Need help with this Galba

Hi all,

I just won this coin in a Swiss auction. I absolutely love the portrait on this coin. This will be my fourth denarius of Galba. I seem to be falling for these Spanish denarii of Galba (much to the consternation of my wallet I might add).

Here is where I need your help. I know this is a very rare coin. In fact I can find no other anywhere on line. The combination of this reverse with the obverse legend does not seem to exist in any online database I have checked. The reference says it is RIC 234. It is not.

Would you be so kind as to check your references for this coin? I would really appreciate it.

Here is a photo that explains why I am smiling ear to ear today.

Please feel free to post your coins of Galba.



COINS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Galba, AD 68-69. Denarius, Spain (Tarraco ?), 68. AR 3.25 g. GALBA - IMPERTOR Laureate head r., globe at point of bust. Rev. VIRTVS Virtus, wearing short tunica, standing l., holding parazonium with her l. hand, on her outstretched r. hand Victoria with palm branch and wreath. BMC 341, 194v.; BN III, 36, 34v.; C. 210; RIC 234, 30v. (all with IMP on obv.).
Very rare variant. Toned. Small chips on flan. Almost very fine
Provenance: Auction UBS, Zurich 49 (2000), 365.
Hess Divo Auction 334 Lot 107. May 29, 2018.

Maybe it is this one?

 

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Excellent coin. My question is whether the globe at point of bust is significant as a mint ID for Galba as it is for Nero or if the die cutter at the same mint made some with and some without. There should be no great surprise when new variations of coins of this nature turn up.

 

Awesome coin, congrats!!! Yes, you are building a nice little subcollection there.

I found one sold by Gorny & Mosch in 2004:

As you can see they are also attributing it to Spain, not Gaul. Judging by stylistic factors on other coins, it seems to me the globe is significant as a mint indicator.

 

Thanks for the kind words Doug. As to the mint, it looks like both you and SA were correct. The globe seems diagnostic for a Spanish mint.

 

Thanks @Severus Alexander for the kind words and for the research. Could you please tell me how you found that information on the G&M page? I have tried but I do not see a link to previous auctions going back to 2004.

I also think you and Doug are correct concerning the globe at the end of the but. In my OP I referred to this coin as Spanish as the bust just seems to have that Spanish feel to it.

I think that next I might try from a Gaulish mint like Narbo. Collecting these unusual coins of Galba is lots of fun.

 

Galba's Spain denarii are some of my favorite portraits of his. I passed on a beautiful example a few years ago because I couldn't justify the price but am still looking for one.

For what it's worth, your coin was in "The Galba Collection" last year, also at Hess Divo (Auction 333, lot 100). The owner was a specialist of Galba and had some very incredible coins, which undoubtedly speaks to the importance of this example.

 

This coin is clearly NOT RIC 234.

It appears to be a previously unrecorded reverse (Tarraco mint) similar to obverses of RIC 33 et al., or an unrecorded obverse with a reverse similar to RIC 30.

I like your portrait better than the Gorny & Mosch example. Nice catch.

 

Many thanks @IdesOfMarch01, for the information and the kind words.

 

What an exciting denarius with an air of mystery! The BM has several similar specimens. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=galba+virtus None of them are a match.

 

Thanks for the research @David Atherton . It is appreciated. Thanks also for the typically kind words.

 

I actually found it on acsearch (they're starting to digitize older catalogues). I think my search string was "galba denarius imperator globe".

 

Sweet coin.

Would love to own some different mints of Vespasian, Vitellius & Galba. But they don't come up often in my usual "bargain" prices.

Still shedding tears at night for losing a nice Otho Syrian Tet for $180.

 

Many thanks @AncientJoe. I hope you will soon find one that you like.

 

Thanks @Mat I am sorry that you lost out on the Otho.

 

Wonderful coin, Orfew. Yes, Spanish mint Galbas are known for their globe termini. Below is my Spanish mint Galba.

 

A wonderful coin @Carausius. What a great portrait!

 

Great catch! And a great portrait.

I have a few Galba's but never really shared this one because it's ugly...but pretty rare. Curtis Clay helped pin it down. I'd ask him, he is a wealth of knowledge.



IMP SERV GALBA CAES AVG TR P?
Bare head of Galba right

VESTA SC
Vesta seated left holding Palladium and sceptre

July 68 - January 69 AD, Rome

10.18g

Thanks to Curtis Clay attribution:

Paris 186-187, both from the same die pair
Cohen 311
RIC 374, citing Glasgow 57

 

I found some more information on the globe-Tarraco theory in a book titled
The Monetary System of the Romans: A description of the Roman coinage from early times to the reform of Anastasius

Below are a couple of excerpts.


Look at the last line in particular. As for the next passage, it states that Gaulish mint denarii also often have the globe on the obverse. So while a globe at the end of the bust signifies either Spain or Gaul, no globe rules out Spain.

 

Great coin Jay. I really like the reverse. Thanks for the comments.

 

Well, this coins just keep getting more interesting the more research I do. The Virtus reverses take 2 forms: across the field as in:



And around the edge of the coin as a regular legend (as you can see on the OP coin). The interesting thing is that all examples of the Tarraco or suspected Tarraco Virtus reverse legends I can find have the legend on the left of the figure of Virtus. As you can see from the OP coin, the legend is on the right.

I just happened to stumble upon this example with Virtus on the right, but it is not a coin of Tarraco. Instead it is a coin of Carthage of all places!

Here is a photo of this coin:


So the hunt continues! (This is a lot of fun)