Lucius Verus - first FSR win

I received the five coins that I won in the Frank Robinson auction in the mail today. I am quite pleased with all of them. This one stood out as the most dramatic so I am sharing it first, with the emperor in charge of the re-conquest of Armenia since it had been lost to the Parthians.

The generals Fronto and Avidius Cassius did most of the fighting, but Lucius' received the glory on his coins with the title ARMENIACVS on the obverse of his issues. The victory was probably the high point in the reign of Verus, since he was re-assigned to the Danube frontier in the last two years of his reign where he died, ostensibly of the plague which the Roman armies had carried with them back from their journey to the East.

Lucius Verus, 161-169 A.D.

Type: AE As, 25.5 mm 12.1 grams, R1 according to ACSearch

Obverse: L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, Bare-Headed Bust Facing Right

Reverse: TRP IIII IMP II COS III, Emperor on Horseback Charging right holding spear, riding down foe.

Reference: TBD, not in Wildwinds - edit: RIC 1404





Please attach any interesting coins of Verus that you may have...

 

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Very nice! I placed a lowball bid on that coin, glad it went to a fellow CTer.

 

Beautiful. I looked at it but twas too far out of my budget. Glad someone here got it

 

What a great coin!


Lucius Verus AR Denarius 161-162 AD. Obv. Bare head right, IMP L AUREL VERVS AVG/ Rev. Providentia standing left holding globe and cornucopiae, PROV DEOR TR P II COS II. RIC III 482, RSC II 155. 16 mm., 3.59 g.

 

I bid on that one, too. Mine have not arrived yet. I wonder if you bid on any I won. I have no as. This is a sestertius.

 

Nice one. I didn’t bid in this FSR auction, but when I browsed the catalog, that was one of the coins that I took note of.


LUCIUS VERUS
AE Sestertius. 24.31g, 31mm. Rome mint, AD 164. RIC 1379. O: L AVREL VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate bust right. R: TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Mars advancing right, holding trophy and transverse spear; S C across fields.

 

Very nice! That's BMCRE 1132, with the bare-headed bust, right. It also comes in a bare-headed and cuirassed bust type (BMCRE 1133) and a laureate head type (BMCRE 1134).

Here's a rather pedestrian ARM PARTH MAX denarius of the fellow.


Lucius Verus, AD 161-169.
Roman AR Denarius, 17 mm, 3.36g, 6h.
Rome, AD 168.
Obv: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate head right.
Rev: FORT RED TR P VIII IMP V COS III, Fortuna seated left, holding rudder and cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 586; BMC 477; Cohen 111; RCV 5350; MIR 170.

 

LUKE


RI LUCIUS VERUS 161-169 AE24 As Rome L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS Bare head r Mars trophy TR P IIII IMP II COS II S-C RIC 1377



RI Lucius Verus 161-169 CE AR Denarius Providentia glob cornucopiae RIC 253

 

I have a Liberalitas as of Lucius Verus with the ARMENIACVS moniker. I wonder if this was issued for distribution at a Triumph?



Lucius Verus Æ As
(164-165 A.D.)
Rome Mint
L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS bare head right / LIBERAL AVG TR P V IMP II COS II, S C, Liberalitas standing left, holding coin counter and cornucopia.
RIC 1417; BMCRE 1269.
(9.24 grams / 23 mm)

 

My only coin of Lucius Verus, with some nice wear:

ROMAN IMPERIAL, Lucius Verus. Denomination: AR denarius, minted: Rome, Italy; 167-168 AD
Obv: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX: Head of Lucius Verus, laureate, right
Rev: TR P VIII IMP IIII COS III: Aequitas, draped, standing front, head left, holding scales in extended right hand and cornucopiae in left hand
Weight: 3.01g; Ø:17mm. Catalogue: RIC III 578. Provenance: Found in Ukraine; acq.: 12-2019

 

A couple months ago, I got two sestertii of Lucius Verus - I really like his coins, but find them difficult to find on the low-end cheap side of things.

Lucius Verus did indeed inflict a crushing defeat on the Parthians. At least that's what this coin claims - and Roman coin propaganda never lies or exaggerates :



Lucius Verus Æ Sestertius
(166 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[L VERVS AV]G ARM [PARTH MAX], laureate head right / [TR POT VI IMP IIII]
COS II S C: Victory half-draped standing right [holding palm?] attaching shield inscribed VIC PAR to palm tree.
(20.48 grams / 28 mm)

Lucius Verus was so awesome, they made him into a god - sometimes I wonder, just when was the last time somebody bothered to worship Lucius Verus? Were they still worshipping him by the time Theodosius closed down the temples? Did he have a temple dedicated to him?


Lucius Verus Æ Sestertius
Posthumous Issue
(169-170 A.D.)
Rome Mint
DIVVS [VERVS], bare head right / [CONSECRATIO S]-C, eagle standing right on globe, head turned left.
RIC 1509 [Aurelius]; Cohen 56;
BMC 1359
(19.58 grams / 28 mm)

 

Very nice new addition, I really like that reverse.


Lucius Verus, AR Denarius (17 mm, 3.08 g) Rome, 161-162. Bare bust of Lucius Verus to right/ Rev. Providentia standing front, head left, holding globe in her right hand and cornucopia with her left. RIC 482.

 

Are you sure that your Providentia coin isn't an RIC 482/RSC 155? It looks like the same type as the ones that @Shea19 and I posted. (Although in both of yours, the globe is round. In mine, it's shaped more like a potato!)

 

Donna, I am always open for correction. I do not collect the Roman Imperial Era as my focus, and do not have RIC. So, thank you for your observation and correction.

 

Passports

Not sure. I only bid on the five coins that I won so perhaps not. The other coins I got are Florianus (fills hole in the collection), Macrianus (upgrade), Constantine MAX AVG type in pristine condition, and a very large Byzantine folle of the notoriously parsimonious emperor Anastasius.