Septimius Severus, Denarius, AVG II C, MARTI AVG

I have had this first coin in my collection for a few years. This was one of only two examples known to Curtis Clay of the MARTI VICT type with the AVG II C obverse legend with the other being in the British Museum, ex Roger Bickford-Smith collection. These two coins from the same rev. die but different obv. dies.

Septimius Severus denarius
Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG II C, Laureate head right
Rev:– MART-I V-I-CT, Mars advancing right carrying spear and trophy
Minted in Emesa, 194 - 195 A.D.
References:– RIC -. RSC -. BMC -.



I have now added the following scrappy example which has a different reverse die.



Martin

 

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You and Doug have a lot of interesting Sep Sev coins.

 

Nice => Hey Martin, congrats on making your cool collection even more amazing!!

You rock, brother!!

 

Very nice...

 

One of the Obv. dies looks familiar.

 

When you specialize in a series like this, some dies become old friends. The huge die fault on the obverse of the first coin makes it an obvious one but that die has an 'apostrophe' before the S of SEP so you can ID it easily even if the coin is off center and loses the cud. Eastern Severans were not made from all that many dies at least until the 'ordinary' COS II coins. While we certainly enjoy new reverses, a collection of these coins will also want a set of the obverse options.

I do not have the reverse. Mars is one of the less common ones on the series (along with Minerva, Jupiter and Roma) and there are several variations. All together I only have five Mars varieties from Emesa. I wonder how many there are. I am sure Martin will be the one to expand our knowledge of them. There is no single reference on these better than his online posts.

 

There are many Mars varieties that I have come across. I have an egocentric attraction to collecting the Mars reverses, which is the thing that brought me to ancients many years ago.

I haven't seen on from the earliest AVG issue. With the odd legend series of which the AVG II C examples are a small part I only know of the type with the AVG II C obverse dies. There is a MART VICT of the type noted by Curtis Clay that I will be watching out for but will not hold my breath.

There is a MARTI VICT noted for the COS I series in RIC on Page 139, #6a, cited with an incomplete obverse legend of "L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS" from the RD hoard page 98. This type is confirmed in BMCRE on page 89 as 339g having been confirmed by the G. R. Arnold collection.

I have this type illustrated below:-



For the COS II issue there are a range of varieties:-

RIC 404 (MART VICT) has three subtypes, a) having the IMP CA L SEP SEV PER AVG COS II, b) being the AVG II C that I am still missing, mentioned above, c) having the IMP CAE L SEP SEV PER AVG COS II obverse legend. These are all noted in the footnotes of BMCRE but BMCRE doesn't have a MART VICT in the main listings.

My COS II, MART VICT has the full COS II legend, IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II with the T of PERT being the only difference to 404c above.



RIC 405, which is BMCRE 377 is MARTI VICT, but the obverse legend has been tooled to one of Pesc. Niger (IMP CAE S C PESC NIGER IVST AVG COS II) but having the portrait of Severus.

The closest I have to this coin is illustrated below IMP CAE L SEP SEV PEPT AVG COS - (II)



RIC 405a is MARTI VICTO with the same legend as RIC 404a above. My MARTI VICTO has the more traditional full COS II legend



RIC 405b is MAREI(sic) VICT

My example comes from the same obverse die with the PEPT...COS (II) shown above.



RIC 406a, BMCRE 378 is MART VICTOR, with the full COS II as on my example below



RIC 406b is MART VICTOR but with the same legend as RIC 404a above. I don't have an example of this one but I do have the following one with a matching obverse legend but with a fuller MARTI VICTORI reverse legend.



Another Mars oddity in my collection is the following coin:-

MART VICTOR, Mars, in military attire, standing left, holding Victory and spear

This reverse type is not noted in any of the references and was previously unknown to me.

 

Now moving to the Laodicea, IMP issues.

It should be noted when reading the references (RIC and BMCRE) that their implication of the existence of IMP and IMP I issues are dubious and that these are believed to me mis-readings of IMP - II and IMP I-I coins. As such I will consolidicate al the IMP, IMP I and IMP II coins together under IMP II.

It should also be noted that the IMP II series has a few variations of PERT, namely, PERT, PERET, PERTE and PRTE.

RIC 443, BMCRE p. 106 h is L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP II, MART VICTO, citing Cohen 322.

RIC 443a, BMCRE p. 106 note after h has the peculiar obverse legend L SEPT SEVER PERET IMP II, MART VICTORI. I have never seen this obverse legend variety elsewhere.

RIC 456 is a PERT... IMP II, MART VICT

RIC 457 is PERT... IMP II, MART VICTOR

RIC 457a is PERT ... IMP II, MARTI VICT

I have a PERET, MART VICTOR


and a PERTE, MARTI VICTOR



None of the standard references include this reverse type with a MART legend.

I do have the following coin from the issue though:-

Obv:- L - SEPT SEV PE-RT AVG IMP VIII, laureate head right
Rev:- MARTI VICT, Mars advancing right carrying spear and trophy



The reverse type is noted for the IMP VIII issue on an Aureus with a SEVER obverse legend and a VIRTVTI AVG reverse legend. I have located a denarius that matches the description.

