Diadumenianus

An unusual Diadumenian:

Diadumenian. As Caesar, AD 217-218. PHRYGIA, Cibyra. Æ (27mm, 10.22 gm, 6h). Obv: Bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev: Tyche standing left, holding rudder and cornucopia. SNG Copenhagen 292; SNG von Aulock__.

 

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A nice one:

Diadumenian. As Caesar, 217-218 AD. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum. Æ (27mm, 14.38 gm, 1h). Marcus Claudius Agrippa, consular legate. Obv: Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev: River-god Istrus reclining left, resting hand on galley and holding reeds. H&J, Nicopolis 8.25.32.3; Varbanov 3645 corr. (obv. and rev. legends)

 

I frequently see references to SNG Copenhagen for both Greek and Roman Provincial coins. I don't suppose it's online anywhere, is it? I certainly haven't been able to find it.

 

I just Googled it and found listings for the purchase of it, but that's all.

 

I have a Roman mint bronze:



M OPEL ANTONINVS DIADVMENIANVS CAES, bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust of Diadumenian right
SPES PVBLICA S C,Spes advancing left, holding flower in extended right hand and raising drapery of her dress behind
Sestertius, Rome 218 a.D
23,46 gr / 32.23 mm / die axis:h
RIC 219; BMCRE 155-7 and pl. 84, 7 (same obverse die)

 

I have found and added another reference to my description of my (expected) new Diadumenian coin that I posted above in this thread. The new reference is in boldface, spelled out with the full name of the source like all the others -- which is something I like to do in my own records, except for the most obvious reference works (like RIC, RSC, RCV, Crawford, etc.), in case I forget what a shorthand reference stands for:

Diadumenian, AE 17, 217-218 AD, Syria, Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch. Obv. Bareheaded and cuirassed bust right, KAI MO ΔI AN TΩN[INOC CE] [Caesare Marco Opellio Diadumeniano Antonino Augusto] / Rev. Large S C within wreath, Δ above, ε below, star at top. Sear, Greek Imperial Coins and their Values (Seaby 1982) 3017 (ill. p. 286); BMC Syria 408 (p. 201) [Wroth, W., A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 20, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Syria (London, 1899)]; SNG Copenhagen 235 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Part 36, Syria: Cities (Copenhagen, 1959)]; McAlee 745c [Richard McAlee, The Coins of Roman Antioch (2007)]; Butcher 463 [K. Butcher, Coinage in Roman Syria: Northern Syria, 64 BC - AD 253 (2004)]. 17 mm., 4.33 g. [Footnote omitted re possible meaning of Δ and ε on reverse.]

So what probably should have been the first place I looked -- given that Roman Provincial Coins online doesn't yet cover Macrinus and Diadumenian -- turned out to be the last. This is the first time I've actually found a specific coin I was looking for in Greek Imperial Coins, and I am pleasantly surprised. On the whole, the book has been somewhat less useful than I had hoped when I bought it, except in generally educating me about Roman Provincial coins (which seems to have replaced "Greek Imperial" over the last few decades as the most common term for such coins).

Here's the relevant entry (No. 3017) from Sear's book, with the illustration:



In the future, I won't forget again to look in the first instance in the one book I actually own that deals with Roman Provincial coinage! (Not counting the coverage in RCV of coins minted in Alexandria.) Who knows, I might get lucky again.

 

If you get interested in provincial coins, here is my book review of Butcher's book:

"Roman Provincial Coins: An Introduction to the Greek Imperials, by Kevin Butcher, is an excellent introduction with a great deal of "meat". It can be read again and again. A slim book, it has excellent photographs of 95 coins and 258 line drawings of coins. It has many maps so you can tell where all those cities are. I must have already read it 8 times, and scanned it many more, and I still like it. If you might be interested in Roman Provincial coins, buy this book."

I should have mentioned it is not intended to be a list of types so collectors can assign ID numbers to coins. A list of provincial coins would be hugely long and no one book can come close to covering the field.

That review, and other book reviews, are on my page:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/learnmore.html

 

Thank you. I've read and enjoyed all your book reviews, more than once! Whether or not I pursue collecting Roman Provincial coins in the future to more than the minimal extent I have to date, it sounds like a very interesting and enjoyable book. I saw a copy on Abebooks for $26.00, so I went ahead and ordered it. I completely understand that it's not intended as a catalog; that purpose is now largely served by RPC online. I was just astounded that I actually found a specific coin I was looking for in Sear's book!

 

I have one, too!


Diadumenian, Caesar AD 217-218.
Roman provincial Æ 16.5 mm, 4.63 g, 11:00.
Syria: Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch ad Orontem.
Obv: ΚΑΙ Μ Ο ΔΙA ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC CЄ, bare-headed and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: Large SC, Δ/Є above and beneath; all within laurel wreath interrupted by star above.
Refs: Sear 3017; BMC 20. 201,408; SNG Cop. 235; McAlee 745a.
Notes: Reverse die match to McAlee plate coin.

 

I've seen both McAlee 745a and 745c cited for this coin type. It sounds like you have the book, so is 745c an error? Or does it signify some minor variation?

 

McAlee is the catalog of his personal collection and he had many copies of several of these coins, differing only in minor details, such as the details of the wreath on the reverse.

 

Google wasn't really much help. There are about twice as many results for McAlee 745c as for 745a. The only possible differences I can see (I'm boldfacing the differences) are that the obverse inscription for my coin (apparently McAlee 745c) is supposed to read KAI MO ΔI ANTΩNINOC CE (also the inscription in Sear's book), whereas the inscription you give for yours is ΚΑΙ Μ Ο ΔΙA ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC CЄ (also the inscription that Wildwinds gives for McAlee 745a; Wildwinds doesn't seem to have an entry for McAlee 745c). And then there's a third version of the inscription -- KAI M O Δ ANTΩNINOC CEB -- given at https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=458&lot=181 for a coin classified as McAlee 745a. And a fourth version -- KAI M O Δ ANTΩNINOC C -- given at http://coinproject.com/coin_detail.php?coin=239492 for a coin classified as McAlee 745c!

On most examples of this coin I see, the obverse legend is at least partly illegible anyway, so it's no wonder that people have come up with all sorts of different versions of it. And yet, your coin's legend does appear to say "ΔΙA ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC,"
whereas (as best as I can tell from the photo, since I don't yet have the coin) mine does appear to say "ΔI ANTΩNINOC"; I can't see an extra A there. So perhaps that is the difference.

 

Well, I said it might be bad luck! A couple of hours ago, I got a notice saying that the seller canceled the sale because the coin is "no longer available." Presumably he sold it and forgot to mark it as such on VCoins. That's the second time that's happened to me recently. Curses, foiled again!