This Septimius type is one that leave no doubt about who is shown on the reverse. Note also the boots. I find the differences in the altars on our two specimens interesting.
I am still on interminable house quarantine. Just about all my time is devoted to researching and writing about Ancient coins - not a bad agenda at that! Here is my latest “quarantine coin” acquisition: Much worn iconic coin issued by Septimius Severus to celebrate and commemorate his Victory over Britain resulting from his Scotland campaign. Septimius Severus, Sestertius, RIC IV, Rome No. 796, AD 210 Obverse depiction: Laureate bust of Septimius Severus facing right Obverse Inscription: L SEPT SEVERVS PIVS AVG Reverse depiction: Two Victories, winged, draped, standing left and right, facing each other and fixing a shield to a palm tree, at the foot of which are two seated British captives (Picts?) Reverse Inscription: P M TR P XVIII COS III P P - S C in exergue I love this coin.
Photographing coins in the overhead sunlight. No new coins to show, just a few oldies of Julia Domna:
RIC VII, page 419 discusses the five marks including this one but has a dedicated type face for each and does not use a name when discussing their relative order as proposed by Voetter, Kent and 'the present author'. They use (ii) and the second one (Give me a break!) rather than calling it as they saw it. Like Bing, I call it a sunburst and really do find 'the present author' (Sutherland or Carson?) being unnecessarily inscrutable. Perhaps one of our late Roman specialists can point to a place in RIC where the matter was discussed that we who have not memorized the earlier parts by chapter and verse would know what to call it. Failmezger, page 69, gave the five as "double crescent, fulmen, branch, wreath, sun" in one of his charts which struck me (his friend but not one that agreed with several of his book's less than clear arrangements) as reasonable. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/vf.html Regarding the Failmezger book: I still recommend its purchase but I suggest you search for a copy less inflated in price than the Amazon offering. https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Bronze-Coins-Christianity-D/dp/1932109412
This Saturday, I'm residing in the early 350s, one of the most interesting periods in the history of the Late Empire. - Early 350, Magnentius leads a rebellion against Constans, Constans flees for his life but is caught up by Magnentius loyalists and killed in Western Gaul; before adding his own coinage, he continues the previous types, adding his own effigy. Here is one of his early 350 issues at Trier: - Late March 351, while in Sirmium, Constantius II raises Gallus to the rank of Caesar to supplant him in the East, while he prepares to go against Magnentius; the base metal coinage at this time is still basically following the types of the reform of 348 plus the types introduced by Vetranio in 350. Gallus in March-summer of 351, at Thessalonica: - In 352 begins the fourth series of the well-known "fallen horseman" type and it is marked at Aquileia and Siscia by an issue bearing the value of this new series: LXXII (72 coins to the Roman pound). Here is one for Gallus struck at Aquileia by Constantius II: - In August 353, Poemenius leads a revolt at Trier against Decentius and bars him from the city, recognizing Constantius II as the real emperor. Under his stewardship, the types of Magnentius and Decentius are suspended, and a new type is introduced for Constantius II, following the prototype of the large denomination (AE1) introduced by Magnentius early that year or around December 352. This new type was likely minted in 3 different denominations, but is soon to be discontinued after Constantius II takes possession of the city in late September that year:
Here are two more examples with slight differences in the altars and the legends RESTITVTO-RI and RESTITVTOR Septimius Severus, 193-211, AR Denarius, Rome, 200-201 Obv: SEVERVS AVG PART MAX Laureate head of Septimius Severus to right Rev (left): RESTITVTOR VRBIS Septimius Severus, in military dress, standing left, holding a patera in his outstretched right hand over tripod altar, and a reversed spear in his left Ref: RIC 167 Rev (right): same except for legend RESTITVTO-RI VRBIS Ref: RIC 168
This evening I'll be playing a bit with this new Carus Alexandrian tet that was delivered this afternoon. It has Dikaiosyne on reverse, year 1. I'll probably pull out this new Philip II ant with him and his father on reverse. I haven't spent enough time with it for it to go stay with the rest of the collection yet.
Nice coin and I love the patina. They delivered on Sundays in Minneapolis ??? Lucky you ! I have a certain Macrinus stocked in JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER for 7 days now...I hope at least they're enjoying the coin during its "confinement".
