Severan Imperial Bronzes 199AD - 209AD - The Search Continues

Within the overall series of Roman Imperial Coins are a number of 'series' - types that were struck within by the mint of Rome that were likely meant to celebrate a holiday, for propaganda purchases or simply at the whim of - presumably - the emperor. Some of these are extremely rare such as the Republican denarii of Trajan of which I have seen all of one for sale. Others not so rare - such as the "anonymous pagan" series ca. 302. Very often collectors look to a series as the basis for a collection - for example the discovery in Pompeii of a group of legionary denarii of Marcus Aurelius, all different so that it was possible if not likely that someone was putting these together as a collection. People have been collecting coins for a long long time.

I mention this from a collecting aspect since bronze imperial coins of the Rome mint 199AD - 209AD were not struck as a separate series by the Rome mint. The group is a construct - something not unusual for collectors. No one knows for certain why the Rome mint slowed down the production of bronze coins so that by 199AD these had more or less ceased being struck except. presumably for special occasions. It is true however, that massive amounts of denarii were struck in Rome during this period - it is possible that the pause was simply because the legions were paid in silver and Septimius Severus, who must have made the decision, had decided that there were only enough resources at the Rome mint to strike silver and gold for the legions but no bronzes for the hoi polloi. Such a move would fit the image of Septimius as an emperor who made satisfying the soldiers the highest priority, while scorning all others. Or perhaps for security reasons to centralize the precious metal coinage. Certainly it does appear that the provinces were busy striking huge numbers of bronze coins, to the delight of collectors many centuries later. But I very much doubt that the interests of coin collectors in the far future played any part in the decision to cease striking bronzes at the Rome mint in 199AD.

My collecting interest focuses on the imperial sestertii of Septimius Severus and family - many reasons for this - discussed in my earlier articles. I have a special interest in the sestertii struck between 199AD and 209AD because these are so rare and very interesting. Curtis Clay - THE expert in this area, wrote that it was sometimes possible - long ago - to find worn examples in pick out pots at coin shows and at one time had 42 examples from this era. Most of these were sold- unfortunate to collectors but fortunate to those who study these objects - to the British Museum. I only wish that the BM would sell its doubles, but I guess there is no chance of that happening.

So after 15 years of scouring the listings I have managed to buy all of eight bronze coins from this era that were both affordable and available. Some of these have been posted before but here they are all together. Recently, Harlan Berk had offered a number of others from this period but at prices beyond my reach - although I did manage to buy one that was priced in my range.

And if many of these are worn, I feel lucky to have them at all.

Here they are:




I apologize for putting these all together but of course I am pressed for time. Here they are:

1. Septimius Severus Sestertius DI PATRII RIC 762 - purchased from a wonderful VCOINS dealer who worked with me on price. I remember many years ago seeing this in RIC and thinking, "This is one coin I will never own." Now it is my favorite of all my coins. 204 AD

2. Septimius Severus sestertius - RIC 753 RESTITUTOR VRBIS 200AD

3. Septimius Severus Ae As - ca. 208/9 based on portrait - RESTITUTOR VRBIS

4. Caracalla sestertius - RECTOR ORBIS RIC 410 the BM also has one. I have seen maybe one other. I love this type in silver the sestertius must have been magnificent when it was first struck. But I am very happy with this one.

5. Caracalla sestertius - SEVERII PII AVG FIL RIC 411. I spent the weekend trying to find another example looking in museums across Europe - no luck. In other words I looked in many major datases (basii?) plus the usual and could not find a single example. I guess that means it is pretty rare.

6. Caracalla Ae As - RIC 415(c) - terrific grade but an As. I saw a beautiful Septimius sestertius of this type offered but could not afford the 2500+- euro price tag.

7. Geta sestertius - IC 124 (b) - I found this being offered on ebay by a seller that didn't often sell ancients - snapped it up within an hour of being listed for $500 and was delighted. Heritage offered a SECURITAS type of Geta as caesar - very worn - but it went for over $1200 - no way I could afford it at the time.

8. Geta Ae As RIC 129(b) - this was a private deal with a European buyer of one of my coins. It is extremely high relief and quite unusual.

My efforts at purchasing these are a story in itself. However, the liklihood of finding one on pickout pot - assuming that these still exist - is remote.

I will supplement this with my story of missing out on some others, especially that rarity of rarity - an out and out unlisted Caracalla sestertius from this era that was purchased by Curtis Clay. I doubt it will be affordable if it is offered, but it is a magnificent find.

Needless to say if you hear of one of these please let me know. I am still waiting to buy my first Julia Domna from this era.

 

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would love to hear from anyone who has purchased any sestertius of Septimius Severus and family

 

I wish I had one to discuss. All the bronze pieces I have are provincial.

 

Great collection @Blake Davis !

 

Thanks Bing - it has been an effort to monitor all of the auctions, national ebay sites etc. in an effort to find these - and I still missed a couple - especially of Julia Domna.

I mentioned finding the Geta As through a collector in Germany. It was not the first terrific coin I have purchased through these kinds of contacts, but it is still the exception as to the means by which I find coins with auction sites being the rule. I wish it was possible to do more transactions this way, but there does not seem to be a means to do so.

If there are any other people out there who focus on the bronzes of Septimius Severus would love to hear from you. I am especially interested in finding a photo of another example RIC 411 or RIC 410. I really did spend hours last weekend going through major European museum collections and found nothing. Also I am very interested in seeing examples of the more rare sestertii of Septimius - the recent thread on Septimius "Securitas" sestertius was fascinating.

One would think that Securitas, which is so common among the sestertii of Caracalla, would also be common for Septimius - but it is not. Salus is also quite rare limited to "IMP X" types. Victory does seem to be the most common type of sestertius for Septimius, which makes sense.

RIC does, however, give a plausible explanation for why many types were struck. I have a couple of other books that might also do the same - in fact, as I write this I will be checking them out - one book is "Roman Coins" by Harold Mattingly, the other is also called "Roman Coins" by CHV Sutherland. The Sutherland book excellent, and is the book I would have liked to have written on Roman coins. It has wonderful photographs.

One aspect of the sestertii of Septimius that I noticed is the lack of high relief on many of the earlier types. I think this continues a practice from Commodus but I am not certain. And it is not true for every example. But I have suspected it may account for what appears to be a large number of very worn early sestertii.

One other issue that you might know about - somewhere on this site in a thread over the past months in which was reference to a major collection with online access that included a number of rare sestertii, including one of two "Di Patrii" sestertius I have seen. But I do not recall the name of the collection - I thought it was Du Chastel and while these coins in the Belgium national collection are wonderful, it was not what I was looking for.

I could go on for another few hours on this topic -