Featured Claudius II's final Antiochene emission

I've talked about Claudius II's final emission from Antioch and how I'm trying to complete it many times, and I often said that I would make a dedicated thread for it. Due to their rarity, however, I think it will probably take a few years to obtain even only a set of the eight different reverse types, not even taking into consideration the various bust types. So, I've decided to make that thread now, instead, when I already own four of these reverses, to which I will add the others as soon as I obtain them. In particular, however, the reason why I created this thread today is that I've just received this coin:

Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Antioch mint, 4th emission.
Obverse: radiate head right, with traces of drapery to front and rear of truncation;
Reverse: Proserpina standing right, holding long-handled torch in right hand, facing Ceres standing left, holding corn-ears in right hand and long-handled torch in left hand. RIC 200 (unlisted variant), RIC V Online -

I found it for sale in the catalog of a little-known Spanish auction house with only a few ancient coins, unattributed; what's special is that this particular bust type (A3), with added drapery, is not known for this particular reverse, and is missing even from RIC V Online. This discovery is what prompted me to create this thread, as a way of cataloguing all the various varieties and their historical background; I doubt that these coins will gain much attention, but maybe somebody will find them interesting .

The Historical Context:

This issue has been known to the numismatic world for quite a long time, with the earliest mention I could find of it being the appearence of the "AETER AVG" type in Vaillant's "Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum". However, despite the appearance of quite a few more examples for sale in the recent years, the coins of this issue still remain far rarer than the other ones from Antioch of this emperor, suggesting, alongside the relatively low number of dies, that it wasn't struck in large quantities. As far as I know, the first paper that analyzed it was "L'atelier d'Antioche sous Claude II", by Huvelin, published in 1990, in which she argued for a posthumous datation for its striking on the basis of the "CONSECR AVG" reverse, as a reference to the deification of the emperor; this interpretation was accepted in 2004 by Estiot in her "Catalogue des monnaies de l’Empire romain d’Aurélien à Florien" though, due to the obverse legend being a standard lifetime one, Roger Bland refuted it in his 2011 paper "The Coinage of Vabalathus and Zenobia from Antioch and Alexandria". However, he still agrees with the idea that these coins were struck by Zenobia in the emperor's name, after her capture of Syria, with the two deities on the reverse symbolizing her and her son Vabalathus; this is an interpretation which I believe as well.

The Reverses:

This issue features eight different reverse types, with the most interesting thing about them being the fact that they all feature a couple of different deities on the reverse, including some rarely-seen ones, such as Ceres and Proserpina (CONCOR AVG), and some others which are not usually paired together, like Minerva and Vulcan (VIRT AVG). The fact that there are always two figures on the reverse reminds me of the antoniniani of Valerian and Gallienus from the Samosata mint, though, considering the physical distance and the passage of time between the two issues, I don't think that it's anything more than a coincidence. The eight reverses are, in order, AETER AVG, CONCOR AVG, CONSECR AVG, CONSER AVG, FELIC AVG (sometimes spelled FELI AVG), SALVS AVG, SPES PVBLIC and VIRT AVG (sometimes spelled VIR AVG). I can show five of them from my collection (two appear to be double die matches), besides my new arrival:






The Bust Types:

Unlike the more common issues of this emperor from Antioch, this group of coins features several unusual bust types, these being, overall:
- A1 (radiate head right), only known with SALVS AVG;
- A1l (radiate head left), which, unusually, is by far the most common of them all;
- A2l (radiate head left, with drapery to the front);
- A3 (radiate head right, with drapery to the front and rear), my new example, previously only known from other four reverses;
- B1l (radiate and cuirassed bust left, seen from the front), an unusual bust that is otherwise unknown from Antioch;
- D2 (radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind), the second most common bust, which is known for all reverse types except for FELIC AVG;
Most of these busts are extremely rare, sometimes with only a couple of examples known, so I doubt I'll ever manage to obtain them all; however, in case you wanted to take a look, here's the RIC V Online page which illustrates them all: http://www.ric.mom.fr/en/search/adv...ion=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result.

That's all for now; I hope that I will be able to update this thread every time I obtain a new coin from this issue. Have you ever completed, or are trying to complete, a set from a particular emission of ancient coins? Post anything you feel like might be relevant.

