The Five "Good" Roman Emperors

=> atta girl!!

 

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Rounding out my "5 good Emperors" set. Funny story behind this one that involves some of the fine members of the CT community. I had purchased a coin on eBay which was mis-attributed as a Marcus Aurelius. It's posted earlier in this thread. Doug's experienced eye caught that it was a Commodus. Once I got the coin in hand, it was easy to determine that he's right, even though the legends are quite worn. I contacted the seller, he offered to return my money, but I liked the coin, told him I considered it an honest mistake, and kept the Commodus.

My dilemma now was to find a nice Marcus Aurelius sestertius. I searched on line for a couple of weeks but had trouble finding a nice example with legible legends that wasn't seriously overpriced. I picked this one up at my local coin club meeting last night. Our local ancient dealer is acting president, and he gave me a fair deal on this coin. This is one hefty coin and it fits nicely into my collection. I also actually like the fact that it has centering divots on the reverse, although I understand the reason for these is still the subject of considerable debate. Now I just need Nerva to complete the set.

Marcus Aurelius;180AD
AE Sestertius; 30mm/26.5g
OBV: DIVVS ANTONINVS PIVS; Bare head right
REV; CONSECRATIO, S C in exergue; Aurelius seated on eagle flying right, left leg wrapped around eagle's right wing, raising right hand & cradling sceptre in left arm. Struck by Commodus after his death. (RIC 660, Sear 5984, Cohen 94)

 

That's an excellent coin Race, and a good testament for patience. I've occasionally purchased a piece because I thought nothing better or less expensive would come along, and sure enough, something better and less expensive invariably comes along. Good collecting seems to be more of a waiting game than anything else.

 

Well said JA. Unfortunately patience is not one of my strong suits! But I've found that it definitely pays off in this hobby.

 

Please note you left out a very important letter: M
OBV: DIVVS M ANTONINVS PIVS; Bare head right

The coin was actually struck by Commodus in honor of his recently deceased father Marcus so we need to be sure to record that M. To the best of my knowledge there were no Eagle rider type sestertii for Antoninus Pius and his Consecratio coins did not put Pius on the obverse so this error will not cause you to mix them up. Yours is a nice clearly readable coin. I would suggest, however, you still might want a lifetime Marcus to go with the set. That is the problem with these coins: One leads to another and another and another....

Only the earlier Aurelius coins used the word Aurelius in the legends. Later he was known as M Antoninus. Since you have a nice posthumous coin, you might want a young one next.

 

Indeed, I always preferred getting lifetime over death issues.

Good way to remember is triple "D"s. Diva & Divus = Death.

 

Same here

 

The last coin to round out my "Five Good Emperor's" set came in the mail today. This one took a while to ship as the seller is in Spain. But I think I like it best of the five in my set. Nerva; 96-98 AD
AE As; 29mm/9.4g
OBV: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P COS III P P, laureate head right
REV: CONCORDIA EXERCITVVM S-C, clasped hands.
(RIC II 79, Cohen 21)

 

Very nice RB. Two thumbs up :thumb::thumb:

 

atta-boy, brother Race => good lookin' coin!!



:sniper::hatch:

 

Great Nerva Race. Its the most difficult of the 5 to acquire.