Elagabalus Victory denarius

Pretty pleased with my last auction win.



Please show your coins of the teenage deranged emperor.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Very cool Victory, @Andres2 !


RI Elagabalus 218-222 CE AR Antoninianus Radiate Roma seated

 

Nice pickup!

 

Here's one of mine which is in fact my only RIC I !

 

Here is an Elagabalus Victory-denarius with very unusual bust.
I think the coin may date to the very beginning his reign, when the celators had no idea how the 14-year old Elagabalus looked like. I also like the depiction of Victory on this coin, which I think is quite unusual. Note the long hair for example.

 

Here is another one with a very different, but much more common bust and Victory:

 

And an Antoninian, with the same reverse type:

 

Elagabalus. 218-222 AD. AR Denarius (18mm; 3.21 gm; 6h). Rome mint. Struck 220-222 AD. Obv: Laur., draped, and cuirassed bust r. Rev: Victory advancing l. holding open wreath; shields flanking, star to r. RIC IV 161; RSC 300a.

 

beautiful!...

 

Most emperors who were in power for over a short time issued more than one variety of Victory type. Winning was a big thing in their line of work. I always liked the version you showed with the family name ANTONINI on the reverse. I have always had a fondness for the Eastern mint coins (its a style thing) so my favorite Elagabalus is an Eastern (Antioch?) denarius.


There is another category we might mention. Unofficial. The coin below is not an official product. I am not even 100% sure it is ancient so I could only sell it to someone confident enough in the series to have an opinion I would value. The coin has several points worthy of note. The style seems good except it is not 'correct' for either Rome or 'Antioch' at that period. 'Antioch' had several different styles to the point that I will not faint dead away when someone decides that there was more than one mint involved. Perhaps someone now in kindergarten will study these properly someday. The reverse legend (VITORIA AVGV) is lacking one letter and has one extra. Letter omissions happen; the added V shows that the cutter knew the word and continued with the correct next letter. I have other oddball Severan coins with the added V but have no idea what that might mean.

Edit: while typing all this, I see Pete B posted a similar design reverse with normal style and two shields at Victory's feet where my coin has small annulets. Related? Were my annulets supposed to be shields? Really, I did NOT need another question about this coin!

I do not remember buying the coin and my catalog card from September 2001 lists it as from 'Melcher' at a price FREE. Marc Melcher was a really big time collector of Severan and Eastern Severan coins best known to me as having sold off his collections more than once. Look him up in Triton VI (2003 - two years after I got this coin). I do not remember meeting him but I am bad with names. Why was I given the coin? Did it come directly from Mr. Melcher at a show or by mail or did I just catalog it that way for reasons lost to time. The coin has green wax in the big crack. It is not fourree. It does not have bronze disease. Is the wax from a cleaning process? It struck me as odd enough that my 2001 catalog entry mentioned the wax and listed the coin as 'Status Uncertain'. I would really appreciate hearing about other coins even slightly related to this one in style or wax. If I ever knew, that is gone. As is often said by one of my finest friends: "Getting old ain't for sissies!"

 

The last 2 auctions I participated in meant 2 Elagabalus coins.
First, a limes denarius.





Limes Denarius
RIC IV Elagabalus 115
Date Range: AD 218 - AD 222
Obv IMP ANTONINUS AVG, Bust of Elagabalus, laureate, draped, right
Rev LIBERTAS AVGVSTI, Libertas, draped, seated left, holding pileus in extended right hand and sceptre in left hand

Last arrival:



Elagabal AD 218-222. Rome
Denarius AR
17 mm, 2,16 g
RIC IV Elagabalus 56b
Date Range: AD 218 - AD 222
Obverse Legend: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Type: Bust of Elagabalus, laureate, draped, right
Reverse Legend: ABVNDANTIA AVG
Type: Abundantia (or Annona), draped, standing left, emptying cornucopiae; in field, star

 

So many juicy stories of the "son" of Caracalla, I wonder if any are true?
He sure looks like a nice little dude:

 

An early transitional bust with features similar to Macrinus.

 

Andres, Nice score on a very interesting type for this bizarre emperor. I sold all my examples of Elagabalus except the coin pictured below. This coin was struck in the city of his birth so the portrait might be accurate.

 

Doug,

Your first coin: A rare Eastern rev. type. I have one from the same obv. die but a different rev. die, acquired from Pagane on Yahoo in Jan. 2003. From my ticket: not in BMC or RSC, but Vienna has a specimen.

Your second coin: I'm sure you are right that the annulets descend from the two shields in the similar Rome-mint type of 221.

 

I have a rather lackluster Elagabalus collection. Perhaps the best is this one.

 

I also have a so called "Limes"-denarius of Elagabalus. I never understood the concept. Are these bronze or copper denari ancient forgeries? Were they originally silvered? Did they really originate or circulate in the border (limes) region?

 

My best guess is that they were military scrip, the equivalent of Military Payment. Currency or AAFES pogs

 

Doug's coin above is very interesting. I have an imitative Julia Maesa (Elagabal's grandmother) denarius. The coin is also not a fourree. I don't have the measurements at hand, but the coin is quite heavy. Interestingly, for this coin I know that it was found far away from the Roman empire. In the third century Roman denari were copied by Germanic and/or Sarmatian people. I think it is possible, that Doug's coin, despite its fine style, may belong to that group.









Such imitations can be extremely stylized (barbaric). For the following coin I don't know what the model was. It was found in Ukraine, hundreds of kilometers away from the Roman empire:

 

Here's one with Providentia nonchalantly passing the ball back.

Elagabalus. 218-222 AD. AR Denarius (3.22 gm, 19mm). Rome mint. Struck 219 AD.
Obv.: laureate and draped bust right.
Rev.: Providentia standing left with legs crossed, leaning on column to right, holding rod over globe in right hand and cornucopia in left.
RIC IV 23; RSC 144