Sources:
- RIC V;
- RIC V Online;
- "L'atelier d'Antioche sous Claude II", NAC 19, H. Huvelin, 1990;
- "Catalogue des monnaies de l’Empire romain d’Aurélien à Florien", S. Estiot, 2004;
- "The Coinage of Vabalathus and Zenobia from Antioch and Alexandria", The Numismatic Chronicle 171, R. Bland, 2011;

 

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Nice info! Thanks for taking the time to share.

I have just one Antiochene of this ruler. The bust appears to be the type which is most common of them all. The coin will never make anyone's list-of-most-lovely-ancient-coins, but I like the patina's hue which is a pleasant overall green. (And I paid a mere $10 for it!)




If my numismatic data isn't correct, please let me know? :-o

 

Amazing writeup! I have this singular Antioch Clavdivs, with the unusual left facing bust.

 

Good detailed write-up and coins. Thank You.

 

Nice! Sounds like a tough subcollection to assemble!

Here are some of my favorite Claudius II coins from Antioch:


Claudius II Gothicus, AD 268-270.
Roman billon antoninianus, 4.07 g, 22.4 mm, 5 h.
Antioch, officina 5, issue 1, end 268-end 269.
Obv: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: SALVS AVG, Isis standing left, holding sistrum and situla; Є in exergue.
Refs: RIC 217A; MER/RIC temp 1024; Cohen 256; RCV 11370; Huvelin 1990, 10; Normanby 1109.

Claudius II, AD 268-270.
Roman billon Antoninianus, 4.12 g, 20.6 mm, 5 h.
Antioch, 1st emission, AD 268-269.
Obv: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate and draped bust of Claudius Gothicus, right.
Rev: NEPTVN AVG, Neptune, standing left, holding dolphin in right hand and trident in left hand; A in exergue.
Refs: RIC 214; MER/RIC temp 1018; Cohen 183; RCV 11353; Hunter 78; Huvelin 1990, 5.

Claudius II, AD 268-270.
Roman billon antoninianus, 3.41 g, 19.4 mm, 11 h.
Antioch, 3rd emission, early-mid 270.
Obv: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate head, left.
Rev: IVNO REGINA, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter; peacock at feet.
Refs: RIC 212 (3L); Cohen 133; MER/RIC temp 1048; RCV --; Alfoldi 24/3; Huvelin 1990, 39.

 

What an interesting series! I look forward to seeing this thread grow as you get closer to completing the set.

I have the same Antioch Neptune as @Roman Collector, an ex @zumbly coin:

 

That is a very interesting subset of Claudius II's - and very well presented as well. Unfortunately I don't have any of these, but here are two from Antioch that I got in a lot together a couple years ago, one with a left-facing bust:



Claudius II Gothicus
Æ Antoninianus
(268-270 A.D.)
Antioch Mint
IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, Radiate head left / SALVS AVG, Apollo standing left holding branch and leaning on upright lyre.
RIC 216 var.; Sear 11368.
(2.95 grams / 20 mm)
eBay July 2018 Lot @ $5.58

Claudius II Gothicus Æ Antoninianus
(268-270 A.D.)
Antioch Mint
IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right / SALVS AVG, Isis Faria standing, holding sistrum and basket; Є in exergue.
RIC 217 var; Normanby 1109.
(3.34 grams / 21 mm)
eBay July 2018 Lot @ $5.58

 

Interesting writeup and cool coin. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole series assembled !

Q

 

Thank you for the interesting read! Those are great coins and the mystery around them is great!

 

Thanks to the most recent Savoca Blue auction, I was able to add another one of these coins to my collection, bringing the total number of reverses that I own up to 5 out of 8. Let's hope that the others will come up for sale soon, too!


Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Antioch mint, 4th emission.
Obverse: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate head left;
Reverse: FELI-C A-VG, Felicitas standing right, veiled and holding baton in left hand, wheel at her feet, facing Fortuna standing left, holding rudder in right hand and cornucopia in left hand;
RIC V 206, RIC V Online 1083

The bust is unfortunately not one of the fancy ones I described in the main post, but the simple and common one consisting just of a radiate head left; also, the coin has some encrustations which, in the auction photo, seemed very distracting, but now that I have the coin in hand I can say that they're not a big deal, though they do cover up some of the details on the reverse, which is unfortunate.

 

Nice new coin for the collection!