The "MARTI VICTORI AVG, Mars standing left, holding laurel-branch and spear, shield behind" type is one of the scarcer reverse types for Probus at Lugdunum. Using the Bastien timeline it only appears in Emission/Issue 7 dated to Summer A.D. 281 and only produced by Officina 2 (//II). There are two obverse legends associated with it - IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG only known with the Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the rear. I managed to obtain an example a few years back. and IMP C PROBVS • P • F • AVG, which is known with three bust types - Radiate, cuirassed bust right, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the rear and Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the front. I bought myself an upgarde to my old example of this coin with the cuirassed bust. My old example was an ugly beast.
Congrats on upgrading one of your Probus coins, Martin ... you certainly have an amazing Probus collection!! Curious, my coin-friend => have you given-up hunting L.Papius examples, or do you already have all of the easy ones and you're now having to wait for another addition?
Steve, I am still looking at Papius coins but they always go well beyond my limited budget. I haven't seen anything that has grabbed my attention enough recently. With this coin, I had to buy a small lot of 3 silvered antoninianii to get this one. Things like this eat into my budget more than I would otherwise like. I will dispose of the other two coins to recoup some of the money I spent but this takes some time. Martin
Terrific coin Martin !! Like you, I seem drawn towards the 'Marti' types...... Most of my current examples resemble your 'ugly old beast' rather than the cool examples above it LOL
Just for completeness, here are the other coins from the lot that I purchased to obtain my target coin. They aren't too bad in their own right just not the sort of thing I would normally have bothered with. Aurelian Antoninianus Obv:– IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, Radiate and cuirassed bust right Rev:– ORIENS AVG, Sol standing left, with right hand raised and holding globe in left hand, right foot resting on a bound captive in oriental dress seated left; on the other side, another bound captive in oriental dress seated right, head turned left Minted in Ticinum. (* | _ //QXXT). Issue 2. June – September A.D. 274 Reference:– RIC 151 Bust Type F. RIC temp #1535 (117 ex.). LV 5065-139 Tacitus Antoninianus Obv:– IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev:– PROVIDENTIA AVG, Providentia standing left, holding baton in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand; at feet to left, globe. Minted in Rome (//XXIA) Emission 2. November – December A.D. 275 Reference:– RIC 92 Bust Type C. Estiot Temp No. 3474. LV 7-37 Martin
