RPC VIII is online!

The latest volume of RPC to be published, volume VIII, is now online! The volume deals with the coinage of Philip I, AD 244-249. The coins are not yet assigned an RPC number, though, but given ID numbers.

Here are a couple from my collection I decided to look up.

Philip II from Nisibis. This is a double die match to the RPC "plate" coin, the specimen in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.


Philip II, AD 244-249.
Roman provincial Æ 23.8 mm, 8.42 g, 11 h.
Mesopotamia, Nisibis, AD 244-49.
Obv: ΑVΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΙΟVΛΙ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟC CЄB, radiate and cuirassed bust left
Rev: IOV CЄΠ KOΛΩ NЄCIBI MHT, tetrastyle temple; statue of Tyche within, ram above Tyche's head, river god below.
Refs: BMC 22-24*; Sear GIC 4157; SNG Cop 240*; SNG Hunterian 2.
*BMC and SNG Cop erroneously attribute this coin to Philip I.

And this one from Zeugma:


Philip II, AD 244-249 (or 247-249).
Roman provincial Æ 28.0 mm, 14.93 g, 12 h.
Syria: Commagene, Zeugma.
Obv: AVTOK K M IOVΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CЄB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: ZЄYΓMATЄΩN, tetrastyle temple, before which is a grove; colonnade on right and left; portico in front. Capricorn right in exergue.
Refs: Sear 4142; BMC 40; Butcher 31c; SNC 60-62.

And this one of Otacilia Severa from Metropolis. Mine is a reverse (obverse too?) die match to the "plate" coin, BMC 25.


Otacilia Severa, AD 244-249.
Roman provincial Æ 27.3 mm, 10.85 g, 5 h.
Ionia, Metropolis, AD 244-249.
Obv: ΜΑΡ ΩΤΑ CЄΥΗΡΑ, diademed and draped bust right.
Rev: ΜΑΡ CΤΡ ΑΠΡΩΝΙΑΝȣ ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛЄΙ-ΤΩΝ, Tyche standing l., holding figure of Ares and cornucopia; at her feet, lighted altar.
Refs: BMC 25; SGI 4011; SNG Von Aulock 2070; SNG Copenhagen --; SNG München --.

 

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That is awesome. Now I can finally attribute all my provincials correctly. Thank you for sharing.

 

I noticed recently that Vol. VIII is online. This is the one coin-type I have that's listed:

Philip II, Silvered billon Tetradrachm, 248-249 AD, Syria, Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind, AYTOK K M IOΥΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB / Rev. Eagle standing facing, head right, wings spread, holding wreath in its beak, ΔHMAΡX EΞ OYCIAC YΠATO Δ [4th consulship]; ANTIOXIA / S C in two lines below eagle. Prieur 474 [Michel and Karin Prieur, Syro-Phoenician Tetradrachms (London, 2000)]; BMC 20 Syria 560 [Warwick Wroth, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 20, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Syria (London, 1899) at p. 218]; McAlee 1042 [Richard McAlee, The Coins of Roman Antioch (2007)]; RPC VIII No. 29020 ( https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/29020 ). 27.15 mm., 14.00 g. Ex. CNG Electronic Auction 466, April 22, 2020, part of Lot 728.

 

Theirs:



Volume: VIII №: — (unassigned; ID 28176)
Reign: Philip I Persons: Philip II (Caesar)
City: Tomis Region: Moesia Province: Moesia Inferior
Denomination: Æ (18 mm) Average weight: 3.92 g.
Obverse: Μ ΙΟΥΛ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟⳞ Κ; bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust of Philip II, r., seen from front
Reverse: ΜΗ ΠΟΝ ΤΟΜΕΩϹ, ͻΑ; Athena standing l., holding patera, spear and shield
Reference: AMNG 3623 Specimens: 5

Mine:

 

Double die-match! Nice example!

 

Excellent! I don't actually have many provincials of Philip and family to look up, but here's a new one that arrived just earlier this week that's already illustrated in the database, as coin 16 of 25 for ID 28170.

PHILIP I with OTACILIA SEVERA
AE27. 12.30g, 27mm. MOESIA INFERIOR, Tomis, AD 244-249. Varbanov 5765 (R4). O: AYT M IOVΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC AYΓ M ѠTA CЄBHPA CЄB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Philip right, facing diademed and draped bust of Otacilia left. R: MHTPO ΠONTOV TOMЄΩC, Homonia standing left, holding patera and cornucopiae.

 

Another but this one suggests I erred on my ID of the coin as Philip the father rather than the son. Corrosion and damage make their 17 specimens more and less clear as to the face. I don't accept easily the old beard or no beard separation but in this case, I now see junior a bit artificially aged as appropriate to be the new emperor.
https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/59217

 

The bronze of Tyre for Otacilia below is a type that doesn't appear to be listed currently. I've just submitted it.


