Happy Death Anniversary, Elagabalus!

I've posted this before, but I'm very fond of my toned Elagabalus denarius. I have my eyes on another elagabalus... which I had better keep quiet about.

 

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That sure is a swell looking Denarius Z! Here are my two:

Elagabalus (218-222), AR Antoninianus. Rome, AD 218/19.
Obv: IMP CAES ANTONINVS AVG - radiate draped bust right.
Rev: MARS VICTOR - Mars walking right, holding spear and trophy.
21.3mm, 4.0g. aXF. Scarce.
RIC IV, Part II, 120
ex. Forman collection


Elagabalus (218-222). AE20 of Antioch, Syria; 4.02g, 12h.
Obv: AVT K MAP AV ANTWININOC; Radiate head of Elagabalus right.
Rev: Large S·C (Syria-Coele) across field; ΔΣ (delta-epsilon) above, eagle below, all in wreath.
Ref: BMC 430v; Butcher 468
Ex. John Anthony (JAZ Numismatics)

 

ELAGABALUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: IMP ANTONINVS AVG - Laureate, draped bust right
REVERSE: P M TR P III COS III P P - Jupiter seated left, holding Victory and scepter; eagle to left
Struck at Rome, 220 AD
3.2g, 18mm
RIC 27, S 7532

 

Great thread, Z! And a beautiful new acquisition, much better than Frank's photo. Also a very appealing type I hadn't noticed before.

But...

Is you sayin' that Sev Alex is super boring?

One I've had for decades (RIC 130b):


Also from Frank, horned portrait (RIC 78, appears to be a rare variety):


And a late, bearded portrait (RIC 112, seems scarce):

 

So young to die. He had rather not be an Emperor.

 

Oops! Well, not super boring...
Anyway, it wouldn’t have been his fault; he was only thirteen and they didn’t even let him buy his own beer. Great coins, btw!

 

Awesome coins all!

 

The American Poetry Review, Vol. 15, No. 5 (SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1986), p. 19

 

LOL ...

Neat poem, thanks for posting that!

 

Happy Belated Birthday, Elagabalus! Lots of great coins here. I'll throw in a few of mine:


Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern, 218–9 CE; 18mm, 3.00g, 12h. BMCRE 307, RIC 166, RSC 21, Thirion 343. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust ri. Rx: CONSVL — II; Aequitas standing l., holding scales and cornucopia. Rare; two in Reka Devnia. Near EF/EF.

From the Michael Kelly Collection.

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Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern, 218–9 CE. 2.73g, 11h. BMCRE p. 573 * (citing the de Quelen sale, 1888) var (FEL)., RIC 199a var (FEL)., RSC 273a var (FEL; R). Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FELIX AVG; laureate head r. Rx: SPES BONA; Spes walking l., holding up flower and raising skirt. Very rare obv. variant of a very rare reverse type for Elagabalus bearing FELIX in the obv. legend rather than FEL; none of this rev. type in Reka Devnia. According to C. Clay, Vienna has a denarius of the SANCT DEO SOLI type from the same FELIX/Head only obv. die (see RIC 196, RSC 269 below), which is also an obv. die link with an unlisted VICTORIA type from the Samuel Puchala Collection. The present coin is a die duplicate of 1977,0208.1 in The British Museum, so may be only the second known pairing of Elagabalus’s FELIX obv. with the SPES BONA reverse. VF.

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Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern, 218–9 CE. 3.24g, 12h. BMCRE 287, RIC 196, RSC 269 (Cohen, 25 Fr.). Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FELIX AVG; laureate head right. Rx: SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL in exergue; slow quadriga r., bearing conical stone of Elagabalus of Emesa, on front of which, an eagle; about it, four parasols. Very rare obv.variant showing FELIX in legend, and head only rather than bust draped and cuirassed; none in Reka Devnia. According to C. Clay, Vienna has a denarius of this type (RIC 196, RSC 269) from the same FELIX/Head only obv. die, which is also an obv. die link with both the SPES BONA (RIC 199a var., RSC 273a var.) and an unlisted VICTORIA types in the Samuel Puchala Collection. A coin in the BM collection, which is a die duplicate of the SPES BONA coin mentioned above, is also die linked to the obv. of the present coin. EF.

