Who says provincial die engravers weren't talented?

I'll admit that sometimes Roman provincial issues can seem quite crudely rendered:



But there are times when I'm awe-struck by how well-rendered they are. I can't get enough of this new acquisition! What artistry!

Show us your provincial coins with exceptional artistry!


Severus Alexander, AD 222-235.
Roman Provincial Æ 27.2 mm, 8.75 g, 6 h.
Marcianopolis, Moesia Inferior, Legate Um. Tereventinus, AD 226-227.
Obv: AVT K M AVP CEVH AΛEZANΔPOC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: HΓ ȢM TEPEBENTINOV MAPKIANOΠOΛIT-ΩN, Asklepios standing facing, head left, holding serpent staff.
Refs: AMNG I 1027; Moushmov 696; Varbanov 1685 (same dies).

How about a close-up of Asklepios?

 

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Nice Asklepios! Here are two later period Roman Egyptian coin whose reverse is exceptionally artistic for the time. Claudius II has several dies which are, to my eyes, much more artistic than the surrounding decades.

Beautiful and wonderfully detailed Tyche; crude obverse. I should reshoot this.

Claudius II tetradrachm, year 3, /Tyche standing left; Emmett 3896

A better obverse of Claudius Gothicus (also needs a reshoot; lighting is too oblique).

Claudius II tetradrachm year 1, /eagle; Emmett 3878

Edited: I reshot this Claudius/eagle this afternoon. He looks less sinister without the steeply oblique lighting



This Alexandrian Domitian is very artistic, both sides.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian
Regnal year 10, CE 90/91
Æ diobol (25mm, 10.86 g, 12h)
Obv: AVT KAICAP ΔΟ ΜΙΤ CEB ΓΕΡΜ, laureate head right
Rev: Agathodaemon serpent, wearing the skhent crown (emblematic of upper and lower Egypt), on horseback galloping left; L I (date) below
Ref: Köln –; Dattari (Savio) –; K&G 24.109; RPC II 2585; SNG Copenhagen 214; Emmett 277.10 (R5).
Provenance:
Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection
Ex West Coast/Lloyd Beauchaine Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 41, 19 March 1997), lot 1110
Ex Classical Numismatic Review Vol. XVI, No. 1 (January 1991), lot 31
Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Fall Mail Bid Sale (18 October 1990), lot 2365
Appearances:
Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 39 (this coin)
Emmett, Alexandrian Coins; obverse illustrated as the header for the Domitian section, p. 24 (this coin) and fully illustrated on p. 26 as a featured (this coin)
Sear, Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. I, #2868, p. 511 (this coin)
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/so-these-exist-snake-cowboys.314032/

 

Some real beauties posted, for sure. Not quite as nice, but I thought Marsyas from Deultum looked pretty good on this one:



Severus Alexander Æ 24
(222-235 A.D.)
Roman Prov. - Deultum, Thrace
M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right / COL FL PAC DEVLT Marsyas standing right, holding wineskin over his shoulder and raising right hand.
SNG Bulgaria 418-23; Var. 2319
(7.81 grams / 24 mm)

 

I never got into Roman provincials, but I do have some to fill gaps in my imperial collection that would otherwise be tough and/or expensive to fill.

Augustus/Rhoemetalkes
Kingdom of Thrace

Love that tiny little capricorn!

Tiberius Gemellus
Philadelphia, Lydia - one of the few coins to depict him as a teenager rather than an infant


Agrippina the Younger
Aezanis, Phrygia


Diadumenian AE tetra-assarion
Nikopolis ad Istrum, under Marcus Claudius Agrippa
Rev: Hermes holding purse and caduceus

(Looks a lot nicer in hand; the glossy black patina is tough to photograph!)

Tranquillina
Hadrianopolis
Rev: Artemis advancing right, holding bow, dog at feet

 

Hadrianopolis, Septimius Severus, AE28


Alexandria, Julia Domna tetradrachm


Nikopolis, Gordian III, Hermes, AE28


Antioch, Philip I, tetradrachm

 

A Macrinus from Nikopolis - Apollo

 

Antoninus Pius, Nice turreted Tyche reverse

 

Galeria Valeria- Antioch. Venus on Reverse.

 

Nice!



Nikaia (AD 54-68) AE 19 - Nero
Nero, 54-68 AD. AE19 (4.64g). Bare head right / Altar inscribed PAT/RWN/OS in three lines

 

@dougsmit That JD Tetradrachm I'm in love!

 

Domitianus 81-96, Laodicea ad Mare, Seleucis and Pieria (Latakia in Syria). Obv. Bust of the emperor left. Under his chin, the date: BLR = Civic year 132 = 84/5 AD. Rev. Turreted bust of Tyche right.



Tetradrachm Elagabalus (218-222), Alexandria. Potin. Dated RY 5 (221/222). Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev. Conjoined busts of Helios, draped and wearing radiate crown, and Selene, draped and wearing crescent-moon crown, right; L Є (date) to lower right. 22.5 mm, 12.62 gr.

 

One of my favorite provincials: Geta from Isaura Nova, Cilicia. 3.85 gr., 21.3 mm. 6hr. BMC 5; SNG Levante 265. I treasure it especially for how it came to me. I first admired it over 50 years ago in a friend's collection. I never mentioned it again to him, but in 2012 he gave it to me, having remembered my admiration of it when we were both a little younger.

 

Wow! What a great memory, in both senses .

 

@7Calbrey showed one like this in a fairly recent post. Elegabalus AE22 Antioch 6.58g 22 mm


Let me ask a noob question...What distinguishes a coin as a provincial coin?

 

Here's my Asklepios:


Caracalla, AD 198-217
AE30, 14.9g, 7h; Thrace, Pautalia.
Obv.: AVT K MAVP CEV ANTONEINOC, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: OVΛΠIAC ΠAVTAΛIAC, Asklepios standing front, looking left, leaning on serpent-entwined staff.

I love Provincials!

 

@Kentucky.. I feel that a provincial coin is different from all other provincial coins in matter of impressive design. Think Antioch, Serdica, Mesopotamia etc.. Some members here, I believe, could guess the mint just by looking at the coin.

 

Here is one from Alexandria, a coin of Gallienus. I think the reverse is quite artistic.

 

I find the provincial coinage very artistic!

My favorite mint Stobi:

Caracalla, Stobi M AVREL ANT-O-NINVS AV
Laureate draped bust right
MVNI STOB
Victory standing left holding wreath and palm
Ae;7.44g;24.5mm
Josif 421, V42, R126

Two more of my favorite provincial girls:

Corcyra, Epirus
25mm; 10.18gm
IVLIA DOMNA CEB
draped bust right with hair waived and coiled at back
KORKY-RAIWN above and beneath Pegasus flying right
Sear in GIC, no. 2326, BMC 7.163.669, Lindgren II (European Mints), no. 1481, Chaix 238


Plautilla, Nikopolis ad Istrum Plautilla
Ae 26mm; 10.60g; Moesia Inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum
Magistrate Gallus
FOU PLAUTILLA CEB
draped bust right
UP AV GALLOU NIKOPOLITWN PROC IC
Hermes, nude, standing left holding purse, mantle hanging from left arm.

 

Perhaps surprisingly, or not... the answer isn't as clear as you might think.

RPConline does a good job of breaking it down in their Introduction pages.

 

Thanks