The name of the Roman silver radiate

I suspect that if I were to pose the question “what is the Roman coin denomination pictured above” there would be large number of responses of “antoninianus”. Whilst this is not technically incorrect as it is the name we now use for the coin type it is a modern sobriquet. The Roman in the street would not recognise the term.

I do not know when the term was first applied to the radiate third century coin, initially made of silver in the third century and progressively debased to a nadir under Claudius II and reformed under Aurelian. It does not appear to have been a term applied in the 18^th century. Even during the 19^th century the term takes a while to become established.

Akerman in his Descriptive Catalogue of Rare and Unedited Roman Coins (1836) does not use the term antoninianus. Neither does Humphrey in his Coin Collectors Manual (1853) where the radiate silver coin of Caracalla is called the argenteus.

The Handbook to Roman Coins by Madden (1861) uses the phrase argenteus antoninianus and by the  1880s the term antoninianus is in common usage, for example Rohde, Die Munzpragung des Kaisers Aurelianus (1881).

So, is there any classical use of the phrase antoninianus? The short answer is yes, however it is not in reference to the silver coin of the third century where the emperor is shown wearing a radiate crown.

The Historia August, the ancient text that provides historical sketches of the emperor’s in a sometimes fanciful manner does use the term antoninianus to describe a coin of Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus). Unfortunately that numismatic reference is to a coin in gold. The same text also contains reference to the philippeus, one time referring to a gold piece but several other references are to the silver coins. There are other coin references in the text to imperial coins and each time it is cited in the form of a coin of x, for example a saloninianus.

Hence the picture above, you might say there are four third century philippei, not antoniniani, as we are so used to calling them.

The recording history of What's The New Mary Jane

This was supposed to be a lockdown project but got rather delayed, not least because I couldn’t face actually immersing myself in this chaotic song. I wanted to unpick the history of the song and match the known variations available both officially and unofficially on circulating recordings.

Written by John Lennon in early 1968 when the band were at the Maharishi’s ashram in India What’s The New Mary Jane was recorded by the Beatles (only John and George from the band were present, along with Yoko Ono and Apple electronics specialist Alexis Mardas) for inclusion on what became the double album in late 1968 colloquially known as the White Album.

From the archives, both published and unpublished (such as the notes of EMI employee John Barratt who documented all the master tapes of the Beatles in the record company vaults in the early 1980s) we get the following (RM indicates a mono mix, RS a stereo mix):

14 August 1968

Tape: E68949 4T

Take 1 (2’35”)

Take 2 (3’45”)

Take 3 (false start)

Take 4 (6’35”)

Overdubs, including a second Lennon vocal, were done and from this point on all overdubs, edits and mixes use take 4 as the base recording.

Tape: E69229 A

RM1 faded to 3’15”

Recording sheet for 14th August 1968 (click to enlarge)

26 September 1968

Tape: E70430 A

RM1, RM2

The designation RM1 should not have been reused here as it had already been used on 14th August. On the recording sheet that accompanies this work only RM2 was completed and marked as “best”. A quirk, transcription error(?), is that it is only listed as 2'12", rather than 3'12".

Recording sheet for 26th September 1968 (click to enlarge)

14 October 1968

Tape: E70663 Z

RS1, RS2

Surprisingly only RS2 is noted on the log sheet for the day. The monthly fan club publication, The Beatles Book (number 64, November 1968), announced that the song had been considered for the White Album but was ultimately left off, along with the Harrison composition, Not Guilty.

Recording sheet for 14th October 1968 (click to enlarge)

11 September 1969

Tape: E93375 Z

RS1, RS2, RS3

RS1 and RS2 designations had already been used on 14th October and should not have been repeated. These three stereo mixes were done for John, ahead of further work to make it a Plastic Ono Band release.

26 November 1969

Stereo mixing with overdub (RS5)

Editing (RS5) as (RS6)

Tape copying with simultaneous overdub (RS4 into RS5)

Take 4 RS4 edit, running at 3’15” was chosen to be the b side of the projected Plastic Ono Band single with the Beatles recording of the song You Know My Name (Look Up My Number), catalogue number Apples 1002. This was scheduled for rush release 5th December 1969 but quickly cancelled. Acetates are known of this recording.

26 June 1971

Tape: E103378 4T

(tape copying?)

The four track tape E103778 is curious. It is long after the potential release of the song as either a Beatles or Plastic Ono Band record. John moved permanently to the US in August 1971. An acetate cut at Cutting Room Inc in New York may be from this tape. It is clear that it is not a finished, mixed tape, but rather a four (or eight) track multitrack tape (4T coded, rather than Z as a stereo master or A for a mono master). People have suggested that the Cutting Room Inc acetate is actually RS4, RS5 and RS6 from November 1969 but again I find that problematic as the third track on the disc is a severe edit and is just the last two and a half minutes, or nearly so, of the mayhem that is Mary Jane.

The next time that the song was scheduled for release was 1982/3 on an EMI projected album of Beatles outtakes and unreleased recordings called Sessions. A number of mixes were apparently done but again the project shelved, getting as far as cover design, and proposed accompanying single release.

