Hadrian Denarius Roma 138 AD Eagle standing Reference. RIC 389B; RSC 271; Obv. DIVVS HADRIANVS AVG Head of Divus Hadrian, bare, right Rev. CONSECRATIO Eagle standing front on globe, head turned left, wings spread 3.04 gr 18 mm 6h Note. Consecratio was the apotheosis of the dead Roman emperors, which however was only bestowed on those who were judged worthy of her by the Senate or by their successors. However, it is well known, how generous people in Rome with this honor mishandled. Even empresses enjoyed after their death the privilege of consecratio. After their consecratio they got the nickname of Divi or Divae. Several ceremonies at the funeral went to the consecratio advance. In burning the corpse on the pyre rose include becoming an eagle from the flames to heaven. The emperors and empresses thus become the god had their own temples, priests and parties. They were so entirely assimilated to the gods. The emperors themselves have mocked their deification. In the Historia Augusta is sick of Vespasian told that he says "I feel to be a God." In his famous poem "Animula vagula blandula" Hadrian doubt his deification.
Another great coin. How many Hadrian coins do you possess now? I'll bet the number is as high as my entire collection.
Glad to see that you won this one, Oki. I noticed that you had more competition for it. It's a very example, congrats!
Damn! And here I thought I won that lot! Sometimes the clock runs out fast. I did get one win in the auction, tried to snipe, outbid, with one second to go I hit the bid button again and won! Thats the closest win I have ever had!
I dont typically collect denarii, but I just wanted this one. I used to collect Hadrian sestertii, so I have a soft spot for the emperor. I like the toning. Hadrian. AD 117-138. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.09 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 134-138. Laureate head right / Romulus advancing right, holding spear and trophy. RIC II 266; RSC 1316. VF, toned, hairline flan crack, some minor marks under tone. From the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind.
Me too !! Plus it's just a terrific example as well!! The devices are wonderful!! No CNG wins for me but maybe next time
I am often surprised at how low some coins really sell. When I do research on pricing I often find coins recently sold that I would have been happy to have paid double on. Of course that doesnt happen in each auction. Also, I have a nasty habit of forgetting the auction until after it has closed!
There are better examples of this wonderfully interesting type. But I liked the toning, and of course the portrait. Hadrian has two types of portraits, 'slender' and 'robust'. This type almost always has a robust portrait, while my example has the slender one. Also as it came from Tom's estate that is a plus too. He was my mentor and helped me to get started dealing back in the 80's. He had a really good eye for quality and for the esoteric.
I never knew Tom Cederlind, but I was amazed at his taste of interesting coins, from what I saw here at Cointalk before and at the CNG auction. I really liked that curious portrait of Maximinus II because of its likeness to 20th century art. Then saw it was a Cederlind coin, and looked at the other Cederlind items. Saw a lot of beautiful coins and pounced on one, shortly before it was due. The fascinating portrait of Iulia Domna with the detailed hippical reverse. I won them both and will be the happy owner of two distinctive Roman Imperial portraits. You may congratulate me!
Coin collectors always like unworn and well struck coins. A smaller number care about matters of style. I do not know enough about Hadrian to understand Ken's 'slender' and 'robust' designations but I do know there are Hadrian portraits that I like a lot better than others. Sometimes the difference is really obvious like the Trajan 'heavy' and 'graceful' coins. Sometimes the difference even means there were two mints in use but more often you get the idea that some workers were just better than others. My coin is a low grade, worn coin but I always liked the portrait style. Trying to imagine the reverse unworn, I suspect I would have like it better, too, but there is no arguing that it lacks fine detail and, therefore, would not sell in polite company. Did anyone notice that the L on the reverse of Ken's coin was done in the style common two centuries earlier? I have been known to buy coins because they have neat little things like that but I'm glad that most people prefer EF+ coins to the ones with appeal to me.
