Featured Antoninus Pius Dupondius - A Portrait Piece

"Well, then, I will not govern you either, if he has become in your eyes base and hostile and a public foe. For in that case you will, of course, soon annul all his acts, of which my adoption was one."

Cassius Dio attributes these words to the mouth of Antoninus Pius on the senate's refusal to deify his adoptive father, Hadrian. According to Dio and the Historia Augusta, Hadrian had been responsible for the 'illegal' deaths of a number of senators, and at the time of his death there were other senators waiting to be executed. Antoninus pardoned these men, claiming that Hadrian was already resolved to do the same before his passing.

Compared to Hadrian's frosty and distant relationship with the senate, being a man who extensively toured his empire and invested heavily in works across many of the provinces, Antoninus spent almost his entire reign in close proximity to Rome and supposedly lived as humble a life as is possible given his situation.

He initially refused to be hailed Augustus by the senate until they relented and deified his adoptive father, and afterwards was named Pius in recognition of his familial piety.


RIC 660A - Sear 4275
ANTONINVS AVG PIUS P P TR P COS III
GENIO SENATVS - Genius of the Senate, togate, standing left holding branch and short sceptre
26mm, 12.12g, Dupondius, 142AD
Ex. Naville Live Auction 40 Lot 702, 27/05/2018

I find the story of Antoninus Pius' refusal of the title of Augustus an irresistible tale that seems to indicate his character quite well, even though we must always be wary of the veracity of the historical sources around the time of the Antonines. I hopefully will be adding one of the coins of 138AD featuring a bare headed Antoninus without the titles Augustus or Pius in the near future, but I couldn't resist buying this one for the superb portraiture, brilliantly expressive Genius of the Senate, and the 'Tiber patina' which is unlike anything else in my collection.

Please share your coins with your favourite portraits, 'Tiber patinas', or anything else you feel is appropriate.

 

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Nice coin! I love the gaze and the beautiful detail on the face. Furthermore, nice and interesting historical background.

 

thejewk, Nice score with a beautifully engraved portrait . I was lucky to score a nice bronze coin about the same size & weight of your dupondius years ago, only my coin was struck in Antioch, Syria from the collection of Richard McAlee, & pictured in his book.


Antioch, Syria, Antoninus Pius, AD 138-9, AE 12.47 gm, 26 mm. McAlee 555j

 

That's a stunner Al, here's my example of the same type in much rougher condition with a terrible photo I need to redo:

 

Your coin is worthy of better photos .

 

Lovely dupondius!

Coins of Antoninus as Caesar do show up from time to time, and often have exceptional portraiture:


I don't recall ever seeing one of him as Augustus but without the Pius title. They exist but are probably quite rare, as all of this would have taken place within a couple months of him taking office. You do have to be careful, as there is an early reign issue that doesn't have PIVS on the obverse, but it's there on the reverse.

 

Finn235, Wonderful portrait on this small coin, especially being bare-headed .

 

Funny you mention that, I almost did exactly what you warn against. A 138AD denarius with the expected obverse legend, with AVG and PIUS on the reverse. Still an interesting type, however, so I should really have both eventually.

 

Lovely coins. Here is a very worn Genio Senatus denarius:



Antoninus Pius Denarius
(c. 140-143 A.D.)
Rome Mint
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III, bare head right / GENIO SENATVS, Genius of the Senate standing left, holding branch and rod.
RIC 61a; RSC 398.
(2.68 grams / 18 mm)

Not sure this is a Tiber Patina, exactly, but I really liked the surfaces on it -


Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(144 A.D.)
Rome Mint
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS [PP TR P COS] III, Laureate head right / DES [III]I S-C, Salus standing left, holding rudder on globe and feeding serpent rising from altar to left.
RIC 749; Cohen 348.
(26.05 grams / 29 mm)

"...During the year AD 144, Salus was by far the commonest type, which is an indication that the emperor suffered from serious illness in this period." FORVM

 

Your coin is superb, museum quality.

 

That is a coin with an amazing portrait! Lovely! I recently acquired an Antoninus Pius denarius, with the temple of divus Augustus and Livia reverse. I will post it another time, i have not taken a picture of it.
Here is another coin of AP, it's an as with a nice black/green patina. Interesting is that this coin is not that much found on ACsearch (7 hits, when searching on the RIC number). Your dupondius gets 12 hits. Its with more bronze coins of the adoptive emperors. I had an As of Marcus Aurelius (sold it recently), only 5 hits. Not that I am much interested in rarity, it's just something I have noticed.

 

Great coin and the denomination I'm missing at the moment in my own set...
Not only is the obverse portrait of AP really nicely detailed the reverse of Genius looks like his twin!....Lovely coin congrats!

 

Nice write-up and a beautiful dupondius! Here's a fairly recent acquisition.

 

Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome

ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P, laureate head right / COS [IIII], emperor seated left on platform; to right, soldier standing left, holding spear; to left, Liberalitas standing left, holding abacus and cornucopiae; at foot of platform, citizen standing right, holding out fold of toga; S-C across fields, LIBERALITA(S) AVG (IIII) in exergue.

RIC 774; BMCRE 1688

This has an interesting reverse - holding out the fold of one's toga
was a formal pose adopted when petitioning the Emperor, although
I don't know how this custom arose.

 

That is a good point. The obvious, standard answer is that the fold was used to catch the coins dispensed by the emperor via Liberalitas. Some will show a coin or several coins in the air heading to the fold. I am unaware of any evidence whether or not that the Liberalitas distributions actually involved a formal ceremony including coin tossing/catching but the scene is common to several reigns. This is Commodus as Caesar.

My Trajan sestertius is so worn that it only serves to show he used the type.


CNG has many:
https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...R_TYPE_ID_2=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1
The Hadrian below is unusual in showing coins being poured into the fold from a cornucopia.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=67566

 

Excellent OP AP
And the Liberalitas type coins shown are very interesting

Here's my AP/thunderbolt sestertius


Antoninus Pius, Sestertius - Rome mint, AD 140/144
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right
PROVIDENTIAE DEORVM, winged thunderbolt, S - C in field
25.86 gr, 31 mm
Ref : Cohen #682, RCV # 4208, RIC III # 618

Q

 

Pius


RI Antoninus Pius 138-161 BCE AR Denarius

 

Beautiful OP coin and many interesting types shown on this thread.

I do have a rough Divus sestertius showing his column, erected after his death in 161AD.

 

Some great examples of Pius coins and the OP dupondius is fantastic.

 

Awesome the OP Dupondius and all the above Pius coins !
Don't now what is a Tiber patina

Unfortunately, my Genio Senatus Dupondius is set in a frame and I have not yet decided if I want or should remove it.
This is the obverse - it is impossible to weight it or take a clear picture of the reverse:
26 x 27 mm

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Have two Sestertius as Caesar and both seem to have the same(?) countermark on the ear:
Æ Sestertius, Rome, 151 - 152 AD
31 mm, 22.73 g
Ref.: RIC III Antoninus Pius 891; BMCRE 1891; Cohen 50;
Ob.: IMP CAES T AEL HADR ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP laureate head r.
Rev.: TR POT XV - COS IIII Annona seated l., with corn ears and cornucopiae, modius at feet; in field, S C; in ex. ANNONA AVG

​

32 x 33 mm, 21.10g

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