremation of Septimius Severus” (April 2024) I want to set out what the ancient historians had to say about the events, starting with the death of Severus on 4th February 211.

Herodian records in book 3, chapter 15:

[3.15.2] Considering his father, who had been ill for a long time and slow to die, a burdensome nuisance, he (Caracalla) tried to persuade the physicians to harm the old man in their treatments so that he would be rid of him more quickly. After a short time, however, Severus died, succumbing chiefly to grief, after having achieved greater glory in military affairs than any of the emperors who had preceded him.

[3.15.4] After his father’s death, Caracalla seized control and immediately began to murder everyone in the court; he killed the physicians who had refused to obey his orders to hasten the old man’s death and also murdered those men who had reared his brother and himself because they persisted in urging him to live at peace with Geta. He did not spare any of the men who had attended his father or were held in esteem by him.

[3.15.7] Since all these opposed his wishes, Caracalla, from necessity, not from choice, agreed to live with Geta in peace and friendship, but this was pretended, not sincere. Thus, with both of them managing imperial affairs with equal authority, the two youths prepared to sail from Britain and take their father’s remains to Rome. After burning his body and putting the ashes, together with perfumes, into an alabaster urn, they accompanied this urn to Rome and placed it in the sacred mausoleum of the emperors.

[3.15.8] They now crossed the Channel with the army and landed as conquerors on the opposite shore of Gaul.

There is no agreement across the ancient authors over the receptacle to carry the remains of the emperor. As well as the alabaster urn of Herodian we get a golden casket in the, often unreliable, Historia August. Cassius Dio, however, offers the suggestion of a special purple stone receptacle. 

Blue John ore 

Purple, the imperial colour, could possibly be Blue John. The Romans were mining lead, with silver as a by-product, in Derbyshire. They would have encountered Blue John and it would be a most appropriate material for the container for the remains of a deceased emperor.

On the actual return to Rome, and the associated ceremonies we can turn to Herodian, this time book 4. Picking up in May 211...

[4.1.3] When they arrived in Rome, the people welcomed them with laurel branches and the Senate, too, came out to greet them. The two youths headed the procession, wearing the imperial purple; the consuls for that year followed, carrying the urn which held the ashes of Severus. Then those who had come out to greet the young emperors passed by the urn and paid their respects to the emperor.

[4.1.4] The procession escorted the urn to the mausoleum where the remains of Marcus and his imperial predecessors are to be seen. After performing the rites prescribed for new emperors, the youths entered the imperial palace.

Continuing in Herodian book 4, chapter 2.....

[4.2.1] It is the Roman custom to elevate to divine status those emperors who at their death leave sons or designated successors; they call this honor deification. To begin with, public mourning, a combination of festive feeling and religious ceremony, is observed throughout the entire city.

[4.2.2] After a costly funeral, the body of the emperor is interred in the customary fashion. But then a wax image is fashioned in the exact likeness of the corpse and placed on a large, high couch of ivory draped with coverings embroidered with gold. This wax figure lies on the couch like a sick man, pale and wan.

[4.2.3] During most of the day people sit on each side of the couch; on the left is the entire Senate, clad in black; on the right are all the women who, because of their husbands’ or their fathers’ positions, are entitled to honor and respect. None of these women wear gold ornaments or necklaces; each affects the plain white garments associated with mourning.

[4.2.4] The various ceremonies mentioned above continue for seven days. Every day the physicians come and visit the couch; after pretending to examine the sick man, they announce daily that his condition is growing steadily worse. When it appears that he is dead, the noblest of the equestrians and picked young senators lift the couch and carry it along the Sacred Way to the Old Forum, where the Roman magistrates give up their authority.

[4.2.5] Tiers of seats are erected on each side of the couch: on one side sits a chorus of children from the noblest and most distinguished families; on the other, a chorus of women who seem to deserve respect. In honor of the dead man each choral group sings hymns and paeans arranged in solemn and mournful measures.

[4.2.6] The couch is then carried out of the city to the Field of Mars, where, in the widest part of the plain, a square building has been constructed entirely of huge wooden beams in the shape of a house.

[4.2.7] The whole interior of this building is filled with firewood; and on the outside it is decorated with gold-embroidered hangings, ivory figures, colored paintings. Upon this structure rests a smaller second story, similar in shape and decoration, with open windows and doors. And there is a third and a fourth story, each smaller than the one beneath it; finally, the smallest story of all tops this structure.

[4.2.8] The building may be compared in shape to the lighthouses along the coast which by the light of their fires bring to safety ships in distress at night. The common name for such a lighthouse is Pharos. They bring the couch to this structure and carry it up to the second story; then they add every kind of perfume and incense the earth provides, together with all the fruits, herbs, and juices that are gathered for their fragrance.

[4.2.9] Every province, every city, every man of fame and distinction is happy to furnish these last gifts in the emperor’s honor. After a huge pile of aromatic material is collected, and the structure is completely filled, a cavalry exhibition is staged around the building; the entire Equestrian cavalry circles around it, following a fixed rotating pattern in the Pyrrhic choruses and manoeuvres.

[4.2.10] Chariots, too, are driven around the building in similar formations by drivers in purple robes; these chariots carry statues whose faces are those of Romans who fought or ruled in distinguished fashion. When these rites have been completed, the emperor’s successor puts a torch to the structure, after which the people set it on fire on all sides. The flames easily and quickly consume the enormous pile of fire-wood and fragrant stuffs.

[4.2.11] From the topmost and smallest story, as if from a battlement, an eagle flies forth, soaring with the flames into the sky; the Romans believe that this eagle carries the soul of the emperor from the earth up to heaven. Thereafter the emperor is worshiped with the rest of the gods.

It is this pyre, described above, that features as the design represented on the coin type.

The four denarius piece

I was recently involved in a discussion about a small tetrarchic laureate and the question of it's denomination and that then had me searching through my library for two days. I have been looking for a piece of paper connected with, and adding to, an inscription from Aphrodisias that was published in 1971 (Journal of Roman Studies, Erim etc al, "Diocletian's Currency Reform: A New Inscription"). Finally found it! It tells us what the Romans actually called one of their coins and its value in denarii.

The inscription is similar to the Edict of Maximum Prices but, I think, predates it. It pertains to a monetary reform part way through AD 301 that was a stepping stone to the Price Edict.

John Kent of the British Museum knew an additional portion to the fragments published in 1971, one that was un-published as far as I am aware. By supplementing the original inscription fragments with the new piece the text reads "bicharactam pecuniam.........qvae in maiore orbis partec......qvattvor denariorvm", or in other words the "bicharactam pecunia (or coin with two characters/figures on the reverse).. the coin that most of the world knows as a four denarius piece".

This shows that the radiate fraction of the period is not tariffed at five denarii as is often quoted in literature.

This reform of AD 301, documented in the Aphrodisias inscription fragments, coincided with a change in the reverse design of the nummus at Trier where the figure of Genius is replaced by Moneta, possibly a further indication of the monetary reform. 

Sadly I do not have a photograph of this fragment, however I do have a hand written note from Dr Kent's presentation, further annotated in the hand of the late John Casey.