Gordianus I Africanus

Some of you have had the experience of having found your special "Holy Grail" already.

What the mailman brought yesterday makes me feel like I should stop buying coins altogether at this point because for an amateurish collector of (preferably unpatinated) Sestertii I feel it cannot get any better.

As this still is the most expensive coin I ever bought, I did some research about it.

You probably would not read this if you did not know about the sad story of the Gordiani Africani:

When 80 year old Gordian I was hailed Emperor in opposition to Maximinus Thrax by the people of Thysdus in the province of Africa, maybe on March 19th or 22 of 238, he made his son of the same name co-Emperor. After entering the provincial capital of Carthage, both assumed the title of Africanus. When news of the revolt reached Rome, the people rejoyced, officials of Maximinus were slaughtered in the streets, the Senate recognized both Gordiani as Co-Augusti, and declared Maximinus and his son Maximus Caesar tyrants.
Alas, the Gordiani did not make the decision of at least one of them taking the boat to Rome and found themselves without support when Capellianus, governor of neighboring Province Numidia and loyal to Maximinus, marched against them.
After a rule of only 20 days, on or around April 12, 238, Gordian I strangled himself with his belt in his office after his son had perished in battle in a hopeless effort to lead the local militia against Capellianus´legion.

The Roman AE Coinage of the Gordiani Africani is made up of Sestertii only. These are quite rare due to the short time they were minted in between the recognition of the Gordiani by the Senate and that of their replacements, Pupienus and Balbinus, a few weeks later.

The largest coin hoard of roman Sestertii, found in Guelma, Algeria, and including 7.486 Sestertii from the time of Augustus until the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, of which about three quarters were struck after the time of Commodus, included just five Sestertii of Gordian 1 and four of Gordian II.

Despite only Gordianus Senior being Pontifex Maximus and thus of slightly higher rank than his son who only held the title of (a regular) Pontifex, he and Junior share the same obverse legends and can only be distinguished by the older features of the father and the bald forehead and plumper face of the son.

According to RIC, the reverse type and legend ROMAE ETERNAE, which also appears on Gordians unique Aureus (RIC 3), and his Denari (RIC 4) is alluding to the imperishable tradition of constitutionalism in Rome and harks back to the constitutional and pro-senatorial tone oft he reign of Severus Alexander.

The relative scarcity of the Gordian I and II´s Africani´s Sestertii is confirmed by ERIC II, which reports more Denarii than Sestertii sold in Auction (including Ebay) in the past decades.

While RIC lists five of the six principal types of Gordian I´s Sestertii as rare (only the VICTORIA type is listed as scarce), this, the ROMAE AETERNAE type, is the rarest (should probably be "R3").

Out of the 125 Sestertii of Gordian I was able to trace on ACsearch.com, there were only two examples with the ROMAE ETERNAE reverse, which would make up for 1,6 % of all Sestertii of his. In contrast, I found 50 specimen with VICTORIA (40%), 33 PROVIDENTIA (26,4 %), 24 SECVRITAS (19,2 %), 8 P M TR P COS P P (6,4 %), and 8 VIRTVS (6,4 %).

The Guelma Hoard included 2 of the PROVIDENTIA type, one each of VICTORIA, SECVRITAS, and P M TR P COS P P. and none of VIRTVS or ROMAE AETERNAE.

In fact, I could only locate three other specimen in private hands that were sold in auction in the last couple of decades (the one shown on wildwinds.com clearly depicts Gordian II):

1) ex ANS Collection, Estate of Dr. John F. Lhotka Jr., Gemini, LLC, Auction VII, 09.01.2011, Lot 809 (very good)

2) Baldwin´s Summer Argentum Auction, 01.06.2013, Lot 54 (from an old collection, apparently dating from the late 19th tot he early 20th centuries; nearly fine)

3) ex Joseph Melchione Collection, Goldberg Auction 70, 4.9.2012, Lot. 3364, Classical Numismatic Group Coin Shop, 934719 (about very fine)

At least three others are in Museums (maybe two more in Vienna and with the ANS)

1) British Museum , Catalog Number RE6p246.10, Registration number R.16557

2) Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, Nr. 11570

3) Paris (according to Cohen)

(thanks to Curtis Clay for info about the Guelma Hoard and help with the Museum pieces).

So here it is, the (at least from what I have seen so far) maybe finest known example of this rare type:



IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANUS AFR AVG
Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right of Gordian I
ROMAE AETERNAE S C
Roma seated left on throne, holding Victoriola and leaning on sceptre; shield at side
Sestertius, Rome, April 238
30 mm / 21,40 gr / 12h
RIC 10, Cohen 9, BM 10, Banti 6, Sear 8451
ex Münzen and Medaillen AG 552, 1992, Nr. 42



Please post your Gordiani Africani !

 

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Great coin you see AFR very good Then most of them

 

Awesome addition!

 

That is a very scarce, historical, and aesthetically appealing coin all in one. Your Holy Grail as you say. Congratulations on having the opportunity of acquiring it.

Concerning the obvious rarity of this particular reverse, no doubt very few exist, and it is certainly much scarcer than other Gordian I sestertii. I would just add that the actual number of extant examples is probably a bit higher than the number you have tracked down. As a very rough 'gut-feel guess' I would say 10-15 probably exist. This is something I have seen a few times before when researching very scarce coins: Many have never been offered, others reside in long-time collections and have not been offered in the last 20-30 years, and so on.
Whatever the case, it is a scarce and very desirable coin!

 

Congratulations, fabulous coin.

 

Beautiful coin, Julius Germanicus! Powerful write up! I need to give some thought to which coin I'd like to post as my "Holy Grail." Maybe after my morning coffee kicks in I'll be able to focus my thoughts. Great post!

 

superb coin! this should take care of your "habit" for a while congrats!!

 

What a great addition. Extremely hard to find, especially in that condition, Congrats

 

Thanks for sharing this. Very nice to look at.

 

Wonderful coin, congrats!

 

Beautiful example of this super scarce coin! Excellent write up... you put the historical significance in perspective! I really felt as it I were there. Congratulations, a perfect fit to your collection!

 

OP, I seriously doubt many of us can post a Gordian I or Gordian II coin. Very nice and RARE coin. Congratulations.

 

Nice coin and excellent write up. I have never owned an AFR coin and doubt I ever will since I have so many other things on my list ahead of them for the money. One might ask how to compare the situation of Gordian with that of Pertinax who was similarly elevated without it being his idea but had the luck of being in Rome when it happened. Of course one might ask id a three month reign is all that much better than a three week one when both end poorly.

 

Very nice indeed, congrats!
If I had one I would post it.

 

Fantastic!!!! Huge congrats on acquiring such a wonderfully rare coin!!

I loved your write-up almost as much as I LOVE that sestertius !!!

I doubt I'll ever own any example of any type of either G-I or II but I believe one of us has a coin to post...Is that @Greg Heinrich ????

 

Great write-up and coin. I'm going to have to go track down pictures of GII now..

 

Dang JG!! I knew there was a reason for me to get out of bed this morning- learned a bit of history and saw a fantastic coin. Awesome!!!

 

Awesome coin, and good write up. If its that rare, I'm not sure how many people have one to show.

 

Just because a lot have found my CT name has caused a little controversy, I am real excited to see another Gordanius_i_Africanus

 

Absolutely phenomenal, JG!!!