My 2017 Top Ten - Runners Up

Happy New Year!

A couple of days ago I threatened to post another list, with runners-up to the initial Top Ten I had chosen on New Year's Eve.

A couple of reminders: My usual focus is Severan-era denarii, but since I can't help but stray from this narrow path every once in a while, I included a few non-silver and non-Severan pieces. Also, as I mentioned for the initial list, and as so many others have expressed in introducing their own lists, it was difficult to decide which coins to include and in what order. After some deliberation I hit upon the selection below, settled on the particular arrangement and stuck with it. To others the order of the coins in the list may appear to be only a few steps removed from completely arbitrary. That's okay with me, though. The important thing is just to enjoy looking at the coins; exactly how they are arranged is not so important.

Here they are, individually in descending order, with image and description. All photographs were made by me:

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10.
Philip I (the Arab). AR antoninianus. Rome mint, struck 249 CE; 21mm, 4.82g, 12h. RIC 58, RSC 17. Obv: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG; radiate and draped bust right. Rx: AETERNITAS AVGG; elephant walking left, bearing driver who holds goad and wand. VF.


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9.

Constantine I (the Great). Æ4, Alexandria mint, struck c. 337–41 CE; 16.5mm, 1.34g, 5h. C 760, LRBC 1466, RIC VII 12. Obv: DV CONSTANTI–NVS P T AVGG; head veiled right. Rx: Constantine, veiled, driving quadriga right, raising right hand to manus Dei above; SMALA • [dot] in exergue. This variant with dot [•] after mintmark (LRBC 1466) seems to be significantly rarer than that without (LRBC 1454). Includes collector’s identification ticket handwritten by E.E. Clain-Stefanelli, on which the coin is identified as RIC 34, C 197, with SMALA mintmark. However, RIC 34 is a campgate type, so this ticket might have been accidentally swapped with that of a different coin. EF.

From the Elvira E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection.


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8.
Elagabalus. AR denarius, Antioch mint, struck 219 CE; 19mm, 3.73g, 12h. BMCRE 277 note, RIC 188 var. (obv. legend with FEL only), RSC 27 var (same). Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FELIX AVG; laureate head right. Rx: FELICITAS / TEMP in exergue; ship with sail, seven rowers, and pilot; standard and acrostolium on stern, furled sail at prow. Refers to Elagabalus’s journey to Rome from the East. Scarce; sixteen specimens in the Reka Devnia hoard; this variant with FELIX rather than FEL in the obverse legend is rare. VF.

From the Paul Balla Collection of Roman Silver Denarii.


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7.

Elagabalus. AR denarius, Rome mint, struck 220–2 CE; 19mm, 3.12g, 12h. BMCRE 221, RIC 107, RSC 92, Thirion 271. Obv: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; laureate and draped bust right. Rx: L–IBER–TAS AVG; Liberty standing half-left, holding cap (pileus), and scepter or rod (vindicta), star or comet in field right. Near MS.

From the R. Forman Collection.


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6.

Caracalla. Æ as, Rome mint, struck 216 CE; 25mm, 11.71g, 7h. C 352, cf. Hill 1542 (bust draped and cuirassed), RIC IV 560 (S). Obv: ANTONINVS – PIVS AVG GERM; laureate head right. Rx: PM TR P XVIIII COS IIII / S C in exergue; Pluto/Serapis, wearing polos, seated left, on stool, holding scepter, and extending right hand toward Cerberus at his feet. Very rare; not in Mazzini, a single example with head only (not laureate) in BM (no. 1993,0401.215), fine with incomplete legends, ex Curtis L. Clay. Pitted surfaces; near VF.

The chthonic gods Hades and Pluto were originally very similar, and by Roman times Hades had usually come to refer not to the god but to the Underworld itself as a place name (chthonic is defined as: concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld). An explanation offered by the authors of BMCRE back in 1950 is that the figure described as Pluto may instead represent “Serapis in his chthonic aspect” (p. ccv):

Septimius [Caracalla’s father] had paid high honour to the god [Serapis] and had sometimes introduced a special feature of his portraiture — the locks falling over the forehead — into his own portrait. Caracalla now took over and exaggerated his father’s devotion. It was all part of that advance of Eastern cults to full imperial status that had begun at least as early as the reign of Commodus, and of that excessive interest in religion (‘superstitio’ rather than ‘religio’) that marked Caracalla’s later years. The gloomy ‘underworld’ element in the cult of Serapis will have had its special attraction for the sinister young Emperor” (pp. cxcix–cc).​

The first appearance of Serapis on Roman coins occurred during Caracalla’s reign only a few years earlier in 212 CE, and both Serapis and Pluto are shown on the coinage with similar attributes of scepter and polos; another of Pluto’s attributes, the cornucopia, is absent.

From the Laurent Bricault Collection of Isis and Serapis in Ancient Coinage.


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5.

Geta (as Caesar). Æ as, Rome mint, struck 203–8 CE; 28mm, 7.73g, 7h. BMCRE —, C — (cf. 105–7), Hill 874 var (bust draped only), RIC — (cf. 128b and 149). Obv: P SEPTIMIVS GETA CAES; youth’s bare-headed bust right, draped and cuirassed. Rx: PONTIF COS around / S | C in exergue; Minerva seated left, holding owl and resting left elbow on shield; transverse spear or scepter under arm. Very rare. See RIC 128b for obverse type with reverse legend COS; see RIC 149 for obverse type with reverse type and legend COS II. VF.


