...Got this in just a while ago....in a black Ferrari!..and glad to have it! ...this was my 1st attempt to get coins of 'the year of the five'..and this guy really got the shaft i figure..he refused calls of his troops proclaiming him emperor and Sept. Sev made him his Caesar...for a convenient minute...but i gotta hand it to Clodius...he was 1 of the 5 in '93...but stayed around till 97, making him a Caesar of five years.. POST YER COINS N COMMENTS PEEPS! Clodius Albinus denarius, (193-95) D CL SEPT ALBIN CAES, bare head bust right Obverse, PROVID AVG COS, Providentia holding wand over globe, scepter in other hand 16mm, 3.42gms, ref. Cohen 55
That's how it arrived? I've seen some odd packaging but that ranks up there as a headscratcher to me. Congrats on the coin. Did you keep the toy car? lol. Clodius Albinus (193 - 195 A.D.) AR Denarius O: D CL SEPT ALBIN CAES, bare head right. R: MINER PACIF COS II, Minerva standing front, head left, holding a spear and leaning on a shield. Rome Mint 3.21g 19mm RIC 7, RSC 48, RCV 6144, BMC 98
Fun! Great acquisition for your collection, @ominus1! Here's an Albinus without a Ferrari. Clodius Albinus as Caesar, AD 193-195. Roman AR denarius, 3.12 g, 17.8 mm, 6 h. Rome, AD 194. Obv: D CLOD SEPT ALBIN CAES, bare head, right. Rev: MINER PACIF COS II, Minerva standing left, holding olive branch and resting on shield, spear propped on left arm. Refs: RIC 7; BMCRE 98-102; Cohen/RSC 48; RCV 6144; Hill 119; ERIC II 10.
Excellent new addition brought to you in a cool way! Poor gullible Clodius. Septimius played him like Nero's fiddle during the big fire.
Nice! Seller probably thought that by taping it to a metal toy car, it would slip through an xray undetected. I bought a couple coins from a German seller on ebay who always wrapped his coins in aluminum foil. I have two coins of Albinus One as Caesar (this one minted during the Year of Five Emperors) One from his brief stint as usurper v. Severus - ironically, the wear would indicate that it saw decades of circulation, possibly even past the end of the Severan dynasty. I never got a free toy with any of my ancients, but some of my favorite "extras" One of my usual Indian sellers always wraps their coins very neatly in pieces of paper and taped inside of cardboard, often scraps like cut up cereal boxes. One time, he apparently ran out of paper and folded it up in this doodle of... people playing cricket in top hats? Even before that, I bought a lot of medieval Hungarian coins from a seller in Eastern Europe. The way they were packaged made me feel like I was buying drugs And yes that's an antoninianus, and yes of course it turned out to be fake
An Albinus to keep an eye out for is the Alexandrian mint denarius the existence of which was not realized until after RIC/BMC was issued. Most worthwhile dealers now make the distinction (by style) correctly but you can still find one in the stock of less expert sources. Below are three different obverse dies each showing different legend split but having the same 'Alexandrian eye' and FELICITAS COS II reverse. The reverse, however, also comes in a Rome mint version.
LOL, @ominus1 , that is a chuckle-head! Mine, sans auto: CLODIUS ALBINUS RI Clodius Albinus 193-197 CE AR Denarius ROMAE AETERNAE Roma seated
One as Augustus...which also has seen much use! Rough, but.... Clodius Albinus, as Augustus! 195-197 AD. AR Denarius (18mm; 3.00 gm; 6h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Obv: Laureate head right. Rev: Spes advancing left, holding flower and lifting hem of skirt. Blundered reverse legend"SEP" for "SPES." RIC IV 42a (var); RSC 76b (var).
By "Alexandrian eye", do you mean the shape of the eye on the bust? Is this a universally reliable way to distinguish coins minted in Alexandria?
That's truly bizarre packaging, but hey, whatever works! As long as C.A. arrived safely, he's allowed to arrive in style! Vroom vroom!
Great packaging!....Lovely coin! Nice detail on the ob portrait.... Matchbox black Ferrari's sell for around $30 Clodius Albinus, as Caesar, Denarius. AD 193. D CLODIVS ALBINVS CAES, bare head right / PROVID AVG COS, Providentia standing left, holding sceptre and wand over globe at foot. RSC 58.
Here is a Sestertius of Albinus: D CLOD SEPT ALBIN CAES - bare head of Clodius Albinus right. MINER PACIF COS II S C - Minerva standing left, holding olive-branch in extended right hand and resting left on shield at her side, spear propped against left arm. Sestertius, Rome, 194 29,19 mm / 21,56 gr Hill (The Coinage of Septimius Severus and his Family of the Mint of Rome, A.D. 193-217) 120; RIC 54(a); BMCRE 535 and pl. 23, 4; Cohen 49; Sear 6151, Banti 18 (42 specimens); 1 in Guelma hoard
'Reliable' might not be the word I would choose but the style from this mint often/usually has an eye rendition that is not like that from Rome. I do not believe in many things as 'universally reliable' in the same vein as death and taxes but this eye is a good indicator. Below are denarii of Commodus, Pertinax, Septimius and Domna attributed to Alexandria followed by tetradrachms of three (forgive my lack of a Pertinax tetradrachm). The first 'discovery' of this mint was nearly a hundred years ago based on this style similarity. We do not have mint records that back this up.
Ya, my wording could have been a little better, as I wouldn't have assumed extreme consistency with anything coins back in those days. This is an interesting little tidbit though, and those "Buggy" eyes do deviate from the norm quite a bit. Learn something new everyday!