I’ll be filing this one away in my already brimming drawer of ugly, decrepit, and obscure coins nobody else loves. But I consider it a junk bin cherrypick since the pieces are seemingly very scarce, and examples in even slightly higher grades can run you hundreds of dollars. The only reference I have for this piece is BMC Arabia - Mesopotamia - Persia, in which Hill briefly discusses a few types from Rhesaena. His plate coin doesn’t look much better than mine, but it does have the advantage of stronger legends. I know of one other catalog, The Coinage of Rhesaena in Mesopotamia, by Karel O. Castelin, and since it was published in 1946, I imagine the book is in the public domain by now, but I can’t find any copies for sale or download. If anyone can help, I’d be much obliged. But I’m not sure a detailed reference would do much good to narrow down the variety, considering the poor state of the legends. I’ll post what information I was able to find after a little while. Severus Alexander AE26, 11.1g; Rhesaena, 222-235 Obv.: Laureate and draped bust left, holding shield Rev.: Tyche seated left on rock, holding eagle in right hand, left hand set on rocks, river-god swimming left below BMC Rhesaena 1, cf. Castelin 30 (?)
When I am done with some sets I wanna focus more on provincials & republics, I find them very interesting. Plus there is alot to learn with them. Cool coin though, never seen the type before.
Wildwinds has a couple of this type family, just to give you an idea what it may have once looked like. I'm sure this coin would cost you plenty... http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/severus_alexander/_rhaesaena_Mionnet_187.jpg I see this coin is cataloged by Mionnet, and there are links to his volumes at FORVM, so I'll wade through those when I get a chance.
Pertinent quotes from the Dictionary of Roman Coins (Stevenson, Smith, Madden, 1889)... Concerning this type... Op. cit. Location of Ras-al-ain...
cool reverse on that one JA. agreed, lots of cool and rare but kind of "rough" povencials out there, many from this region are really cool. i activly seek them out now.
Jeeze, I have been finding these Roman coins of Mesopatamia fascinating. The Romans did not have sway in this part of the world much after this period. Everything from about 240 AD is Persian. So very cool indeed.
My own image - not a huge difference from the seller's maybe. I'm very pleased to have this scarce coin in any condition.
Hello John Anthony - I hope it is okay to resurrect and add on to your old thread, but I thought this might be relevant. Yesterday I got in the mail a mis-attributed AE said to be a Commodus as (eBay). It is a hard-to-photo coin, but I was pretty sure it was not Commodus before I bid (the portrait's all wrong, even for a Provincial), but I thought it looked interesting and thought it would give me something to research. After a lot of digging, I believe it is Rhesaena (a place I'd never heard of), an issue for Herennius Etruscus showing the priest plowing with oxen. While researching, I did find an online copy of Castelin, at numismatic.org: http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan8633 Castelin's article is really detailed, and I am not sure I was interpreting things correctly (die matches, etc.). I was a bit overwhelmed. My new coin appears to be rare - apparently only 3 existed in Castelin's time, although I'm sure metal detectionists have found some more. Beyond Castelin's references, I could find only one other online, Roman Provincial Coinage Online: http://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/9/1593/ I also found this CT post helpful. Here's mine - pretty rough. Herennius Etruscus Æ 25 Rhesaena, Mesopotamia (c. 249-251 A.D.) Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, [ΓAIMEΣ]EPETPOYΣKI[ΛΛIOΣ ΔEKIOΣΣEB] / CEΠ KOΛ ΡHCAINHCIΩN L III P, founder ploughing right with yoke of oxen, eagle above standing left on palm branch, holding wreath in beak, half figure of river god Chaboras swimming right in exergue. RPC 1593; Castelin 178-80. (12.25 grams / 25 mm)
Nice sleuthing Mike! I wish my coin had even half as many nice letters as yours! To have ΡHCAINHCIΩN fully spelled out is phenomenal. Edit: this thread is from the days when the ancient collectors were in the world forum. Perhaps some kindly mod could move it to ancients?
Thank you John. I thought my coin was pretty cruddy, but I guess these led hard lives, since the similar ones I could find online are pretty rough (Castelin's illustration is really, really nice, however). I wondered why it didn't turn up in the Ancients posts. I hadn't noticed it was in the World forum - before my time.
