I've recently taken a well needed break from my pursuit of the 12 Caesars. My limited budget, combined with interests in other numismatic areas has led me to roll back my spending a little. As I'm close to completing two additional sets (Vespasian and Augustus) I hope to continue with the 12 Caesars in the near future. Nevertheless, I wanted to highlight the one set that I actually did manage to complete and for which I hold great satisfaction and pride. Enjoy! This set of coins were all issued in by Domitian as Caesar in various years following Vespasian's ascension to the purple in 69 AD. They are of the three principal denominations of the Roman Empire; The aureus in gold, the denarius in silver and the sestertius in orichalcum (an alloy of copper). Roman Empire. Domitian as Caesar. AV Aureus, Rome. Struck under Vespasian in 75 AD. Laureate head of Domitian right, CAES AVG F DOMIT COS III / Spes advancing left, holding flower in her right hand and raising skirt with her left, PRINCEPS IVVENTVT. 20 mm, 7.12 g. BMC 154; Calicó 912; Cohen 374; RIC 787. Roman Empire. Domitian as Caesar (69-81). AR Denarius. Rome mint. Struck under Vespasian, 70-75. Laureate head of Domitian right, CAESAR AVG F DOMIT COS II / Domitian on horseback left, raising right hand and holding a sceptre in his left. 19.5mm, 3.16 g. RIC II 680. Roman Empire. Domitian as Caesar (69-81). Æ Sestertius. Rome mint. Struck under Vespasian, 76-77. Laureate head of Domitian right, CAESAR AVG F DOMITIANVS COS IIII / Spes advancing left, holding flower and raising skirt. 32.5mm, 26.10 g. RIC II.1 926.
Now that's a sweet set! Too bad about the necessary cut back, the current market situation affects many of us...
A great collection so far. I don't blame you for having to step back a bit. I've had to. My 12 Caesars.
If I'm to draw any positives about how crazy the market is it's that I've been forced to branch out and find new incredible niches to collect. I don't see it ever returning to 2018/2019 levels but I am excited for things to calm down a bit!
I do too! There's a certain appeal with anepigraphic coins, especially with romans where long legends are so common
I like small sets, as it's likely we can complete them in a lifetime Well done with distinctive examples Q
Congratulations! These are excellent examples of the main types of coins that would have circulated during Domitian's reign. You might want to consider acquiring a small bronze -- dupondius or as -- and putting together a virtual tray of the complete "mint set" in their relative sizes. I did this with my collection and found the display to be particularly appealing, such as this "mint set" of Claudius:
You were actually the main inspiration for me to pursuit sets of the 12 Caesars! Needless to say, fantastic little tray of Claudius coinage. I did initially consider going for the mint set. Getting an aureus, denarius, sestertius, dupondius and an as. However, I decided against this since I honestly don't enjoy dupondii and assēs that much if they're not of a spectacular portrait/reverse type. I chose therefore to stick with the denominations I'm wild about.