Septimius September!

Septemberius 14th - another Provincial:


Septimius Severus Æ 26
(c. 193-211 A.D.)
Moesia Inferior,
Nicopolis ad Istrum
Aurelius Gallus, consular legate
AY K•Λ:C CEVHΡOC, laureate head right / VΠ AVP ΓΑΛΛΟV NIKOΠOΛITAN, ΠΡΟCI• in ex., Asklepios standing r., holding serpent-entwined staff on ground.
(10.53 grams / 26 mm)
eBay Sep. 2020
Attribution Note:
There are several variations of this type, found exact match for legends via acsearch:
Mouchmov 909.
Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. Electronic Auction 441, Lot 294 April 3, 2019

 

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SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG, his laureate head rt
REVERSE: BONI EVENTVS, Boni Eventus standing left holding basket of fruit & corn ears
Struck at Alexandria, Egypt, 194 AD
2.04g. 16.5mm.
RIC 347

 

An elephant head and trunk?

 

Obviously! Thanks PeteB!

 

@dougsmit, the reverse of your Septimius Severus Africa coin looks extremely similar to the Hadrian Travel Series coins with an Africa reverse. Here are a couple of examples, one sold by Noble Numismatics this year, and another sold by Gorny & Mosch in 2016 (neither is mine):

 

Septemberius 15th - a very worn sestertius - my attribution is iffy, since there is not much left to base it on:


Septimius Severus Æ Sestertius
(195-196 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[L SEPT] SEV PERT [AVG IMP VII], laureate, draped, cuirassed, bust right / [P M TR P IIII] COS II [P P] S C: Fortuna standing l. holding rudder set on globe in r. hand & cornucopiae in left hand
RIC 709d
(16.96 grams / 27 mm)
eBay Aug. 2019
Attribution Note:
"S" of SC inside object held by woman (therefore not Annona)

Fortuna standing with rudder, without wheel at feet:
RIC 709c: laureate, cuirassed
RIC 709d: laureate, draped, and cuirassed

 

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: SEVERVS PIVS AVG - Laureate head right
REVERSE: P M TRP XV COSIII P P - Africa standing right, resting hand on hip and holding grain ears; lion to right
Struck at Rome, 207 AD
2.7g, 18mm
RIC 207a, BMC 531, C 493

 

Mine is a dupondius. I do not have that sestertius.

 

Septimius was far from the most original when it comes to types used. He has many original ones but more of the 'Emesa' issues were copied from Pescennius Niger or even earlier reigns. One of the more popular copied Trajan:

15. While it is good to see the emperor on horseback, this 'Emesa' denarius copied the type used by Trajan shown above. To those who like things just a bit different, the odd part is that the direct copy is a bit more scarce. This coin reads SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI but Septimius is shown without the long staff held by Trajan. Instead he is making the 'lobster claw' gesture/salute that is seen quite frequently on Roman coins. This coin is my offering for September 15.


However, we much more commonly see this basic type with the legend SPQR OPTIMO PBINCIPI. B and R were often confused at 'Emesa'. Greek used Rho (P) for the R sound and there are coins with B made with an open bottom we might call an R. This year two drachm of Caesarea illustrates this option with 'year 2' (E--R) flanking Nike.

As a backup, this coin shows the more common B 'error' still showing the hand salute option which is a bit harder to find, in my experience,

than the coin below that copies Trajan more closely placing a staff in the hand of Septimius. However it is a short staff rather than the long pole that reaches the ground on the Trajan.

There are specialists in any field that are content with 'almost, sort of' matches and others who would ask if there are other options for this type for Septimius. I have not noted a long pole used on this type from 'Emesa'. However, 'Laodicea' did show a long, pointed weapon on the PROFECTIO type.

It is possible to get carried away when collecting these things. I know the idea was to show only one coin per day. My apologies go to those easily bored. For the record, not all coins of Trajan (and Decius) use exactly the same minor details with the mounted Emperor type but that is something left for another day.

 

Septemberius 16 - I'm running low on these!


Septimius Severus - Denarius
(196-197 A.D.)
Rome Mint
L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIII, laureate head right / PROVIDENTIA AVG, Providentia standing left with wand over orb and sceptre in other hand.
RSC 592; RIC 92a.
(2.60 grams / 18 mm)
eBay Aug. 2017

 

Running low also

L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX, head of Septimius Severus, laureate, right / VICTORIAE AVGG FEL, Victory, winged, draped, flying left, holding wreath in both hands over shield set on low base
RIC IV Septimius Severus 144B (denarius)
Date 197-200
17mm 3.15 g

 

As a follow on from @Bing 's BONI EVENTVS from Tuesday....

There is a scarcer variant of this type where Fides faces the other direction

Obv:- IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG, Laureate head right
Rev:- BONI EVENTVS, Fides standing right holding basket of fruit and corn ears
Minted in Alexandria. A.D. 194
Ref:- BMCRE -. RIC -. RSC -. (Not listed with Fides right)

2.72g. 17.10mm. 0o

Additional information from Curtis Clay "Not previously known for Septimius Severus but a reverse die match with a Julia Domna in Vienna"

 

As a follow on from @ambr0zie 's Rome mint RIC 144B I thought it worth illustrating the equivalent coin from Laodicea-ad-Mare that is differentiated purely through the stylistic differences.

