Septimius Severus Addition

A happy little addition to the Septimius Severus collection: Boni Eventus. I found these hard to find with clear legends that are not super expensive. I finally found a deal on one and snapped it up. Still need Bona Spes, Boni Event and the misspelling variations, but you have to start somewhere!

Here is a look with full description in my Forvm home.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=6295&pos=8



Post any tougher Septimius Severus coins that you have!

 

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Nice one @nicholasz219

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG, his laureate head rt
REVERSE: BONI EVENTVS, Boni Eventus standing left holding basket of fruit & corn ears
Struck at Alexandria, Egypt, 194 AD
2.04g. 16.5mm.
RIC 347

 

Tougher? Many Emesa types are a little tough. The COS obverse rather than COS II is tougher.


Any VICTOR SEVER is a little tough but this one has AG for AVG.


Any form of VICTOR IVST is much harder to find including the COSII.


There are many Fortuna variations but the one as Pietas sacrificing over an altar is harder than the others. Any leftie is special.


Emesa legionaries are scarce. LEG XIIII GEMMV is most common in Rome but not in the East.


Jupiter (IOVI PRAE ORBIS) is not common.


All Minervas are scarce. The one with the owl is especially so.


Roma is rare whether spelled with an R or a P.


There are many Victories. Some are scarcer than others.


I have always been fond of the Crossed Cornucopa type. There are several vaiations. This has the 'original' legend FELICIT TIMLOR..


Those are ten I consider a little special. There are at least a hundred that are special to this level and higher. We who specialize want several hundred. Thousand(s)?

 

@Bing and @dougsmit Thanks for sharing your Septimius Severus coins! I appreciate seeing all of them. It is funny how much you think you know as you start delving into a ruler or subject matter only to find out right around the time you start feeling like you are knowledgeable then you have the terrible realization that you have only scratched the surface.

While I am by no means as knowledgeable as I wish I was, I am happy to be heading in the right direction. I look at a lot of auction listings and many items on VCoins pretty much daily. It really gives you a sense for what is really common out there when you see the same stuff all of the time and then in this thread I can count at least four coins that I haven't ever even seen before much less for sale.

Thanks for the continuing education, everyone.

 

Nice addition!

Septimius Severus
AD 193 - AD 195
IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG: Head of Septimius Severus, laureate, right / AEQVITAS II: Aequitas, draped, standing left, holding scales in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand

RIC 344
Alexandria

 

My only Sept Sev:


RI Septimus Severus 193-211 AR Denarius Genius Sacrificing

 

I have this "blinded-eye appeal" Aureus.
I won it on CNG auction many years ago. It's my only aureus (well, I have a Titus' aureus fourrée), but what I really like about this is precisely the two holes and the posterior addition of gold to counterbalance his weight. All of this in Antiquity. I wonder if this coin wasn't hung on the belt of some barbarian chief or warrior during the Migration Period? Or what it represented. Is undoubtedly a very ugly piece, perhaps worth only the weight of gold, but what matters? It had the historical value which, I believe, goes beyond the numismatic itself.


Here's the link on CNG research:
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=150585

 

Great addition @nicholasz219! I don't have any tougher to find Sept Sevs but I'll post these ones anyway.

 

Septimus Severus 207-208 AD 3.05g denarius 18mm. Rome.
Laureate head right / Small head of Medusa facing, on aegis. RIC IV 286; BMCRE 357; RSC 591
CNG, e-auction 186, April 2008, lot 195

A Numismatica Ars Classica cataloger wrote “The Medusa and Medusa-upon-Aegis types occur on precious metal coins of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, all of which perhaps belong to circa 207 AD since one of them names the 15th renewal of Severus’ tribunician power in its reverse inscription.... The basic principle of the type seems clear: it refers to the foresight (providentia), presumably in respect to the decision to invade Britain in the following year, 208. But the inscription falls short of naming the source of the foresight, the gods (deorvm) or the emperors (avgvsti)? The Medusa seems to offer a connection with Minerva, who, perhaps, is here cast in the role of having foresight for the care of the emperors or the Roman people.... Perhaps the best explanation for why the foresight is non-specific is because it might have derived from other sources utilized by Severus: astrology and augury. Severus was the most superstitious of emperors, and Dio tells us that before he committed the family to the British expedition he knew that he did not have long to live; as his final act he would remove his sons from Rome in hopes of reforming them on one last campaign, by which he would add Britannicus to his list of victory titles.

 

This is one of most beautiful coins of this ruler. There is an aureus of Septimius Severus, also PROVIDENTIA that in my opinion, the most beautiful aureus that I saw.
Very congratulations! This is tougher!

 

Great additions everyone! The aureus and Medusa are very interesting pieces and @Ajax the IN CARTH and Victory pieces are very nice: finding those pieces at a good price is the challenge there so don't discount your pieces.

 

It will confuse people to see my porous and rough denarius called beautiful. Here are links to the beautiful specimens:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/resear...x?assetId=658939001&objectId=1214676&partId=1
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=454648
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=139522

Regarding rarity. The British Museum specimen is holed! The final link includes the text "This particular type with the small Medusa head within a large Aegis is the rarest of the variants and seemingly is known only for denarii of Septimius Severus."

 

Amazing coin/s. This is really good stuff.

 

The aurei with two holes at the top are often found in India and can be real or imitative. I have no explanation for the third hole.

See this lot from Triton X:
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=97079

You really need to see this other CNG lot:
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=24877

 

Thank you, @dougsmit! I've been read about this before, and saw these CNG aurei.
What do you think about my coin? The CNG staff classified my coin as Rome mint. But there are several coins classified by the same sataff as indian imitatives, some with the style very close to the usual.
And yes, it's amazing the second example. Same RIC, same plug!
There's no doubt that my coin circulated in India! But it's real or imitative?

 

Nice denarius, Nicholas.

A few years ago I had a 'thing' for the legionary denarii of Septimius Severus. Here are some of the ones that I found:

Also, a sestertius of Septimius which I added to my collection not too long ago.

 

Septimius Severus - Victory over Britannia


SEVERVS PIVS AVG BRIT ........................ VICTORIAE BRIT

He died at Eboracum (York) during the campaign against the warlike tribes of Northern Britain.

 

Victory over Pescennius Niger ,Governor of Syria proclaimed emperor by his soldiers. Throphy with tied up prisoners.

 

The portrait of Septimius Severus in your coin resembles that Clodius Albinus