Rockin' the neck beard!

Shaving technology in ancient Rome wasn't exactly the Gilette Fusion ProGlide, so I don't blame these emperors for having a neck beard, as disgusting as this particular style may seem to us today.

Post any neck-beards or anything you deem relevant!


Severus Alexander, AD 222-235
Roman Æ sestertius; 21.72 gm
Rome, AD 229
Obv: IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG, Laureate head right; slight drapery on left shoulder
Rev: P M TR P VIII COS III P P S C, Libertas standing left, holding pileus and scepter
Refs: RIC 492; BMCRE 570; Cohen 372; RCV 7996
Notes: Die break affects S on reverse


Tacitus, AD 275-276
Roman billon antoninianus; 3.57 gm, 21.1 mm
Ticinum, AD 276
Obv: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right
Rev: VICTORIA GOTTHI, Victoria standing left, holding wreath and palm; P in exergue
Refs: RIC 172; Cohen 158; Sear 11821; Hunter 59; CBN 1676

 

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Cool idea for a thread.

Fred Sanford had a neck beard... he must have used a Roman razor...




Caracalla looks a little sloppy...

RI Caracalla 198-217 AR Denarius MONETA

 

Oh yeah! I forgot about this one:

 

My newest coin has a killer beard and neck beard (two in one). Apologies for posting it again.

 

Not neck beards, but it goes to show that even Republic era coins could have some fine beards.

 

I'm a woman and really should have no say in how and if a man allows his facial hair to grow, but

NO.

Just, NO

to neck beards.

That is all.

 

Notice that Victory is trying to hand him a razor.

 

Back during my undergrad years I went on a little bit of a hippie craze. After not shaving for nearly 3 years, I had quite the beard and neck beard.

It was all fun until one day during exam times, after studying for 12 hours in the school library, I went to get some study supplies from my car. I fell asleep inside the car as I was so tired, and woke up to a police officer banging on my car window and telling me the school parking lot was for students only, and he could guide me to a shelter if I needed one. That was quite a wake-up call about my appearance. I went shopping for new clothes and shaved next morning, and dropped the hippie look.

 

I hate neck beards as well, but a nice chin beard is fine. Anyhow I think this Julian ii shows a neck beard

 

For quite awhile, I thought the stylish neck beard that Tacitus wears on his coins was the only reason to own one of them. That was before I read about the rare 'XI' and 'IA' marked double antoniniani that he struck. @Valentinian published a study that analyzed the metal composition of a number of these coins and showed that they contained twice the amount silver compared to the 'XXI' marked antoniniani. I recently became the proud new owner of coin 91.68 from that study.

But, I suppose more to the point of this thread, behold, the glorious neck beard!...

TACITUS
Extremely Rare. Billon Double Antoninianus. 3.84g, 23.5mm. Antioch mint. RIC 211; RIC2 temp no. 4087 (6 spec); Esty, Equall, Smith, "The Alloy of the 'XI' Coins of Tacitus", 91.68 (this coin). O: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: CLEMENTIA TEMP, Emperor standing right holding sceptre, receiving globe from Jupiter standing left, holding sceptre; A between, XI in exergue.

 

Styles vary but Tacitus does seem to have the neck on many coins.

 

Wow, nice. I was aware, and on the hunt for a Double Sestertius... but, I was not aware of a Double ANT! Way cool Mr Z! Very nice. Congrats on the capture!

 

Great neck beard coin!

A little known fact - most (if not all) Titus and Domitian portraits sport a 'chin strap' beard.

Titus Caesar
AR Denarius, 3.00g
Ephesus Mint, 74 AD
RIC V1470(C), BMC V479, RSC 123, RPC 857 (3 spec.)
Obv: IMP T CAESAR COS III; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: PACI AVGVSTAE (from high r.); Victory adv. r., with wreath and palm; at lower r. star; below, annulet
Ex Harry N. Sneh Collection.



Domitian Caesar
AR Denarius, 3.46g
Rome mint, 73 AD
RIC V541 (R2), BMC V129 var., RSC 664
Obv: CAES AVG F DOMIT COS II; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: No legend; Domitian on horse l.; r. hand raised, sceptre in l.
Ex Gemini X, 13 January 2013, Harry N. Sneh Collection, lot 701. = Helios, ebay, 29 November 2010 (A. Lynn Collection).

However, any bit of wear usually removes most traces of a beard.

 

tacitus is kind of doing the "burnside" isn't he?

 

Ummm, how 'bout rockin' a horse wrapped around your face?

... sweet



Roman Collector => congrats on scoring that very cool OP-neck-beard (I laughed when I read your post) ... good times

 

I never thought I would be scouring my collection for neck beards...

I won't add to the wealth of Tacitus examples, but here's his bro:


@zumbly's Tacitus is impressive, but maybe @Sallent's and this one put Gallienus in the lead:


And for one more, here's Max Thrax:


I also found neck beards on both a Carus and a Philip I. Who knew they were so popular? (Neck shaving does suck...)

 

Great coin! Man, I need to shave.