What’s The New Mary Jane finally was released on the third installment of the Anthology cd using a Geoffrey Emerick mix from 1983 (prepared for Sessions?).

Excluding the recordings amongst collectors there are a number of versions of this song officially available, although not all on CD.

Acoustic demo – recorded at George’s House to run through all the new potential material for the White Album included in the deluxe box set for the 50th anniversary of the White Album

Take 1 – included in the deluxe box set for the 50th anniversary of the White Album

Take 2 – a partial recording of this can be heard on the Anthology dvd box set, a different mix is also included on the Anthology video box set

Take 4 – Geoffrey Emerick’s 1983 mix on Anthology 3 cd

Digging a little deeper what can you find amongst the collector recordings? This is not an exhaustive list and others may be out there. It can be quite difficult to discern true variations in the cacophony that is What’s The New Mary Jane.

Acoustic demo - the original recording of the demo tape, before it was cleaned up and corrected by EMI, has been circulating since the late 1990s or early 2000s

Take 4 RS4 edit – a recording of the Apples 1002 acetate

Take 4 RS2 – 14 Oct 1968 on the bootleg album EMI Outtakes

Take 4 RS1, RS2, RS3 – three stereo mixes on the What’s The New Mary Jane bootleg album, tracks 7, 8 and 9, may be these three mixes.

Cutting Room Inc acetate – all three recordings from this disc, label shown above, available

Sessions mixes – 1982/3 two or three stereo mixes of take 4 seem to be extant

A Britannia dupondius of Antoninus Pius

RIC 930

Most people are familiar with the Roman as of Antoninus Pius with the reverse legend BRITANNIA COS IIII SC (RIC 934). However, fewer will be aware that there is a corresponding dupondius (RIC 930). From a brief survey of examples in trade of these two coins it would appear that the as outnumbers the dupondius by at least 3:1.

RIC 934

It has long been suggested that the Pius Britannia coins may have been struck at a mint located in Britain, albeit from dies supplied by the mint of Rome. One of the earliest records of this suggestion is in a paper by F A Walters in A Find of Early Roman Bronze Coins in England (NC 4th series, volume 7, 1907). He noted that the Britannia coins in the hoard were of poorer fabric than other contemporaneous aes, although the die cutting was good and so postulated a temporary mint establishment.

Malcolm Todd, whom I met, incidentally, on a number of occasions when he was asked to review my research at Durham in the 1990s, noted in Romano-British Mintages of Antoninus Pius (NC 6th series, volume 6, 1966) pointed out that this may be supported by the almost exclusive British findspots of the type.

However, when you consider other types of aes in the period 81-192 AD there is a systematic approach to coin distribution, not just to Britain but across the empire (Hobley, BAR Int. Ser. 688, 1998). The Britannia dupondii and asses were, apparently, sent to Britain because of their reverse type and the relevance to the province. 

Furthermore, the late John Casey told me of some unpublished analyses that he had commissioned of the Britannia coins and was able to demonstrate that the alloy used was consistent with other aes of Pius. If metal and dies were centrally produced there is no reason to transport specie and dies to then strike coin in the province, there is no advantage to that when finished product can be just as easily sent.

A limesfalschung as of Severus

This as of Septimius Severus from my collection is not all it may first appear. It is an ancient cast copy, weighing in at 4.3 grammes, compared to an official as of the period that would likely be in the 9.5 to 11.5 gramme range. It is an example of limesfalschung.

What is interesting to me is that it appears that the same master coin was used to make the mold for this piece as a similar published example from Caerwent (that specimen weighing 4.37 grammes), minor casting blemishes notwithstanding and illustrated above. The cast sprue marks on my piece, below, match the location on the Welsh specimen (also marked in the plate illustration of the Caerwent coin) so may reasonably postulate the same unofficial, probably British, mint produced both.

Byzantine class A anonymous folles

In the late 10^th century the Byzantine rulers embarked on a bronze coinage devoid of the emperor’s  name. Theses may be divided into 11 classes, labelled chronologically A through to I. The earliest, class A, features a nimbate or haloed facing bust of Christ on one side, combined with a legend in Greek on the reverse that, in four lines reads Jesus Christ King of Kings. Although appearing uniform study shows that they are far from that.

A1 overstruck on a follis of Nicephorus II

The class A coins may be further subdivided into two distinct groups. The earliest bear the designation A1 and are almost invariably found overstruck on the coins of Nicephorus II, Constantine VII or Romanus I.

The slightly later type, the so-called A2 do not tend to be overstruck and may be further distinguished from the A1 type by the presence of a series of marks. These marks are noted in four places; the halo and Bible on the obverse and then above and below the legend on the reverse. The scholar Albert Bellinger collated the combinations of known marks and came up with 51 distinct groupings. The numbering sequence of the 51 combinations does not imply a chronological progression.

Bellinger's table of marks

Whilst it may be just chance some believe that certain groups of symbols may indicate that subsidiary mint(s) may have been in operation besides Constantinople. This has been postulated on the basis of A2 hoards and site finds contain a disproportionately large number of certain symbol combinations. On that basis Metcalf postulated that Bellinger types 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 20 (and possibly 7 and 9) may be from a mint operating in central Greece.