Obv:– L SEPT SEVER PERT AVG IMP VIII, Laureate head right
Rev:– VIRTVT-I AVG, Mars walking right holding spear and trophy



I will not focus on the later Laodciea issues but will add the following two coins:-

Obv:– L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG P M IMP XI, laureate head right
Rev:– PAR AR AD TR P VI COS II P P, Mars advancing right, holding spear and trophy
Minted in Laodicea ad Mare, A.D. 198
References:– BMCRE -. RIC -, RSC -

Additional information from Curtis Clay:-
"The Mars type: R. Mowat, Revue Num. 1901, p. 469, no. 1, in his coll., with engraving. Apparently overlooked by Mattingly in RIC and BMC.
Looks like yours might be from the same rev. die as his, but a different obv. die."



The final coin being a common variety

Obv:– L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX, Laureate head right
Rev:– MARTI VICTORI, Mars standing right, holding spear and leaning on shield set on captive
Minted in Laodicea-ad-Mare, A.D. 198 – 202
References:– RIC 509




Martin

 

Mine makes the MAREI VICT reading clear. Do you have a coin of the obverse die that shows there was II below the bust?

My AETERNITAS (AS) may show something but the coin is too much a mess to be certain. I know there is a nice one of these but I was unwilling to pay 4 digits for it a couple years back.

 

I guess I should mention my very odd Mars Pater. I want to see other coins with the style. I traded a nice SPQR horse (my second best at the time) for this one on the theory that someday I would make sense of it.

 

Doug,
The II is faint but visible (below the bust) on this example of mine (overlooked in my post above).



I couldn't justify the four digit figure on the AETERNITAS type either.

Your PATER coin would appear to be unofficial but in nice style.

Regards,
Martin

 

I left out Alexandria...

Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG, Laureate head right
Rev:– TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, resting on spear and shield
Minted in Alexandria, A.D. 194



Rev:– TR P IIII IMP II COS, Mars standing right, resting on spear and shield




and

Rev:– P M TR P III COS II, Mars advancing right, holding spear in right hand, trophy over left shoulder
Reference:– BMCRE 328. RIC 350D. RSC 397a.
ex - Barry Murphy collection (sold in 2003).



Martin

 

Congrats on the new addition, Martin.

 

I stumbled across another example to add to my Alexandrian hoard of Mars coins. This one is a double die match to the first of my II COS examples above (with the golden toning).

So why on earth would I buy another one?

This one is well centered and allows me to see both dies completely, which I am missing on all my other examples. It was a sleeper, nobody else spotted it, low opening bid, low shipping costs. It would have been crimnal of me to let it go unsold or into someones junk box.

 

How many Septimius Severus coins do you have now?

 

Hmm good question.
It looks like I have around 350 to 400 eastern mint denarii, which is my primary focus for Septimius Severus.

 

Wow, that's insane. I have two, one is a AE denarii, the other silver but definitely not eastern mint.

 

Notice how Martin somewhat dodged the question.

"...around 350-400 eastern mint denarii..."

Addicts often try to minimalize their habits.

 

I did not know Martin collected Rome mint. I have a few Rome (mostly Legionaries and those from early periods which were made while the Eastern mints were open) but many SS collectors only gather Easterns. The Rome mint rarities sell for big money but only a few of us even know which Eastern ones are scarce since so few of them made RIC. In the 90's, few dealers knew the difference and most who did could not care about coins of 'poor' style and usually worse preservation.

The Mars is a special coin to me. I did not see this one or I would have bid. I only have one with the COS ending on the reverse and one with COSII. Long ago I only had two Alexandria denarii. Someone at the British Museum put me in contact with the late Roger Bickford Smith who was then the leading collector of these coins and author of the only article on them I know. Roger offered me 5 times what I thought my coins were worth but I kept them and expanded my interest from Emesa to all Easterns. The rest is history.


I might mention that the coin is not 'correctly' dated but my coin lacks the left legend on the reverse. Several types of Septimius from Alexandria copy reverses of other emperors. This one is Lucius Verus but has the COSII legend.


The other coin Roger wanted was this one that copies Pertinax:

I don't own the matching Pertinax but acsearch shows many.
http://www.acsearch.info/search.htm...1&ot=1&images=1&currency=usd&order=0&company=

I believe the Septimius is a hundred times more scarce than is the Pertinax but nobody pays for rarity and everybody trying to fill out their one-per-emperor wants a Pertinax.

 

Doug,
I don't actively collect Rome mint. I did buy some mules and some draped bust Rome examples as well as some legionaries but sold them all to feed my Eastern habit. I still have quite a few common Rome mint coins from when I started collecting, before knowing what I was doing. I also have some Rome examples that I have acquired in lots that contained Eastern coins I wanted.

I bought a lot of six denarii recently, a very worn Hadrian, a Geta, Gordian on horseback and two Sept. Sev. Rome coins just to get a Sept. Sev. Alexandria, Roma type that I didn't have. It is in the mail to me at the moment.

I part with my Rome mint coins whenever I can get round to it.
Martin