I have been looking for a year to buy a decent(grade and price) sestertius of Gallienus , but I wasn't very lucky.... till last month when I managed to find not one but even two. One of the sestertii is a common type VIRTVS AVGG , but in exchange the other SALVS AVGG is extremely rare, I was able to find only one example on internet, sold by CNG in 2019 , and there should be a second one at Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien(the only one specimen noted by MIR Göbl). I already checked all the Gallienus coins from their ''digital museum'' but I can't find it. The type is not listed in RIC or gallienus.net(website no longer available online ) This is the one sold by CNG , I used their description to label my coin : https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5840780 Does someone has access to a copy of Moneta Imperii Romani 36,43,44 Robert Göbl ? if possible , can you please check if the Gallienus type 29bb has a specimen with photo attached ? Please post your Gallienus sestertii ! Gallienus AE Sestertius. Rome Mint, Rome mint. RIC -- , MIR 36, 29bb IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, laureate, draped bust right / SALVS AVGG, Salus standing left, holding sceptre in left hand and feeding from patera a snake rising from an altar; S C across field. 27 mm / 12.5 g Gallienus AE Sestertius. Rome Mint, joint reign with Valerian I. RIC 248. Cohen 1295. Sear5 10495. IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, laureate, cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS AVGG S-C, Soldier standing left, holding spear and resting left hand on shield. 27 mm / 12.6 g
Great coins! By the way, that's not a soldier on the reverse of the second coin -- I know that RIC made that mistake a lot. It's Virtus herself, in the pose that typifies her, with, as usual, her right breast bare.
Thanks ! I will modify my label. I just observed that is a mix of ''soldier'' and ''Virtus'' between all Virtus types of Gallienus.
Congratulations on your new acquisition. Your patience has been profitable. ! Here is another Gobl # 29bb found in 2015, 28mm 17g.
Nice Sestertii! I wonder if yours and the Specimen in Vienna are die matches. They are very helpful at the KHM and should send you pictures of their coin if you drop them a line. Here is my Sestertius of Gallienus: IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG - Laureate and cuirassed bust of Gallienus right VICTORIA AVGG S C - Victory standing left, holding wreath in uplifted right hand and palm-branch at her side in left Sestertius, Rome 253 AD (first emission of Valerian and Gallienus) 30,14 mm / 21,2 g RIC 243; Cohen 1140; Göbl (MIR 36) pl. 84, 30dd; Sear (RCTV III) 10490
Thanks ! , I just looked at the three specimens we found till now(with the one found by @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix ) , they don't share the same reverse die . I compared also with six others from Valerian I, they have different reverse dies. Three specimens of Valerian I are struck from the same pair of dies, coins are from acsearch.info
Yes, Göbl illustrates the Vienna spec. of his 29dd, on plate 5. Looks like a different obv. die than yours, rev. corroded so hard to tell.
Very nice getting those 2 Gallienus sestertii, @singig!! These late ones are fun to have considering their historical interest! Gallienus with Liberalitas Valerian with Felicitas Salonina with Venus
Nice family ! I suppose that Salonina is the hardest to find , last week @Julius Germanicus showed us another one.
The production of full-size Sestertii ended in 263 AD at Rome with Gallienus (sole reign) and Salonina and in Gaul with Postumus. Here it is again, one of the last Sestertii of Salonina (struck in 262 with a Medallion obverse die - they probably had no more Sestertius dies left by then):