A2, Bellinger 24

There is a further complication with the A2 coinage in that they do not all appear to be struck to the same weight standard. There is, again, a pattern with Bellinger number and weight. This can be summarised as follows:

15g = 1, 6, 10-19, 21-23, 30, 36-38, 48-50 (“metropolitan” ie Constantinople coins)

12.4-13.9g = 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 20 (postulated Central Greek mint)

9g = 24, 33, 39, 40 (39 and 40 are also known on the 15g standard)

<15g = 25, 26-28 (all with blundered reverse inscriptions) 

10g = 29, 41, 43-47

13g = 34 (all rough style on irregular flans, probable provincial mint)

That leaves 31 and 32, related by similar markings but apparently on two different weight standards (15g and 10g respectively). And finally 51 which may be related to 34.

A2, Bellinger 40

                            

A2, Bellinger 15

A2, Bellinger 41

A coinage decree from Gortyna, Crete

 

Not particularly well preserved this bronze coin originates from Gortyna on the Greek island of Crete. With a diameter of 18mm this bronze coin has, on the obverse, a woman (Europa or a nymph?) seated in a tree, a device used on the earlier silver coinage. The reverse has Europa, with her veil billowing behind her, riding on a bull that is abducting her, in fact, the god Zeus in the form of the animal. I have previously posted on the abduction of Europa by Zeus as a white bull (March 2019).

Dating to c. 250 BC this is apparently the earliest known type of bronze coin from the city. The city of Gortyna, in common with the other Cretan cities, was a late adopter of base metal coinage compared to the rest of the Greek world.

The reason for this late adoption is not clear. There may previously have been adequate supplies of silver to make small denominations that then got interrupted. Alternatively there may have been public resistance to the introduction of non precious metal coinage.

The idea of public resistance may not be far from the truth as there is an inscription from Gortyna dated to around this time that fines people for not using bronze coinage.

“Make use of the bronze money, which the city has put in circulation, and do not accept silver obols. If anyone accepts in payment silver obols, or refuses to accept bronze money, or sells anything in exchange for grain (that is to say, receiving or requiring grain in payment), he shall pay a fine of five silver staters. Disputes in these cases shall be referred to the neotas, and of the neotas the seven who are elected as agoranomoi shall give judgment under oath. And judgment shall be rendered in favor of the party for which the majority shall have taken oath (that is to say, the judgment shall be given by the majority of votes), and this college of seven, having exacted the fine of the party which has lost the suit, shall give half to the party which has won the suit and half to the city. “

 

General Aureolus coins in the name of Postumus

 

I was first alerted to the coinage of the Roman General Aureolus when I was given Clive Foss’ book, Roman Historical Coins, as a Christmas gift in 1990. Until that time I was unaware of the series of coins from the mint of Milan issued under his authority, albeit in another’s name.

Aureolus had been a military commander under the emperor Gallienus, commanding the equities, the newly formed mobile army established at Milan. He oversaw the victory over Macrinus as the Eastern usurper moved west and advanced on Italy.

With the Eastern empire secured Aureolus then moved with Gallienus against Postumus. Something ultimately went wrong between Aureolus and Gallienus and in 267 he chose to take the side of the long standing western usurper Postumus. Gallienus besieged Aureolus at Milan but was murdered before the campaign was completed. It was clear that Postumus was either ambivalent or unable to help his ally and he surrender to the successor of Gallienus, Claudius II. 

During his time in Milan, c. 267-8 AD, a series of base metal coins was struck by Aureolus in the name of Postumus. The mint name doesn't usually appear on coins of this period but the style is so distinct from the mainstream, coinage of Postumus. I have to say that I am somewhat sceptical of the extremely rare gold issues that exist in this series. Most, but not all, types honour the equites in the reverse legend.

The coins below are some of the examples of the small series from my trays:

1.	IMP POSTVMVS AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right VIRTVS AEQVIT -/-//- Virtus walking right holding spear and trophy Milan Mint, Issue 1 Cunetio -; Normanby 1355
2.	IMP POSTVMVS AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right FIDES EQVIT -/-//P Fides seated left holding patera and standard Milan Mint, Issue 3 Cunetio 2479-81
3.	IMP POSTVMVS AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right CONCORD EQVIT -/-//S Concordia left holding rudder Milan Mint, Issue 3 Cunetio 2483
4.	IMP POSTVMVS AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right VIRTVS EQVIT -/-//T Virtus walking right holding spear and shield Milan Mint, Issue 3 Cunetio 2485-7
5.	IMP C POSTVMVS PF AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right SALVS AVG -/-//P Aesculapius standing left holding staff with snake entwined Milan Mint, Issue 5 Cunetio 2496
6.	IMP C POSTVMVS PF AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right VIRTVS EQVITVM -/-//S Hercules standing right, arm behind back and resting on club on rocks Milan Mint, Issue 5 Cunetio 2497