During the Crisis of the Third Century there was an almost constant stream of men with aspirations to the Purple. Many attempted to overthrow the rule of Gallienus. One of these men, was Regalianus. Regalianus' attempted usurpation was hot on the heels of the attempted usurpation (and subsequent defeat) of Ingenuus, another military commander declared emperor by his men. Regalianus was acclaimed Augustus by his troops along the Danube river, possibly in a hope that he would use his new found power to secure the border against the barbarians. Unfortunately for Regalianus, his attempt to become emperor ended like his predecessor - D.E.D. dead...Possibly killed by his own men who feared retribution from Gallienus. An interesting side note on Regalianus is that he founded his own mint in Carnuntum. Coins depicted both him and his wife, Dryantilla. In recognition of his victory against the usurper Regalianus, coins were minted with the reverse legend "VICTORIA AVG III" to commemorate his third major victory. Apparently, these coins have legends that go all the way up to VIIII. In the lot of coins that I won last week for the princely sum of $25, along with a beautiful Helena, there was this Gallienus with the reverse of "VICTORIA AVG III" which led me to all of this interesting information that I didn't know before. If anyone has any other of Gallienus' VICTORIA AVG II-VIIII, please feel free to post them. I'd love to see them and hear about what victories their legends commemorate. Thanks for reading/looking! Gallienus, Sole Reign AE antoninianus Rome 261 AD Obverse: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right Reverse: VICTORIA AVG III, Victory walking left, holding wreath and palm. T in left field.
That's very interesting! The coin is RIC 305; Cunetio 950; Normanby 83. It is from the second series in Gallienus' sole reign, AD 261-263. It has a cuirassed bust type seen from the front and the officina mark from the third officina (T) in the left field. There were 150 examples of this coin in the Cunetio hoard and 11 in the Normanby hoard. I do not have an example of this coin in my collection. I do have a copy of Bland, Besley and Burnett's The Cunetio and Normanby Hoards, London, Spink & Sons, 2018, which just came in the mail yesterday!
Everything I’ve seen says that it is a relatively rare coin. Unfortunately, there was nothing to show where it came from when I got it. Would be pretty cool if it could be narrowed down a particular hoard though!
That is very interesting. Is the attribution to the victory over Regalian based on the 1929 study by Andreas Aföldi? The coins of Regalian and his wife are of course super cool. Clearly, Regalian had no professional die engraver or other mint personal at hand when he set up his mint. Its a shame that his coins are so rare and expensive.
I honestly don't know for sure but that would be my assumption. I've tried finding the piece that he wrote, "The Numbering of the Victories of the Emperor Gallienus and of the Loyalty of his Legions", but am coming up with nothing so far.
Very cool. I did not know about the Gallienus victory series celebrating his victories over members of the so-called "30 Tyrants" of the Historia Augusta. It's probably an opportune time to revise our perception of Gallienus. Regarded as a lazy hedonist by Gibbon, he did manage to repel several invasions and eliminate usurpers over the course of his 15-year reign. This was the longest reign of the third century outside of Septimius Severus' 18 years (whose reign actually started in the 2nd century). The fact that he ruled for so long indicates rather some capability in his role as emperor.
Alas, I do not have an antoninianus of Regalian to share (although it is one of my bucket list coins) I do have one of the VICTORIA AVG III types. I had no idea it was scarce (Please ignore the very bad obverse photo)
Awesome! I have yet to find any examples online that aren't AVG III. EDIT: nevermind. I found an AVG II on vcoins.
I checked it, its from Alföldi's publication. He shows that: Victoria I: the victory over the Alamanni at Milan Victoria II: the destruction of Ingenuus Victoria III: the overthrow of Regalian Victoria IV: ? Victoria V: refers to victories scored when "the Alamanni overran Italy" Victoria VI = II. Victoria VI of the first series became Victoria II of the second series, so VI and II refer to the same events (Ingenuus) Victoria VII = III. Victoria VII of the first series became Victoria III of the second series, so VII and III refer to the same events (Regalian).
@Claudius_Gothicus was awesome and provided me a link to his publication online. I haven't been able to read it yet but I'm glad it's in there! I found a VII for sale last night. Someone asking $500 for it. I feel like that's rather expensive lol. But now I've seen II, III, and VII.
Here's my example, which I bought for the portrait. Thanks for the further info about it! I also won this odd thing from the Weder collection, with a radiate bust but only 13mm and 1.86g: Sadly, it appears to have been lost in the mail.
I feel like we had a thread sometime ago about a similar radiate Gallienus that was way too small. A prevailing opinion, if i remember correctly, was that it was a fourree core for a gold coin of some sort.
My most relevant VICTORIA Gallienus is this rather rare example, in very excellent silver. It's got everything - a nice long obverse legend, and VICTORIAE AVGG IT GERM, which I take to mean victory over Italy (potentially VIC I, in Milan?) AND Germany?
Yep, it was mine that we were talking about, here. It shipped when Germany was sending their mail in slow ship containers, so I still have a slim hope that it will eventually arrive! That's a great coin! I expect the IT stands for ITERVM, i.e. victory again.
Yes, that is correct IT does not stand for Italy, but ITERVM. And yes, that is a rare type and a very attractive coin.