A fascinating coin

So one of my New Year`s purchases is this little Valerian silvered coin which features a woman as "The Orient" on the reverse - A deity I had never heard of before and I may be right in thinking that only Gallienus and Valerian used the Orient on their coins given the history of Persian incursions and Valerian relocating to Antioch to stave off the threat (Which failed miserably).
As an aside, Sears in the 4th revised edition says that due to the silver content of the antoninianus becoming so low it became necessary to give them a "Silver wash" to help distinguish them from bronzes. However the wash itself was very thin and in most cases became very patchy or disappeared entirely so that coins that retain their silvery coating today are quite rare.
So here is my proud example and I wonder if anyone can add to this:-


VALERIAN (255 AD) Antoninianus Antioch mint. 21mm 3.4g RIC V-1, 287

Obv; IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG. Bust Rad, dr, cuir right

Rev; RESTITVT ORIENTIS. The orient as a turreted woman, standing right presenting a wreath to Valerian, left, in military attire holding a spear
Purchased from Carpe Diem Numismatics

 

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That's a beauty and with an interesting portrait style.

I have a couple that are similar to your coin and possibly from the same issue. Nobody can seem to agree on where and when the first of these was minted. RIC is unable to assign it to a specific city and attributes it to an "Asian mint" and dates it to AD 259. Sear, similarly vague, attributes it to an "uncertain Syrian mint, AD 260."

Robert Göbl identified the issuing mint as Samosata, a city on the river Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the site of which (Samsat in Adiyaman Province, Turkey) today lies under a reservoir. Like Antioch, Samosata played an important role for ancient traders travelling the Eastern trade routes to Damascus and the oasis kingdom of Palmyra. Samosata probably operated as a mint between 255-258, possibly replacing the mint at Antioch which was plundered several times in this period -- in 253 (during the reign of Trebonianus Gallus) or 256 and again in 260: the sources for the period are rather patchy. [see Claire Franklin-Werz, "Gallienus and the East," Coins Weekly, available here]

If this is true, it makes assigning a date of the coin to AD 259 or 260 somewhat problematic. I suspect -- but am far from certain -- dating the coin to AD 260 was probably done on the basis of the singular AVG being used on the reverse instead of the plural AVGG that would be expected had it been issued during the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, which came to a tragic end with the capture of the senior Augustus by the Persians. One does have to wonder, however, if coinage celebrating victory over the Persians in the east would have been issued shortly after this event. I suspect the coin was issued earlier in the joint reign -- during the operation of the Samosata mint -- and the use of the singular AVG is an enigma.


Gallienus, AD 253-268.
Roman AR Antoninianus, 3.56 g, 22.0 mm, 6 h.
Samosata(?), AD 260 (?).
Obv: Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / ORIENS AVG, turreted female (the Orient) standing right, presenting wreath to Gallienus standing left in military dress and holding a spear; wreath above. RIC V 445; Göbl 1698b; RSC 705a; RCV 10298; Hunter 71.

Note the similarity in style and iconography to this issue, also attributed by Göbl to Samosata, celebrating Roman successes against the Sasanians in the years AD 253-254. It has the same iconography and reverse legend as yours:


Gallienus, AD 253-268.
Roman Billon Antoninianus, 4.40 g, 23.5 mm.
Samosata, AD 255-256.
Obv: IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and draped bust, right.
Rev: RESTITVT ORIENTIS, turreted female (the Orient) standing right, presenting wreath to emperor, standing left, who holds spear in left hand.
Refs: RIC 448; RSC 902; Cohen 902; RCV 10341; Hunter p. xlvii; Göbl 1677m.

 

Congratulations with your new coin!

The coins from this period vary a lot. The coins of Valerian tend to be low quality silver through and through, which I think your coin looks like. The later coinage of Gallienus tells a story of a steady decline in monetary quality. You can find very nice silver coins of both emperors, but they seem to be far more prone to pitting and cracking than earlier silver coins of better metal quality. They are described as «billon antoninanii», as silver content «fell from 35% at the commencement of the reign to 15%» (RCV III p. 263). It is not before Gallienus, however, that they resort to the 2.5% «silver wash».

I don’t have pics of my Valerian or Gallienus coins, but here’s a coin of Valerian II. You can see that time has been a little bit kinder to this one, and that it looks like a good silver coin:

 

..that's a very nice coin! ...i'm still on the trail of a Valerian at the moment for the next of my 3rd century emperors....

 

I couldn't find better than this worn silver coin of Gallienus from my old folders. Reverse reads "ORIENS AUG". It was struck at Samosata (Asian Mint) in 260 AD. RIC 445 v.

 

Nice example of a desirable type!

As @svessien stated above, the metal quality of the coins from this period varies a lot:

First, here is a Valerian I from my collection that doesn't show "the orient" but Oriens (aka Sol). It was struck from worn dies but has quite good metal, wich I wouldn't call it silver wash but fair billon.


Valerian I, Roman Empire, BI antoninianus, 258–259 AD, Cologne mint (RIC: Lugdunum mint), Obv: VALERIANVS P F AVG; draped, cuirassed, radiate bust of Valerian I r. Rev: ORIENS AVGG; Sol standing l., raising r. hand and holding globe in l. hand. 21mm, 2.86g. Ref: RIC V Valerian 13. Ex Forvm Ancient Coins.

