Ive wanted a Commodus for awhile and while I would have loved to have the hercules bust they were just too much for what I wanted to pay. This one cropped up and I liked pretty much everything about it so it became part of my birthday money splurge. Commodus (177 - 192 A.D.) Silver denarius 189 A.D O: M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT, laureate head right. R: PIETATI SENATVS, CVPP, Commodus standing right, holding roll, clasping hands with senator standing left, holding scepter. Rome mint RIC III 194 cor, RSC II 408 3.649g (Scarce)
I like it. This is one where Commodus looks tired to me but I suppose part of that is my eye rather than his face. There are many styles for him because he reigned a long time. Many of my favorites are from the early years before he went completely crazy. Many different styles show up on my Commodus page: http://dougsmith.ancients.info/comm.html
Very nice coin, I would have picked it up too had I run across it. Best of luck in your future hunts for Hercules.
Nice coin! I wondered what "CVPP" meant and finally found it. "CV" is his fifth Consulship (V=5) and "PP" is Pater Patria. Normally a fifth Consulship would be "COS V".
Thanks for the comments and thanks for the info Willie. I vaguely remember reading about that when I was skimming around for more info on the coins reverse.