OTACILIA SEVERA
AE29. 17.97g, 29.5mm. PHOENICIA, Tyre, circa AD 244-249. Cf. Rouvier 2440 (Philip I); cf. BMC 433 (Philip I); cf. AUB 266 (Philip I); Lindgren & Kovacs 2388 var. (Marsyas instead of Ambrosial rock). O: M OTAC SEVERA AVG, diademed and draped bust right. R: C[OL TVRO MET]RO, Sacrifice to Tyche-Astarte: Tyche-Astarte seated left, holding cornucopia and open wreath(?); before her, large baetyl (Ambrosial rock); in exergue, four figures of Cities (Tychai), wearing turreted crowns; the outer two raising their hands toward Tyche-Astarte; one raising a wreath, and the last pouring a libation on an altar.

 

I notice that you wrote "silvered billon" tetradrachma. Do think this coin was a low grade alloy (billon) that was then silvered with a purer silver over the billon to gave it a more silverish appearance?

 

@kevin McGonigal, I invented that description for this coin myself. It was sold to me as being "AR," i.e., as a silver coin, and I found other examples described as AR, but it's described in various reference works as billon, i.e., as less than 50% silver. It looks more silver to me (especially in-hand) than most billon coins I see, and it seemed unlikely that a coin that's < 50% silver would look like this coin does without applying some kind of silver wash. So that's why I described it as I did. I could be wrong, of course: perhaps it's possible for a coin that's, say, 49% silver to look this way without applying anything to it.

 

I an just wondering if it had become the official mint practice to apply a thin silvering over the billon tetradrachma coins as they were about to do with the antoninianus. I have some well circulated coins of that tetradrachma denomination from that period from Antioch, ca. 248 AD, and they are a very dull gray. Perhaps they look silvery when first minted but knowing what the mints were about to do to the double denarius coins I was wondering if they had already started that with these coins. According to Harl these tetras were anywhere between 27 and 17% silver and my experience is that it's hard to get these coins to look silvery without doing something to them. Perhaps an enrichment process on the surface silver that didn't last that long. Anyone know anything about when the silvering or surface enrichment practice first appeared on officially minted coins?

 

I agree with you. In fact, I'd be very surprised to learn that it was even possible to make coins with that low a silver percentage -- and I had no idea it was that low, considering how many sellers/auction houses (including CNG, which described the lot my coin was part of as a "Lot of seven (7) AR Tetradrachms") describe coins like mine simply as "AR" -- look as silvery as mine without applying something to the surface. Note that RPC Online describes my coin-type as "Debased silver" rather than as either billon or my term "silvered billon."

 

Update:

As I had mentioned, I submitted this coin, which I believed to be unlisted in the RPC database, and some hours later, received a reply from Jerome Mairat, one of the RPC authors, and the lead on their digilisation efforts. He informed me that my coin IS in fact in the database, but not as an issue of Tyre, but Damascus. He also pointed that my coin (first one below) shares the same reverse die with another in the database (second coin), despite the fact that my coin shows a large Ambrosial rock to the left of seated Tyche, where the other shows a statue of Marsyas, the device expected for the issue!




Per the notes on my coin from the RPC listing for the type, "the rev. has a large dome-shaped device in place of Marsyas, however, the die in question is identical to coin no. 2, so this is not a new type; possibly the result of an attempt to repair a major flaw in the die?"

I'm sure there are other instances of this happening, but in my limited knowledge, I haven't come across any other coin where where the die used had been recut to not just strengthen weakened features, or correct or replace legends, but with a completely new and different device. Perhaps the choice of the ambrosial rock to replace Marsyas may have been out of practicality because of the condition of the old die, but if anything, I think this now makes the coin even more interesting! As far as I can tell, there are currently no other surviving examples known that were produced from this altered die.

 

That's amazing!

 

Selective recutting to add a new device? Fantastic! I agree-- this makes your coin all the more fascinating and desirable. I was envious enough to begin with and now I really really really want it/one. Dagnabbit, Z-- stop it!!

 

THAT is really cool! I wonder if the repair was probly short lived with few pieces minted. Nice find.

 

If you score the next one that appears, that would obviously be fantastic. Now I just want one struck from the pre-altered die.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Judging from just mine the die on the whole was already pretty far gone.

 

Agreed. Get the PRE-repair die match coin. Great story.

 

Donna, I don't believe the Antioch Tets were silvered by a plating method, there was on need to do this. When freshly struck they had the appearance of silver despite being billon. The mint state Mexican peso pictured below is only 10% silver but looks like a high-grade silver coin.



Your Tet of Philip II looks like it was cleaned in a chemical solution or commercial dip of some kind.

 

Agreed, all of my Low-Silver Pesos look silver in-hand. Just LESS so when you put the varying silver content Pesos side-by-side.