Obv: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, Radiate, draped bust right. Rev: SPES AVGG, Spes advancing left, holding flower in right hand and raising robe with left. 273 to 274 AD Trier mint Although the reverse is weakly struck, the strong bust on the obverse makes up for it! Post your coins from the Gallic empire
Tetricus II (274 A.D.) Æ Antoninianus O: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate, draped bust right. R: SPES AVGG, Spes walking left, holding flower and raising skirt. Treveri (Trier) Mint 2.9g 19mm RIC 270 Ex. Heritage Auction, May 8, 2014, Lot 61194 (part of).
Nice one, @JayAg47! These Gallic emperors used reverse dies about twice as long as they should have. It's very unusual to find a Tetricus II with a clearly struck reverse. Spes is the most commonly encountered type for the young fella. Here's my most photogenic one. Tetricus II, Caesar AD 273-274. Roman Æ antoninianus, 18.1 mm, 3.48 g. Mainz or Trier, AD 273 - spring 274. Obv: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate and draped bust right, seen from behind. Rev: SPES AVGG, Spes advancing left, holding flower and lifting skirt. Refs: RIC 270A; Cohen 88; Hunter 11; RVC 11292; Cunetio 2647; Elmer 791; Schulzki AGK 9a.
If you want to see a weakly-struck reverse, I got this last week. As I was getting my second Pfizer COVID-19 shot, I decided to drop by my local dealer's and treat myself to a snack. He had this for $7. I hesitated because the reverse is so awful. But the portrait is a lot better than any of the other 2 Tetricus I's in my collection, so I did my bit to stimulate the local economy. The reverse interpretation took some doing, but SAL is barely visible. Gallic Empire Tetricus I Æ Antoninianus (271-274 A.D.) South. Gallic / Cologne Mint [IMP] TETRICVS P F AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right / SAL[VS AVGG], Salus standing left with [patera] & anchor, [serpent rising from altar left, I think]. RIC 127; Elmer 788. (2.73 grams / 17 x 16 mm) Here is a Tetricus II I need to re-photograph - not sure why I was going for the dramatic angle here. Anyway, after Spes, the sacrificial implements are probably the most common for Junior: Gallic Empire Tetricus II (273-274 A.D.) Æ Ant. S. Gallic / Cologne Mint C P E TETRI[CVS CAE]S, radiate, draped bust right / PIETAS AVGG, Sacrificial implements, jug handle left. RIC 255 var.; Cunetio hoard 2589; Normanby hoard 1553. (2.08 grams / 16 mm)
A few more Romano-Gallic emperors: Postumus Augustus, A.D. 260-269 Silver Double Denarius Lugdunum mint Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG Rev: NEPTVNO REDVCI - Nepture, standing, facing left, holding dolphin in right hand and trident in left; prow of ship at feet RIC 76 23mm, 3.7g Marius Augustus, A.D. 269 Bronze Antoninianus Gallic Empire, unidentified mint Obv: IMP C M AVR MARIVS AVG Rev: VIRTVS AVG - Soldier with spear, leaning on shield RIC 19 20mm, 3.4g Victorinus Augustus A.D. 269-271 Bronze Antoninianus Gallic Empire, unidentified southern mint Obv: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG Rev: SALVS AVG - Salus, standing left, with scepter and patera, feeding snake coiled around altar RIC 71, var. 18x20mm, 2.3g.
TETRICUS II Antoninianus OBVERSE: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate, draped bust right REVERSE: SPES AVGG, Spes walking left, holding flower and raising skirt Struck at Treveri, 272-273 AD 2.2g, 22mm RIC 270v TETRICUS II Antoninianus OBVERSE: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate, draped bust right REVERSE: SPES AVGG, Spes walking left, holding flower and raising skirt Struck at Treveri, 272-273 AD 2.2g, 20mm RIC 270v TETRICUS II Antoninianus OBVERSE: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES, radiate, draped bust right REVERSE: SPES PVBLICA, Spes walking left, holding flower and raising skirt Struck at Treveri, 272-273 AD 2.5g, 19mm RIC 270v; Mairat 795
Here's my example of Tetricus with Spes : By the way @JayAg47 , yours is Mairat 849 (Issue 5, officina B). There are two different variants with the Spes reverse : the first you only see one leg of Spes through her skirt; on the second, like your specimen and mine, the two legs are visible.
Tetricus II comes in three distinct varieties: 1. Both dies in reasonable condition: 2. Reverse die beat to absolute death: 3. Barbaric imitation that ironically has a better reverse die than most official ones:
While looking at Tetricus antonianii, this Tetricus with PAX is described as contemporary imitation: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7877810 Does contemporary here mean modern or from that time? I am usually confused when the qualifier "contemporary" is used
Nice portrait! Actually the first coin you posted @JayAg47 is a SPES PVBLICA reverse and not a SPES AVGG, which makes it a Mairat 795 I believe. Same for the third one posted by @Bing . Tetricus II, antoninian, Trier, 4th issue, 272-273 AD. Obv.: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES Rev. : SPES PVBLICA 2.37g Normanby 1526 ; Mairat 795 Here's another SPES I got very recently. It is (most likely) an imitation, combining a Tetricus II reverse and a Tetricus I obverse. Obv. : IMP TETRICVS P F AVG Rev. : SPES AVGG 2.47g
Beautiful medallion. It copies an extremely rare medallion issued for Postumus in 267 AD, of which only three specimens are known. They have a weight between 45 and 60g (!). The obverse shows jugate busts of Postumus and Hercules. The reverse is described as follow : HERCVLI COMITI AVG / COS III : Emperor togate, head veiled, stg. facing, head l., holding patera over small lighted altar in r. hand, facing Hercules stg. facing, head r., leaning on club with r. hand, lion's skin over l. arm; in the background, at l., victimarius stg. r., axe over r. shoulder, bringing an animal. I am not sure how old is yours but it also gives me a 19th century vibe. This is a very nice piece!
Thank you Choucas! It is struck as the obverse text is double struck, OR, if it is a copy of an original, that one may have been double struck