Obv:- L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX, Laureate head right
Rev:- VICTORIAE AVGG FEL, Victory flying left holding wreath with both hands over shield set on low base
Minted in Laodicea-ad-Mare. A.D. 198 - 202
Ref:– BMCRE 678. RIC 516. RSC 719
ex Roger Bickford-Smith Collection, ex Barry Murphy, ex Forvm

3.119g, 18.5mm, 0o

 

@maridvnvm - thank you for posting a Laodicea "equivalent"
When buying my denarius (I consider it has a decent quality and the price was also OK) I attributed it, as usually, because I try to attribute all my coins.
I noticed there is a Laodicea version with the same legends.
What are the stylistic differences? I still have issues in distinguishing them (I remember my first post on CT was related to a Julia Domna denarius, not being sure if it is Rome or Alexandria)

Comparing our coins, I can see that Victory's wings have different positions.

 

It is the overall style of engraving that is different and there are not simple "tells" such as the position of the wings. I can only advise that study and exposure of lots of coins that are correctly attributed to the same and adjacent issues for Rome and Laodicea-ad-Mare to become familiar with these stylistic differences. I know that it was a a couple of years before I could consistently determine these independently.

 

16. Brockages of Septimius Severus are not all that common. I have only one example from 'Emesa'. A brockage results from a coin being unknowingly stuck in the top die and being used to strike the next coin. Students of coins consider them defective and, since they lack a reverse type, they do nothing to further our study of the series unless we consider them a sign that the pace of striking was fast enough that mistakes would happen. We do not know whether the ones that exist escaped detection or if mint policy considered them 'good enough for government work'. Students of coins address types; economists track weight standards; who cares about technical numismatics? I do but I am in the minority. Coin 16 here is a later period 'Emesa' denarius but we have no way of telling what reverse it missed out on having. Dies during this period were used with more than one reverse so even finding a die link to a normal coin would prove nothing.


The 'Technical' part of me made me ask the question I have not seen addressed before (experts are asked to fill me in on this if there have been studies of which I am ignorant). This brockage was caused by the intervention of another coin. What happened to that other coin? I say that the second impact against the second blank should have squashed that obverse to some degree. How much? I do not know but I suspect/propose that the 'mother of a brockage' would look something like the coin below:

Here the reverse is well struck but the obverse is a bit flat looking. This could be just die wear. This could be just plain old wear for some reason affecting the coin more on that side. What my fanciful imagination sees here is an obverse somewhat normal on the upper left and distinctly more 'mushy' in the higher regions across the flan. What I would love to see is a brockage denarius of this slightly scarce IIC series obverse die. The unevenness of the weakness on this coin would suggest that the coin I seek would be imperfectly centered (as is my brockage) because only part of the coin made contact with the blank that was to become the brockage. I would expect the brockage to be clear on the AVG IIC part of the legend but not on the opposite L SEP side. I imagine many brockages were realized by the man holding the die at the last second but there is no stopping the swing of the hammerman. I also suspect that a word was uttered not taught in first year Greek (this was an Eastern mint so I doubt the swearing was in Latin). My education did not include deletable expletives of late second century Syria (or Cappadocia, if you accept the latest guesses). Did yours? I would enjoy seeing any other Septimius Severus brockages or any other coins that bear on my theory that each brockage must have had a 'mother' with equal but opposite characteristics.

While I am not running out of Septimius coins, I am running short of real oddballs. Maybe I should show a few 'nice and normals'? That might be out of character for me.

 

@dougsmit I only have a single obverse brockage to share.... It's not as nice as yours and probably deserves the effort of me tracking it down and updating my photograph.




With regards to your AVG II C coin I can imagine that is what the result might look like but in the case of this particular die I think we need to look at other examples from the same die to see if much of what we see (or in fact don't see) on your coin are from the die itself.

I think that the flatness in the centre of the Laurel wreath and within the beard below the cheek are factors of die wear as I can see the progression of this over multiple coins.

What I am supposing here is that my first coin is from a relatively early strike in the life of the obverse die and that the die degraded over time quite significantly with the wear becoming increasingly evident on the laurel wreath, cheek and beard and that this accounts for common wear pattern and the increased wear in these areas in my proposed chronology of my coins outlined below. I would place Doug's coin between my third and fourth coins below.

This could be entirely fanciful on my behalf and I would welcome and thoughts on my proposal.

 

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right
REVERSE: FVNDATOR PACIS, Septimius, togate and veiled, standing left holding olive branch
Struck at Rome, 202-210 AD
3.3g, 18mm,
RIC 265, RSC 205, BMC 330

 

Nice one @Bing I know that I have a couple of these knocking around somewhere. This one came as part of a mixed lot and has me puzzled. The style is good but the copper tones showing all around make me wonder if it is plated/silver washed.... I haven't spent any time looking at the coin in detail and it was thrown into my "I'll look at this later" tray....

 

That brockage is cool!