Not too long ago I acquired 1 scarce & 1 rare Philip I tetradrachms. As usual, I got both at great prices. The Antioch is special due to the officina letter in reverse field. The Egypt Alexandrian Tet is a rare reverse type. Only found 1 example and thanks @TIF for the help she provided with it. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to add them. Philip I (244 - 249 A.D.) Syria, Seleucis and Pieria. Antioch Billon Tetradrachm O: AVTOK K M IOVΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. R: DHMAPX EZOVCIAC , Eagle standing right, head left with wreath in beak, S - C in field, A at upper right. MON VRB in exergue. Rome Mint 27mm 12.06g Prieur 305 Scarce with officina letter in reverse field. Philip I (244 - 249 A.D.) Egypt, Alexandria Billion Tetradrachm O: A K M IOV ΦIΛIΠΠOC EVC, laureate and draped bust right. R: Alexandria standing left, facing, clothed in elephant hide, holding stalks in hand, vixellium in other, L-Δ in field. Year 4 = 246-247 AD 23.5mm 13.9g Alexandria 4853; Dattari 2725, Emmett # 3468
Cool coins - I had no idea the Syrian types struck in Rome had officina letters. First time I've seen one.
^Thanks, everyone. @dougsmit Ones I saw looking for info on mine when I got it, I found: Γ, S, Δ, B, E Could be more.
OP said his Syrian Tet was minted at Rome. How often did the mint at Rome use Greek numerals to designate an officina? Was that something special for work intended to circulate provincially?
Quite frequently at least later when there were more marked officinae coins. This was a relatively new idea in the middle of the third century. There even was one period during the Fel Temp Reparatio period that the Rome mint used a mixture of Latin ordinals and Greek numerals. P, B, T, Q, E, S, Z for 1 through 7. Black letters were ordinals Prima, Tertia, Quarta; Red were Greek numerals; the green S is both since the ordinal Sexta and the Greek numeral S for 6 look alike. This was the sort of thing Rome would do. They often marched to a different drummer.
During the year of the Saeculares under Philip I officina numbers were applied on select games issues at Rome as Roman numerals I-VI. The blended list Doug gave for the later period was still limited to letters that appeared in the Latin alphabet, even though the eastern mints regularly used Greek letter/numerals. Distinctively Greek letters do not appear in that list. Which brings us back to the list Mat gave us. (emphasis mine). Mat, from the references you were checking could you show us an example of one of those two highlighted (Greek Γ, Δ) from Rome? I'm wondering if those really are officina numbers, though I can't imagine what else they would be.
Thanks, David. @lrbguy Not my coins. O: AYTOK K M IOYΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOY CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right R: ΔHMAPX ЄΞ OYCIAC, eagle standing facing, head and tail left, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; Δ to upper right, S C across field, MON(eta) VRB(is) in exergue. Rome mint for Antioch 25mm 11.3g McAlee 901d; Prieur 308. O: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right Eagle standing facing, head and tail left with wing’s spread, holding wreath in beak; Γ to upper right, MON(eta) VRB(is) in exergue. Rome mint for Antioch 25mm 13.6g McAlee 901(c); Prieur 307.
Perfect!! Thank you Mat, now the light has come on. Hadn't noticed that the rest of the lettering is in Greek, except for the Senatorial "SC." Since the issue was being struck particularly for circulation in a Greek speaking part of the empire, the numerals for the officinae are Greek, even when they resemble Latin letters. So the "A" is not A, it is alpha. This aspect of the function of the mint at Rome is new to me (actually it is I who am the newby) and I thank you for opening me up to it. Still trying to puzzle out the reverse inscription which reads as "demarkh exousias," as in tribunician authority? By the authority of the tribune? Anyone familiar with this Greek expression?
