'Once in a Lifetime'

When I made the decision last summer to collect Flavian bronze after years of collecting exclusively silver, this Domitian Secular Games as was topmost on my want list. It finally arrived over the weekend. I'm very proud to share this fantastic piece here on CoinTalk!




Domitian
Æ As, 10.13g
Rome mint, 88 AD
RIC 623b (C2). BMC 434.
Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P VIII CENS PER P P; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: COS XIIII LVD SAEC FEC; S C in exergue; Domitian stg. l., sacrificing over altar; to l., flute player and lyre player stg. r.; in background, temple, wreath in pediment
Acquired from Künker, January 2019. Ex Heinrich Pilartz Münzhandlung.

In October 88 AD Domitian held the Secular Games, a festival featuring theatrical performances and circus games accompanied by six various daytime and nighttime religious ceremonies. The games marked the transition from one era (saeculum) to another and were supposedly held once every 110 years, or the maximum span of a human lifetime, making them a 'once in a lifetime' event. Domitian conducted his games on the Augustan calculation, rejecting the formula for the Claudian games held in 47 AD. The festival was important enough to interrupt the normal striking of reverse types on the coinage and for the mint to produce a new unique issue commemorating the event both in precious metal and bronze. The precious metal designs tended to be symbolic while the bronze were more narrative in nature, focusing on the various religious sacrifices that were at the heart of the games.

The reverse on this as features a daytime victimless sacrifice of cakes to Apollo and Diana on the sixth and last day of the celebrations, held in front of an unidentified hexastyle temple somewhere on the Palatine. The stylised nature of the reverse's design makes it difficult to pinpoint the temple in question. The generic decorative wreath on the pediment offers no clues. Another variant of the type (RIC 623a) has an eagle on the pediment, perhaps an indication the engravers were not intending to depict a specific temple at all. The scene could stand alone and be an excellent representation for all the religious ceremonies of the games. The main message of the design is to show the Roman people that Domitian provided and responsibly held the Secular Games. The fact this type was struck in fairly large quantities hints it was an important piece of Domitianic propaganda.

The coin came with an old coin envelope from Heinrich Pilartz as well. 1960s?



Please share any Secular Games coins you wish!

 

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A wonderful coin! From the standpoint of a non-Flavian collector, it is good to see coins which have appeal not based on a rare combination of IMP/TRP/COS numbers. I was aware of the existence of this type and a similar one in my field for Julia Domna but I have none. Congratulations.

 

What a great reverse scene. Congrats on a nice addition.

 

Well done! These are usually worn down slugs. The reverse in particular is impressive and I love the patina. Congrats!

 

Beautiful coin David. I sure would like to know what temple it is. My guess, the Temple of Augustus?

 

Fantastic coin @David Atherton

 

Nice !!

 

Lovely

 

I love the temple on the reverse!!

 

Fantastic coin.
I would have jumped on it too, if....

Well it's not from Dombes, right ?

Q

 

A sweet addition, congrats. I like the patina on it too.

 

I have a similar example:


Domitian, 81 – 96 AD
Æ As, Rome Mint, 28mm, 11.97 grams

Obverse: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P VIII CENS PER P P, Laureate head of Domitian right.
Reverse: COS XIIII LVD SAEC FEC, Domitian standing left sacrificing from patera over lighted and garlanded altar, two lyre and flute players on left facing him, pentastyle temple with wreath in pediment in the background, S C in exergue.

References:
RIC623

Provenance:
Glenn Schinke, Santa Clara Coin Show, September 21st, 2018.
Ira & Larry Goldberg Auction 104, June 2018, Lot 3303.

 

@Ken Dorney, do you think your coin was smoothed? The fields have very ‘clean’ surfaces. The deposits in the lettering are likely to have cocered the whole coin. So, how does one clean them to such an outcome but without a single scratch? Thank you!

 

My photo is just not so great, its mostly a trick of the lighting. It hasn't been smoothed and under magnification there is plenty of micro pitting and adhesions on the surfaces. It's impossibly to say how it or any other coin was cleaned unless you did it yourself. Its not impossible that its completely natural and just had the soil washed away.

 

Lovely coin, David. The way the columns on the temple sort of "fade out" behind the standing figures is interesting - an effort to keep the design from being cluttered, or an attempt at perspective, I assume? Ken's has the same look. My experience is limited, but I don't recall seeing that sort of thing before.

At the risk of dragging down the aesthetics of this post, I just got a Domitian sestertius a couple days ago - it is appalling, but I really like it - there is something majestic about these big Flavian bronzes, even the ones that circulated heavily for 100+ years. I think I got the attribution right - there was just barely enough visible for me to winnow through OCRE to come up with it. Corrections always welcome.



Domitian Æ Sestertius
(90-91 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IMP CAES DOMIT AVG] GERM COS XV CEN[S PER PP] laureate head right / [IOVI] VICTORI, [Jupiter seated left, holding Victory and sceptre]; [SC in exergue].
RIC 702, Cohen 314.
(24.53 grams / 31 mm)

 

That's a real beauty there @David Atherton and @Ken Dorney ! @Marsyas Mike yours is better than mine!

 

Lots of detail on that Ludi Saeculares, David!
Pretty coin with a nice provenance.

I have a similar example, and a denarius which is also attributed to the celebration of the Ludi Saeculares.

 

Many cleaners have instruments of varied hardness used to clean coins. If the encrustations don't require anything major, it's entirely possible to clean a coin with softer ones that will not damage the patina. The patina on Ken's coin appears to be a hard enamel-like patina that is more resistant to scratches.

 

Great coin David, one of the more interesting Domitian types.
Domitian As, Saecular Games reverse, 88 AD Rome, 28mm, 11.21gm. RIC 623a

 

Hey, has everyone around here got an example of this beauty ?

Jealous Q