Gallienus (253-268 C.E.) was an interesting ruler. He presided over the seeming deterioration of the empire with the creation of the Gallic empire in the west, depredations of the Goths, the losses to the Persians in the east, and the rise of Palmyra in the east as well. Nonetheless, because he reigned for so long by third century standards his coinage is varied and interesting, despite the fact that he completely debased the antoninianus. He was interested in philosophy as well, supporting the neo-Platonist Porphyry and traveling to Greece to be inducted into various mysteries. I'm sharing two coins here, with the obverse and reverse of the first and just the reverse of the 3rd as the portrait is just about obliterated on that one. Obverse: Radiate head of Gallienus facing right, Reverse: Felicitas standing left holding cadeucus and scepter. The third is a relatively rare reverse type featuring the legend DIANAE CONS AVG and a stag walking to the right (Sear 10201). Since I'm partial to coins with animals on the reverse I thought I'd share it. Please share your Gallienus coins in this thread.
Gallienus, AD 253-268 Roman Billon Antoninianus; 4.40 g; 23.5 mm Uncertain eastern mint, AD 255-256 Obv: IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and draped bust, right Rev: RESTITVT ORIENTIS, Tyche, left, presenting wreath to emperor, right, who holds spear in left. Refs: RIC 448; RSC 902; Cohen 903; RCV 10341; Hunter p. xlvii
Gallienus: RI Gallienus 253-268 CE Ant Milan mint Laetitia RI Gallienus 253-268 CE Ant Abundantia RI Gallienus 253-268 CE Ant Hercules BONUS! WIFE / AVGVSTA: RI Salonina wife of Gallienus 254-268 CE AE Ant 3.61g 20mm Rome mint 267-268 CE crescent Deer Walking delta RIC 15
ancient coin hunter => congrats on your new OP-scores Ummm ... Gallienus, eh? => okay ... here they come again ...
Gallienus is a rare combination of a coinage that has some interesting types that do not cost an arm and a leg. I'm not saying there are not a fir share of ugly examples but one could easily get 100 different, reasonable looking coins of his for an average of $10-20 a coin. For an average of $50, the 100 would include some real 'lookers'. Yes there are rarities and mint state costs more but Gallienus is a reasonable selection for a budget minded collector. My favorites:
I can't really imagine restricting my collection to a single emperor, but Gallienus would be a good choice. Sestertius. Somebody on here has a great one, can't remember who..
He does have a diverse array of reverses. Too bad about the Imperial mints' workmanship during his reign. Looks like many of you CoinTalkers were able to find some winners though Here's a zoo series coin picked up from a mostly non-ancient dealer at the 2014 ANA show in Chicago: Gallienus, sole reign CE 260-268 Antoninianus, Rome mint Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right Rev: LIBERO P CONS AVG, striped tigress standing left; B in exergue Ref: RIC V 230 (Sole reign) EGYPT, Alexandria. Gallienus year 13, CE 265/6 tetradrachm, 21 mm, 9.1 gm Obv: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right Rev: AVTKΠΛIKΓAΛΛIHNOCCEB; eagle standing right, holding wreath in beak, palm over shoulder; L IΓ across field Ref: Emmett 3806(13), R1 Ex Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 88.203 (accessioned 1888); Benjamin Pierce Cheney Collection
I just have one coin of Gallienus, this Alexandrian tet. It is an Ex: Dattari coin. Egypt, Alexandria. Dattari. Gallienus, 253-268 Tetradrachm circa 267-268 (year 15), billon 23mm., 9.51g. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Eagle standing l., holding wreath in beak; behind, palm. Geissen 2944. Dattari-Savio Pl. 273, 10547. Extremely Fine. From the Dattari collection. Naville Numismatics 29 February 26 2017 Lot # 438
Gallienus, and most emperors that were around a while, have a lot of variety in their coins. They may have had several mints; things may have changed over the years. Gallienus started out with low grade silver coins that looked pretty good and went straight downhill at some mints while others retained workmanship but used progressively worse and worse alloy. The Zoo series fell at a place and time that few were as good as the ones shown here by CT members. My earlier post showed a couple coins from a series with a palm in exergue that are usually well struck on wide flans. Bing and I each showed a left facing portrait coin with spear and shield. These are almost always paired with worn out reverse dies. Learning which issues are never/ocassionally/usually/always available in decent shape is part of the game. The same goes for most specialties in ancients but Gallienus was about as varied as anyone.
TIF just posted a Constantine coin with an old Sear certificate and here is a Gallienus with certificate from the same seller. The seller also used old US stamps to mail it. The 1 cent green stamp to the far left is from 1924. The 3 cents stamps are from the 1950's and the 13 cent stamps are from the 70's, many are bicentennial issues.
Looks like many of the same stamps were on my envelope, which I also saved. Very cool! I haven't examined the stamps yet. Maybe someday soon. I rarely get (or notice) stamped mail. These stamps weren't canceled! Is that unusual these days?
the only coin i have(that i know of) of Gallienus and the only coin with a counting board on the reverse. a coin of Saloninus( i thought it was Herinnius), his son and a new addition, his wife Salonina
The first coin is Claudius II... or did I misunderstand your post? The second coin looks like Gallienus.
is that Claudius ll?.. i thought they looked an awful lot a like, but isn't that Gallienus's name in the legend?.. and i "think" that second is of Saloninus(i'm going by Wildwinds reverse), but i can't be sure.. if could be Gallienus. here's Claudius ll for sure i know(i think) hmmm. ok. thanks TIF, i stand corrected.
Stamps beyond a certain date lack the special ink that triggers auto cancelling equipment so an PO employee would have had to do it manually. Some think it is worth their time, some don't. Since stamps of this age are available for less than face, some people buy them for the discount they give. People of my generation bought sheets of stamps hoping for future profits. The market for these is not high enough to support all the sheets put away. We used the term in the day "Service not rendered." That was a good profit for the post office in the day.
Man, I love my junky old Gallienus coins. Like the many examples already posted above, they run the gamut, condition-wise. Looks better in hand (nah it doesn't): Looks better than the previous coin (true): Looks better after a few drinks: Looks better when placed in between two barbarous Claudius Gothicus coins:
One of the more interesting Gallienus coins in my collection is this one, which combines a portrait of the emperor with a reverse type used almost exclusively on coins of an empress. It's also interesting to see how debased the metal had become and how shoddy the workmanship at the mint was at the time. Gallienus, AD 253-268 Roman billon antoninianus; 2.67 g, 18.9 mm, 1:00 Rome, AD 265-267 Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right Rev: FECVNDITAS AVG, Fecunditas standing left, holding cornucopiae and extending hand to child Refs: RIC 184; Cohen 179; Göbl-0579a
I like the portraits with the oversized crowns, probably got my Gallienus in a lot , another emperor killed by his own soldiers.
