I just received this coin in the mail... I'm quite happy with the purchase and especially the price, and it has enabled me to round out the members of the Valerian dynasty in my possession. Saloninus, AR antoninianus, 256 AD, Lyons. 3.1 grams, 21mm Obverse: SALON VALERIANVS CAES, radiate, draped bust right Reverse: PIETAS AVGG, Sacrificial implements: lituus, knife, vase turned left, simpulum and aspergillum. Reference: RIC V-1, 9; RSC 41; Sear 10767 Please feel free to post any Saloninus coins you may have or others of the family that ruled during troubling times.
Nice addition. I envy you cause I'm not receiving anything lately...even if 4 coins are stocked somewhere in the mail. Here is my only one.
@ancient coin hunter, Great obv! Looks like you and I share those blank-stare reverses! RI Augustus Quinarius - possibly Asia Recepta - blank wore-off-rev
Your example, @ancient coin hunter , is pretty typical. The reigns of Valerian and Gallienus were characterized by generally shoddy workmanship at the mint and using dies long past their "sell by" date. It is representative of the period and highlights the economic stress of the times. To complain about the worn reverse die is akin to complaining about the zinc content of US cents rather than understanding what it says about the historical milieu in which they were produced. I -- like everyone else -- have the priestly implements reverse type. It has a pretty raggedy flan: Saloninus, Caesar AD 258-260. Roman billon antoninianus, 2.39 g, 22.2 mm, 12 h. Cologne, AD 258-260. Obv: SALON VALERIANVS CAES, radiate and draped bust, right. Rev: PIETAS AVG, lituus, jug, simpulum and sprinkler. Refs: RIC 9; Göbl 914e; Cohen 41; RCV 10767; Cunetio 744; Hunter 8.
..i've been after a Salonius a long time....i was bidding on a one last week...i even thought(imagined/hoped, etc.) this Galenius was one for a minute, till the peeps here educated me...again
I have one of those Priestly Implements version, too... Someone took a yummy chomp out of this cookie (biscuit to y'all funny talkers) RI Saloninus 258-260 BI Ant Priestly Implements
I notice that on several of these -- you can see it very well on mine -- the crown is enormously too big for his head. I wonder if that was a deliberate choice to show how young he was, and if the same is true on coins of other boy emperors.
You're right -- not as oversized a crown as his brother's, but still too big for him! Valerian II Caesar, Billon Antoninianus, 257-258 AD, Cologne Mint. Obv. Radiate draped bust right, VALERIANVS CAES/ Rev. Infant Jupiter seated right on goat Amalthea walking right, looking left, with right hand raised, left hand holding goat's horn, IOVI CRESCENTI. RIC V-1 3, RSC IV 26, Sear RCV III 10731 (ill.). 22 mm., 3.70 g.
Saloninus, Antoninianus, SPES PVBLICA AR Antoninianus Saloninus Caesar: 258 - 260AD Augustus: 260AD Issued: 258 - 260AD 20.0mm 3.80gr 0h O: SALON VALERIANVS NOB CAES; Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. R: SPES PVBLICA; Saloninus standing right on left, holding spear, receiving flower from Spes to right. Antioch Mint RIC V-1 Antioch 36; Cohen 45; Sear 10775; Aorta: B5, O11, R15, T19. RIC 36(?)