Here is a second Valerian I, found in an "uncleaned" (read: junk) lot just when I was beginning to collect. It only stays in my collection because I kind of like the reverse with the comically oversized branch. I'd bet that this one contains only homeopathic traces of silver:


Valerian I, Roman Empire, AE/BI antoninian, 256–257 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C P LIC VAL[ERIANVS P F] AVG; bust of Valerian, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: [P]AX AVG[G]; Pax standing l. holding olive-branch and sceptre; in l. field, T. 20mm, 2.09g. Ref: RIC V Valerian 109var (fieldmark).

 

Dating the events of the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus is difficult. Ancient sources are not clear. We have all heard about Valerian being captured by the Sasanians. That war could hardly be celebrated. So, the OP coin has been taken as evidence there were two wars in the east, one successful (RESTITVT ORIENTIS) and the second one not.



Maybe the coinage can help straighten this out, but RIC was written much too long ago to have reliable chronology.

 

Good post @Orielensis That second coin is interesting not only because of its long branch, but also because of the composition of the coin. I will try to get better at noticing silver clad coins by Valerian I.

@Valentinian Maybe they were celebrating in advance that the emperor was on his way to restore law and order in the orient? That wouldn’t be exceptional for a Roman emperor, would it?

 

There is a distinct line between ' deities' and personifications. Many collectors don't know: deities are worshipped in temples and at home as ' lares' , being part of the 'Pantheon' . Personifications are ideas and sometimes inate objects with a certain value attached to them, comparable to the US versus the statue of Liberty. Italy is a country, on classical coins represented by a female figure seated on a globe (the ruler of the earth/universe). That is a personification; nothing holy, but a mighty idea.

 

Good question. I don't know what evidence we might have that tells whether a coin mentioning an event might be issued significantly before the event. Of course, some events are much more predicable, especially as to exactly when they will happen, than victory in battle. For example, the coins of Philip for the 1000th anniversary of Rome celebrated a long-planned event!

 

I haven’t read anything about guidelines for this kind of use of reverses, but I have read many theories about coins used for propaganda. Sayles mentions it, Harlan, Sear... I don’t see it as unlikely that a struggling emperor in a failing empire would send a message like that to the people through coinage.

 

Coins of Valerian seem to vary widely in quality of style and the metal. My billon piece here is quite humble and not of shiny silver...





However, early in his reign some decent silver and brass coins (sestertius) were still issued:



Unfortunately after a few years the quality of the coins experienced a remarkable decline given the economic and military disasters suffered by the Empire.



Shapur with the supplicants Valerian and Phillip I.

 

I always enjoyed the way the mint used the same OR to end the first word and start the second. Later rulers did the same but with ORBIS. There are some that have OR_OR but more abbreviate with several different legend breaks. I prefer the OR---BIS version.
Aurelian


Probus

 

VALERIAN I


RI Valerian I 253-260 CE AR Ant Felicitas stndg Caduceus and Cornucopia


SHAPUR I


Sassanian Shapur I 240-272 CE AE Tetradrachm 10.78g 27mm Ctesiphon mint phase 1a mural crown korymbos - fire altar type 2 SNS IIa1-1a

 

A very informative post - nice coins too.

I've got two examples of the OP RESTITVT ORIENTIS

This one looks to be base metal - or else the sand patina has covered up the precious metal "glint."



Valerian I Antoninianus
(c. 256-258 A.D.)
Antioch or Samosata mint
IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust rt. / RESTITVT ORIENTIS, Orient, turreted, right presenting wreath to Valerian, in military attire, left.
RIC 287c; RSC 189; Sear 9967
(3.77 grams / 20 mm)

Then I have another one that looks to be pretty good (for the period) silver, and is heavier (and a mushier strike):


Valerian I Antoninianus
(c. 256-258 A.D.)
Antioch or Samosata mint
IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust rt. / RESTITVT ORIENTIS, Orient, turreted, right presenting wreath to Valerian, in military attire, left.
RIC 287c; RSC 189; Sear 9967
(4.12 grams / 23 x 20 mm)

 

I just received one of these in the mail the other day... so great to see this thread about this type.

 

Yes, it seems the Romans did this personifying quite well ie. Roma and Victory are others examples I have and I guess there are many more.
Seeing The Orient deified/personified and on the reverse of a coin really caught my attention, mainly because I had never seen it before, hence the impulse purchase (I did go over my usual budget limit as well)

@Roman Collector: Thank you for the background info. I read the coins weekly article you posted and found it really interesting. I’ve learnt so much in just one day......and I still feel sorry for poor old Valerian.

 

I think this may be a good book for you @JulesUK : C.O. Matsson, «The Gods, Goddesses and Heroes on the ancient coins of Bible lands»:




It gives a good overwiev of all the different gods and myths on ancient coins. Very relevant for Greek coins and Roman provincial. No Oriens there, though. It targets coinage from Palestine. Still a great book to have.

 

Nice thread....I have this one which still has some remnants of silver wash...

Valerian I AR Antoninianus.Rome AD 255-256 ...2.93g
Obverse..IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG, radiate, draped bust right
Reverse..FELICITAS AVGG, Felicitas standing left holding caduceus and cornucopiae.
RIC 87, Cohen 55; Sear 9936.