Still awaiting my Henry V Groat, at least it left the UK and now has been in Miami customs for 5 days.
Today i was looking at this guy. Datames Ar Stater Obv. BaalTars seated right. Rv. Ana and Datames facing each other SNG Fr 298 378-372 B.C. Tarsos Mint 10.48 grms 21mm Photo by W.Hansen
Interesting thought. Like Failmezger and others who have posted above, I see a rising sun in this mintmark. OCRE agrees with that, Sear describes it as a "radiate semicircle", and the UK Portable Antiquities Scheme writes of a "cogwheel" (here). The other marks the type comes with are star, double crescent, thunderbolt, wreath, and branch. Due to the celestial nature of the first three of them, the interpretation "sunrise" for the final mintmark makes most sense to me, but "radiate crown" certainly is another possibility. As I said, it's an interesting mintmark... Me too. Just as your, @Sulla80 's and my coins, the examples from museum collections on OCRE show quite a bit of variation when it comes to how the tripod is rendered. With some of these examples, one might even speculate about whether the engraver didn't fully understand the tripod design and instead engraved an altar.
Not much new here. Not many new coins and although working from home... not much time for coining lately (have demanding 3 and 1 year olds). Here's one that some of you may recognize from the 2nd Ancient and Medieval Coins Canada auction. It went unsold there but I picked it up on ebay for less than the previous opening bid. It's pretty fully silvered... but that silver is covered with a black tarnish that makes it tricky to photograph. This photo is dark but what it looks like in-hand. The coin is from the Ticinum mint EQVITI series II. Probus, AE Antoninianus. Ticinum mint. Obv: IMP C PROBVS AVG, radiate bust left, wearing imperial mantle and holding eagle-tipped sceptre. Rev: CONCORD MILIT, Concordia standing left, holding two ensigns. E to left, star to right. Mintmark PXXI Reference RIC V-2 Ticinum 480. I bought another from the same auction and EQVITI series... but it is even more difficult to photograph so I'll use the seller's photos. Probus. Antoninianus. Ticinum. IMP C PROBVS PF AVG, radiate bust left wearing imperial mantle and holding eagle-tipped sceptre PROVIDENT AVG, Providentia standing left, holding globe and sceptre. Left field: Q. Mintmark SXXI.
Well, my last thread that I posted this week about the votives of the early 320s at Ticinum and Rome was not very popular, but as I slowly return to my first love, the Late Empire, I will probably bore you with more such threads that I consider interesting. For tonight, here is a local coinage at Cherson, that I think was used around 426 (DOC) to 437 (RIC) for Theodosius II and Valentinian III. This coinage was thought at first to be a product of Constantinople, but it is more likely a local imitation and variation coinage based on the AE2s of the late 4th century: - Theodosius II, RIC X Constantinople 460 - Valentinian III, RIC X Constantinople 461 While the imperial coinage did not see AE2s past 395, certain provinces started minting their own, such as Hispania and Narbonensis in pre-Visigothic times and during the reign of Maximus of Barcino and apparently Cherson in Crimea, which started minting around the late 420s and had issues for Theodosius II, Valentinian III, Leo I and Verina, Zeno and afterwards to the mid Romaion times.
No new acquisitions on my side. Yet, after long consideration, I decided to switch My storage methods from flipS in slide boxes to Beba trays. At this point, I’m moving my Roman coins to their new home:
This one is probably of interest only to Antonine collectors and doesn't warrant its own thread, but I have a subcollection of Faustina I and II that I've been working on for several years. I have a penchant for the veiled busts. This one is the middle bronze equivalent of the sestertius I have previously posted. Faustina I, AD 138-140. Roman orichalcum dupondius, 10.26 g, 27.4 mm, 6 h. Rome, AD 140-41. Obv: DIVA AVGVS-TA FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right. Rev: PIETAS AVG S C, Pietas, veiled, draped, standing left, dropping incense out of right hand over lighted "candelabrum-altar," left, and holding box in left hand. Refs: RIC 1192Ab; BMCRE 1472; Cohen 241; Strack 1241; RCV --.