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4.

Elagabalus. AR denarius, Rome mint, struck 221 CE; 19mm, 2.96g, 6h. BMCRE 256 and 258 var. (with “horn”), RIC IV 46 var. (same), RSC III 208 var (same). Obv: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; laureate bust, draped, seen from the front, bearded. Rx: PM TR P IIII COS III P P; Elagabalus, standing half-left, sacrificing out of patera over lighted altar, holding club upwards in left hand; star or comet in field left. Scarce to rare variant without “horn.” Masterfully-executed portrait in high relief. Near MS.

ex Jonathan K. Kern.


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3.
Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern mint, struck 218–9 CE; 19mm, 3.57g, 7h. BMCRE p. 580 * note var (without dots in legend)., RIC 169 (R) var (same)., RSC 24 var (same). Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG •; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rx: CONSVL – • II P P ••; Roma seated left, holding victory and transverse scepter; behind her, shield. Rare; only two in Reka Devnia. This type not in The British Museum, nor in the Arnold or Mazzini collections. Variant of the type in the Kelly Collection (Spink, 1997) without dots, porous VF, lot 1370, second coin, estimate for the lot £100–150. EF.


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2.

Julia Domna. AR denarius, Emesa mint, struck ca. 193–6/7 CE; 18.5mm, 2.77g, 12h. BMCRE W422, Hill —, RIC S630 (S), RSC 188a (C 191 var). Obv: IVLIA DO–MNA AVG; draped bust right. Rx: VENER – VICT; Venus, draped, standing front, head left, holding apple (globe?) and scepter. Rare; seven in Reka Devnia, catalogued as a variant of Cohen 191. EF.

From the Elvira E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection.


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1.

Septimius Severus. AR denarius, Emesa mint, struck 193 CE; 17mm, 2.94g, 6h. BMCRE W321 and p. 88, * note var., RIC 352 var., RSC 66 var. Obv: IMP CE L SEV SE—V PERT AVG • CO; head laureate right. Rx: BONI — E—VINTVS [sic]; Bonus Eventus standing left, holding plate of fruit and grain ears. Very rare; none of the type in Reka Devnia. This variety, with misspelled reverse legend and CO in obverse legend, seems to be previously unrecorded. Tiny edge chip on reverse; good VF.

 

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Here are 2017's top ten runners up presented together in a 'tray', correctly sized relative to each other. Click the image to enlarge:

 

What a list!

Some very wonderful and enviable coins!!!

 

Runner ups? They are all fine examples and could easily be in my top ten.

 

Great coins, especially like all the silver. Wouldn't mind seeing the runners up of the runners up after looking at them.

 

I like that tray presentation..

 

Very nice collection @benhur767 ... I actually like your CI the best... AE is great for me!

 

Some NICE coins you got "coming off the bench" there! I dig that Philip with the west bound pachyderm!

The virtual trays for your top 10 are fantastic.

 

Very nice virtual tray. How do you get them sized correctly relative to each other?

 

Thank you. To make the images the correct relative sizes, I kept the camera in the same position — the same distance — when shooting each coin so that all the raw images are sized correctly relative to one another right from the camera.

To make the 'tray' image, I used the composite images I had already made to show the obverse and reverse of each coin. For these I had to crop them, orient them, sharpen and color correct them, remove the backgrounds, and position them. Then I had to reduce the size of these images to fit in the canvas area for the 'tray' image.

The key to making it easy was to reduce all the images by the same amount before dragging them onto the new Photoshop document. I determined that reducing all by 25% would work well for the size of the image I was producing.

 

Thank you, I appreciate the comments. I really like seeing the coins next to each other as well as individually, I'm glad so many others do, too.

 

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoy looking at the coins.

 

Very nice coins benhur767, #9 is my personal favorite. I love the reverse imagery of the hand of God reaching down to Constantine.

 

Superb selection and presentation. Tough to pick a favorite. Maybe #6; just maybe.

 

Benhur....some mighty fine coins! I really like numero uno/ Elephant reverse
But, I always loved coins with animals on them, still trying to get a mint state Octilia Severa "Hippo" denarius. Your, "runners up" are first rate, most collectors
would love to have them.

 

Those are really nice coins, and they are your runner-ups, nonetheless! Each coin is sharply struck and just eye-candy. Outstanding photography to boot too. I wish I can take photos like that! I wish you the best in your collection themes with an equally stunning runner-up (which means a better top ten as well ) this year...

BTW, I love #10 and #1

 

Another outstanding group of coins. I’m very partial to #6 and #2.

 

Thanks so much for the positive comments. I'm looking for the right Otacilia hippo as well. They seem fairly common, but really nice examples are hard to find, and when they do come up they can get expensive.

 

All super nice! That Philip is excellent!!

 

I realize on #6 I erred a little in the description. Unfortunately I can't edit the original post at this point. I have the reverse legend as PM TR P XVIIII COS IIII instead of the actual PM TR P XVIIII COS IIII P P. Also, the example I link to in The BM I say "head only without laureate" but it actually does have a laureate, like mine. The BM example is very worn so the laureate is harder to see (also their description does say it has a laureate). Anyway, posting the thread prompted me to take another look at my descriptions and catch some errors like this!