A rare and interesting Claudius II from Siscia

Claudius II is certainly a well known emperor, and his antoniniani are usually cheap and plentiful; however, his coinage also includes quite a few special types that are rarely talked about and seldomly offered at auction. The fact that his coinage, and that of other emperors of the Crisis of the Third Century, is, in my opinion, underappreciated, is one of the factors that convinced me to specialize in this area of Roman coinage. While my collection is certainly still very small and miserable, having only started collecting a few months ago and on a strict budget, it does contain a coin that is very dear to me, which I picked up a short while ago.


Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Siscia mint, 4th emission (Late 270), 1st officina

Obverse: IMP CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right, seen from the front;

Reverse: P M T-R P COS P P, Apollo seated left, resting his left arm on a lyre and holding an olive branch in his right hand; P in exergue.

RIC V online 770, Minster 271, La Venera 9728

First of all, as far as coins of Claudius II go, this example is very nice: while it isn't perfectly centered, not only was it struck on a flan of good size, but it is also barely circulated and, as a result, retained most of its silvering, which unfortunately made it quite difficult to photograph well.

However, what's truly special about this coin is its reverse, which is not only very rare (mine appears to be the fifth known example) but also significant for two reasons: firstly, despite having been struck during the emperor's final year, it features a "generic" legend, when the accurate one would have been "P M TR P III COS P P", since Claudius was in his third and final Tribunicia Potestas; secondly, as far as I know, this is the penultimate appearence of the "seated Apollo" reverse (it also featured on some very rare aurei of Aurelian), a design which I believe was introduced on Imperial Roman coinage by Caracalla and frequently appeared on coins of Gordian III and other third-century emperors. So, overall, I am very pleased with this coin, which is undoubtedly my favourite and the star of my newborn collection.

Share your dated antoniniani of Claudius II, your coins featuring a seated Apollo or anything else you feel is relevant.

 

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Claudius II Gothicus Ant. - RIC -
Obv:– IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right
Rev:– APPOLINI CONS, Apollo standing left, holding laurel branch and lyre on rock
Minted in Rome (_ | H).
Reference(s) – Cohen -. RIC Unlisted (APPOLINI CONS listed with IMP CLAVDIVS AVG, this legend listed with APPOLI CONS!.

MER RIC notes "a) A coin in Mu, Cunetio 2239 and Minster 253 read IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG - hybrids"

 

Nice coin, mules and hybrids are also a very interesting field to study.

 

I don't have an Apollo of Claudius II but I do have one of Gordian...

Gordian III, A.D. 238-244

AR Antoninianus, 24mm, 4.9 grams

Rome mint, A.D. 241-243

Obverse: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: PM TRP III COS II PP; Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch and leaning on lyre

Reference: RIC IV 114

 

Beautiful coin, I should really pick up some antoniniani of Gordian III, since they are so cheap even in high grade.

 

There are two series that I follow for Claudius II.

SPQR, mainly the early Smyrna types of late 268:



M - C, the early Cyzicus types:



The latter are all rare to very rare.

 

Welcome to CT, @Claudius_Gothicus ! That's a nice rarity and an interesting post. That's a great specialty...I always enjoy coins of the "Crisis" era (many others here do as well). Looking forward to seeing more of your coins.

I have two coins of Claudius Gothicus (one posthumous) that I can share, which I chose mostly for the portrait styles.


Claudius II Gothicus (Died 270). Antoninianus. Rome. (22mm, 2.92g), Obv: DIVO CLAVDIO, Radiate bust right/ Rev: CONSECRATIO, Altar. RIC V 1275


Claudius II Gothicus, (AE, 24 mm, 4.00 g), Rome, 268-269 A.D., IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Claudius II to right, seen from behind/. Rev. VIRTVS AVG Virtus standing front, head to l., holding olive-branch in r. hand and scepter in l.; shield set on ground at feet. RIC 109.

 

Very nice examples; while I do keep an eye out for coins belonging to the "SPQR" series, I must confess I didn't know anything about the "M - C" ones. You learn something new every day!

Thanks for the kind words; also, your posthumous Claudius is fantastic, one day I'll have to get one so well-preserved.

 

..i concur with ya on the 3rd century emperors...that was one of my focus areas this last year and got most all that i could afford ..

 

In his two-year reign Claudius II struck coins with very little silver, but then they look a bit better when compared to other 3rd century ones.