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Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern, 218–9 CE; 3.91g. BMCRE 310–1, RIC 186, RSC 14a, Thirion 343. Obv: IMP ANTO–NINVS AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust r. Rx: BONVS – EVENTVS; Bonus Eventus, nude, standing l., holding patera over lighted altar in right hand and two wheat ears downwards behind him in l. hand. Rare; two in Reka Devnia. MS.

From the Samuel Puchala Collection.

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Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern, 218–9 CE; 21mm, 3.92g, 12h. BMCRE 307 note, RIC 167, RSC 22. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust r. Rx: CONSVL – II P P; Aequitas standing l. holding scales and cornucopia. Rare; 3 in Reka Devnia. Slightly iridescent, double-struck; EF.

From the Peter Fischer Collection of Scales and Weights.

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Elagabalus. AR denarius, Rome, 218 CE; 3.33g. BMCRE 6, RIC 3 (C), RSC 127. Obv: IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG; laureate and draped bust r. Rx: P M TR – P – C–OS P P; Roma seated l. on throne, holding Victory and scepter, shield at side. EF.

From the Jonathan K. Kern Collection.

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Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern, 221 CE; 19mm, 3.36g, 6h. cf. BMCRE 253, cf. RIC 452, cf. RSC 195a, cf. Thirion 222 (all assign this type to the Rome mint, with star in field r.). Obv: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; head laureate r. Rx: PM TR P IIII COS – III P P; Victory advancing or flying l., holding open wreath, garland, or diadem in each hand, a small shield at either side of her skirt; in field, star high l. Very rare; one in Reka Devnia, although a few examples with the emperor’s head rather than bust have been offered for sale in recent years. Nonetheless, all show star to r., and are attributed to the mint of Rome. Artistically accomplished Eastern-style portrait, with Eastern-style figure and lettering on rev. A distinguishing characteristic of Eastern-style lettering on coins of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander are the engraved guidelines extending above the cap heights and below the baselines of the typographic characters. These extensions occur most frequently on the rev., but rarely on the obv. Near VF.

 

Again, you guys are making it hard for me to resist a second speciality!

I especially like the stone of Emesa denarii @TIF and @benhur767 have posted. Truly stunning coins!

 

i've been after one for years now.. Ben n TIF do have nice ones!

 

I rarely participate because the photography makes any bid a roll of the dice. Here's an item I won in the last auction, with my photo at top, the original photo below. I'm not sure that I could duplicate the look of the original without lots and lots of image manipulation. But I do think that my photo is a reasonable representation of what the coin actually looks like in hand with good lighting.

The catalogue description discussed pleasant yellow toning and sharp EF detail. While to me it is a pleasing coin, I would grade it VF. Also, there's some yellow gunk on the reverse that looks more like shadow on the original photo. So I advise caution.

 

sound advice.

 

Wow, I didn't know he was so young when he died.

I have several cool provincials of Elagabalus, here are a couple....




Elagabalus, 220 AD, Caesarea, Cappadocia.

O: AYKMAYPH AI ANTWNE (INOC) R: r:i MHTPO(PI)KAICAPIA C mount Argaeus atop altar, ET (gamma), 26x28mm 10.0g syd 523




Elagabalus, Mesopotamia,Edessa, 218-222 AD

O: Radiate bust of Elagabalus to right, R: Tyche seated left, river god below. BMC 59

 

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I had posted this Elagabalus in a Caracalla thread not long ago. I bought it from the seller as a Caracalla. Had it listed as a Caracala. And then recently I was going through my collection, reIDing and putting labels next to my coins (thanks for the idea and template @Bing and @Justin Lee ). I couldn't find a Caracalla with this reverse anywhere. Low and behold, I found it...under Elagabalus! Major derp. It's still one of my best portraits. So, hail the emperor who would tell you, "I'm no emperor. I'm a lady." or at least that's what he allegedly said to one famously well endowed gladiator. Oh, the stories we get from this one...



Caraca...Elagabalus, Denarius
Obv: Laureate and draped bust of Elagabalus.
Rev: Abundantia facing right emptying contents of cornucopia. Star in right field.

 

Happy to be of help!

I found this great resource by our own @dougsmit that helped me with telling the difference between the two.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/car-elag.html

 

I've also had a similar experience of purchasing a coin I recognized as Caracalla, but the seller had it listed as Antoninus Pius.

 

Glad to read that I'm not that only one. Stinking Antoninuses! I'd say comparing these 2 emperors is like comparing apples to oranges. But it's more like rotten apples to spoiled oranges.