Probus AE Antoninianus. Antioch mint. IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / CLEMENTIA TEMP, emperor standing right with sceptre, receiving Victory from Jupiter standing left with sceptre, H in lower centre with dot. Mintmark XXI.
Sweet coin @CoinBlazer !! I'm still lacking Probus as I've yet to find one that has called to me. I don't think XXI is a mintmark but rather a value. If I recall correctly it denotes twenty parts bronze to one part silver. Someone should be along shortly the verify or correct me if I'm wrong. -d
Here is a good article to read about the XXI written by @dougsmit : http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/feac73xxi.html
That is correct. The coin is from Antioch and the H is an officina mark. Here's the listing in RIC V2:
Officina marks on these later imperial coins are so much fun because they give you an idea of just how many mints there were by this point throughout the empire. Things are a lot simpler if you only stick to pre 260CE coins. Back then it was all pretty much Rome Mint, with an occasional extra mint here or there, but mostly just Rome.
Yeah the Wild winds sections I was referencing was showing it as the mint mark. I took that attribution and modified it just a bit.
Probus RI Probus 276-282 CE Ant 21mm Rome mint captive on ground Riding Horse in ex R-Thunderbolt-Z RIC 155 RI Probus 276-282 CE BI Ant 2.80g captives l and r Cohen 768
Nice coin. This is my ‘longneck’ coin Probus, silvered antoninianus Rome mint, 7th officina 279 AD 23.5 mm, 3.7g Obv. IMP PRO-BVS AVG, Bust of Probus, radiate and cuirassed, facing right Rev. ADVEN-TVS AVG, Probus, in military attire, on horseback left, raising his right hand in salute and holding sceptre in his left; to left, seated captive; in exergue: R, crescent, ς RIC V 157
Nice coin. Probus coins are fun - the man had some fashion sense! Mine actually is the same as @Marsman's but 4th officina I eventually hope to supplement this with a martial bust and a consular "swag suit"
I checked all through ACSearch, and found no reverse with a split horse like mine. RI Probus 276-282 CE Ant 21mm Rome mint captive on ground Riding Horse in ex R-Thunderbolt-Z RIC 155 I am now pretty sure that this was a TOP-SECRET experiment that the Legions were working on: The first MECHANIZED Cavalry. See a design spec below... I think their eyes shot LASER-BEAMS also....
Yes, I prefer to call it an alloy mark to avoid confusion that some have calling the XXI a denomination or relation like 21 of these make something else. Did everyone notice that the coin posted by ancient coin hunter was from a mint that replaced the XXI mark with the Greek numeral equivalent KA? Either way it is a ratio of 20 parts copper mixed with 1 part silver. In modern times we tend to say there is one part of silver in a total of a weight or one in twenty rather than one added to twenty. This might seem a minor point but one in twenty is 5% while one added to twenty is 4.76% which is closer to the alloy tests that I have seen reported on these. A couple more KA coins are below. We might also mention that many mints of the period left the top of the A more open than we might like making the letter look like an H. Today we modern computer users can select from hundreds of fonts. We need to allow for the ancient Romans having some variety in the way they made letters, too.
New Probus arrived today.. purchased from a CoinTalk member.. Really nice toning. RIC 215, Antoninianus OBV.: PROBVS P F AVG Radiate, and cuirassed bust right. REV.: VICTORIA AVG Victory advancing left, holding wreath and trophy. R (thunderbolt) S in exergue (if that is an "s" .. also see "stigma" (6) ?) 22mm, 4.5 g.