Antoninianus, Rome, 269 AD, 5th officina, 4th emission. The letter M is written as IIII that is a sure sign of being from the Rome mint.
19 x 20 mm, 2.450 g
RIC V Claudius Gothicus 38 var. Not in RIC with ϵ on rev. r. field; Cohen 92;

Ob.: IMP CLAVDIVS AVG head of Claudius Gothicus, radiate, right
Rev.: FIDES MILITVM (The Fidelity of Soldiers), Fides, draped, standing l., holding standard in r. hand and spear in l. hand; Є in r. field

​

A number of coins refer to Virtus Augusti, considered by Huvelin to have been struck in celebration of the victory at Lake Garda over Germanic raiders. A similar motif is used on Antoninianii attributed to the Siscia mint:

Antoninianus, Pannonia, Siscia, 269 AD mintmark * | II
19 x 20 mm, 3.669 g
RIC V Claudius Gothicus 195; Cohen 314;
Ob.: IMP CLAVDIVS AVG Bust of Claudius Gothicus, radiate, cuirassed, right
Rev.: VIRTVS AVG Soldier, helmeted, in military attire, standing l., leaning on shield and holding spear in l. hand; Mintmark: * | II

​

This last and quite ratty one, might be a hybrid, according to what @maridvnum notes:

Antoninianus, Rome, September 268 - early 269 AD
20 x 21 mm, 2.747 g
RIC V Claudius Gothicus 18, Cohen 21

Ob.: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG Bust of Claudius Gothicus, radiate, cuirassed, right
Rev.: ANNONA AVG Annona, draped, standing l., foot on prow, holding corn-ears in r. hand and cornucopiae in l. hand

​

 

I very much appreciate it when our members explain the coin in the detail you have done here. I agree that the coin would be hard to photograph but it is great that the coin belongs to someone willing to put the effort into its study that you have done. I do not have the seated Apollo from this emperor but am fond of the one below showing Apollo and Diana together. It shares with yours the speckled silver surface that makes photography more challenging.

 

Although this is not exactly what you asked for, I find this coin of CiiG, also from Siscia, notable for its striking obverse portrait:

Billon Antoninianus
Siscia mint, Issue IV
Obv: IMP CLAVDIVS AVG
Rev: PROVIDEN AVG - Providentia, standing left, holding baton and cornucopiae; globe at feet
S in right field
RIC 187
19mm, 2.5g.

 

Thanks for the kind words; I also really love your coin, and I remember seeing it in some previous threads of yours. It belongs to the 4th and final Antioch emission of Claudius II, which I find to be the most interesting due to the fact that its eight reverses all featute a couple of deities, including some that rarely appeared on Roman coinage such as Vulcan. I've been trying to collect this issue, however, since it's very scarce, so far I have only managed to acquire two of the reverses (I haven't taken a photo of them yet, sorry). Once I have more I promise I'll make a thread discussing them in detail as well as the historical context for this emission, which is quite interesting.

I agree, it's very impressive and much nicer than the usual portraits of this emperor.

 

I'm happy for you, @Claudius_Gothicus! It's always a rewarding experience to acquire an unappreciated rare coin, especially one so well preserved.

Here's a scarce undated one from Siscia, but which is easy to date.


Claudius II, AD 268-270.
Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 3.66 g, 19.1 mm, 6 h.
Siscia, issue 1, end AD 268.
Obv: IMP CLAVDIVS CAES AVG, Bust right, radiate, cuirassed and draped with paludamentum, seen from rear.
Rev: RESTITVTOR ORBIS, emperor in military dress standing l., holding patera over small altar in r. hand and spear pointing down in l. hand.
Refs: RIC 189; MER/RIC temp no. 562; Cohen 247; Markl, Num Zeitschr v. 16, p. 427; Alfoldi 1936, 1.2.

This is one of the scarcer issues by this emperor. No examples are to be found at acsearchinfo or the OCRE database. The only example on WildWinds was sold by Lanz on eBay in June 2010 for 101.78 Euros!

It's one of Claudius II's first issues. MER/RIC and Markl (Numismatische Zeitschrift v. 16, p. 427) note it's from the first emission of the Siscia mint struck at the end of the year AD 268, which bear the obverse inscription IMP CLAVDIVS CAES AVG and bear no officina marks:

 

Impressive coin! I don't own any coins of Claudius II with this particular obverse legend, but I'm determined to acquire at least one, in the future. I wonder why the engraver decided to put "CAES" after the emperor's name and not before, as was the norm. I don't know any other emperor of this period whose coinage features a legend like this. Also, what's the name of the book you posted a photo of? It seems to be very useful for keeping track of the various emissions.

 

Markl (Numismatische Zeitschrift v. 16, p. 375 ff).

 

Thank you very much, I'm sure it will help me a lot in the future!

 

No Apollo, but here is a Neptune...


RI Claudius II Gothicus 268-270 CE BI Ant Neptune Stndg dolphin trident

 

..i'm wif ya...i have a couple of ole Claud 2 Got... i think his coins are some the most quality ones from that era in artistry...

 

Nice coin @Claudius_Gothicus . I agree that the 3rd century emperors have a lot to offer. I haven’t collected with any amount of focus in this area but I do have a low grade and very common example of Claudius II that I like all the same.