For memorial day, what better way to celebrate than to talk about Roman rulers who were memorialized! Roman emperors tended to opt for cremation, which explains why there are no extant remains of any emperors to have existed, with the tenuous exception of some later Byzantine emperors who were sanctified and have relics. Anyways, back to the coins... I recently picked up a whole bunch of ants at a local LCS, no less. The quality of the coins was superb and I was a pretty ravenous buyer. Claudius II was deified and issued a very large amount of consecration coins, of two main types: Flaming altar/funeral pyre Standing eagle The altar comes in a variety of styles and designs, ranging from simple square altar to wedding-cake style pyre. The eagle comes in two types, either facing left or right. Both types will spell the word in two different ways, either "CONSECRATIO" or a (mis?)spelling as "CONSACRATIO." By and large, these coins are small, miserable, low quality coins. They're often tiny, light, and bronze with no trace of silver and very poorly struck. They were also ripe for local imitations, leading to a variety of types shrinking ever closer to zero. So when we come across some of these consecration issues that don't look like absolute trash, it's very hard to say no. First up, my very first Consecration altar was from @tenbobbit, and represents an extremely high quality version of the coin, although it's a little bit of a small flan but has great weight. The strike is excellent and the relief is high. You can see how the letters "V" and "N" seem to look like a series of vertical lines; this was apparently a typographic feature of this era and others. Milan RIC 261 17mm, 3.2g Then you have this miserable little barbaric imitation I found in a metal-detected lot of coins from Spain. There is an attempt at a legend on the obverse, with "DI" being clear, but it's too small to have much else visible. The reverse text doesn't appear to resemble the correct one. The altar is okay but the portrait is awful. I love this thing. 13mm, 1.4g One of the coins I picked up at the LCS is this really glorious example here. The letters "V" and "N" are well-defined, and the altar is very well defined and detailed with accurate antefixae and a nice little flame. This is a tad larger but much lighter than the first example. Can't win them all. My favorite part is the rather barbaric 'stache on ol Clavdivs! Despite Claudius being known as having conquered that barbaric Goths, looks like he had a bit of that barbaric leaning in that choice of facial hair. The busy moustache is rather similar to the bushy moustache of the Dying Gaul. I guess he makes up for it with the Philosopher's Beard, or something. Milan RIC 261 18mm, 2.2g Next up are the Consa/ecratio Eagle issues. These aren't super interesting, with only two types of eagles either left or right. However, they are very hard to come by in any reasonable state of preservation. My previous one was this awful one so small its hard to tell if it was meant to be official or not, although it is the same weight as the much superior one above. There's very little text remaining on the obverse, but enough of the "TIO" on the reverse exists to make me think it's just a poorly made official coin. RIC 266 14mm, 2.2g This brings us to the last coin today, which is arguably the best. These antoniniani coins were originally made with a silver plate, best described as a "wash" and best described as "usually not silver, often tin or other shiny base metal." However, these consecration issues do not often exist with any amount of silvering left, much less the amount I have here on my second LCS coin. This is a stunner! There's probably 95% silvering intact. The coin is virtually as-struck with just minor wear on the high points of the reverse lettering revealing the pink copper core. It's very large, but light. Still, I'll take this gleaming "silver" coin over those tiny heavy ones anyday. I like to imagine how neat it would have been to have a bag of these shiny coins back in the day. RIC 266 20mm 2.8g Please show off your best consecration issues for Memorial day!
Here are my two Victorinus CONSACRATIO examples. Guess from which Emperor it was inspired ? Same spelling as Claudius' specimen from Siscia and Cyzicus, but in the case of the Gallic ruler, it is probably reflecting a local pronunciation.
Nice write-up and coins, @hotwheelsearl Just in a couple days ago, I feel pretty lucky about this one, though the harsh cleaning is not-so-lucky. Carus consecration issue with the DIVO CARO PARTHICO legend; it does look slightly better in hand: Carus Æ Antoninianus (Posthumous Issue) (c. 283-285 A.D.) Siscia Mint DIVO CARO PARTHICO, radiate head right / CONSECRATIO AVG, flaming altar, A to right, SMSXXI in exergue. RIC V 111; Cohen 23. (3.69 grams / 22 x 21 mm)
Nice new pickups, you’ve got a great variety there. Claudius II Gothicus (Died 270)., Antoninianus. Rome. (22mm, 2.92g), Obv: DIVO CLAVDIO, Radiate bust right/ Rev: CONSECRATIO, Altar. RIC V 1275
Divus Lucius Verus AD 169. Rome Denarius AR 18 mm., 2,70 g. RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596B; RSC 55, BMC 503 Date: AD 169 Obverse Legend: DIVVS VERVS Type: Head of Lucius Verus, bare, right Reverse Legend: CONSECRATIO Type: Funeral pyre in four tiers, adorned with statues and garlands, quadriga on top That's my favorite one, but I like this one as well. Divus Antoninus Pius AD 161. Rome Denarius AR 16 mm, 2,74 g RIC III Marcus Aurelius 441 Obverse Legend: DIVVS ANTONINVS Type: Head of Antoninus Pius, bare, right Reverse Legend: DIVO PIO Type: Square altar
@ambr0zie has shown a few coins from the various structures at the funereal complexes of the Antonine dynasty. Here are a couple more. These depict the ustrina of Faustina I, who died in AD 140, and her husband, Antoninus Pius, who died in AD 161. In fact, this coin of Faustina gives us the earliest artistic representation of an imperial ustrinum on Roman coinage.[1,2] Faustina Senior, AD 138-141. Roman orichalcum dupondius, 16.19 g, 26.1 mm, 10 h. Rome, AD 140-141. Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: CONSECRATIO S C, Funeral pyre in three stories, set on base, ornamented and garlanded, surmounted by Faustina in biga right. Refs: RIC 1189; BMCRE p. 236 *; Cohen 187; RCV --; Strack 1238. Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161. Roman AR denarius, 3.26g, 17.2 mm, 5 h. Rome, AD 161. Obv: DIVVS ANTONINVS, head of Antoninus Pius, bare, right, with drapery on left shoulder. Rev: CONSECRATIO, ustrinum of four tiers decorated with garlands and statues and surmounted by a quadriga. Refs: RIC 438; BMCRE 60-64; RSC 164a; RCV 5193; MIR 24. Notes: Also struck with a right-facing bare head (no drapery) portrait. Marvin Tameanko, retired architect and specialist in ancient architectural coins, has written an informative article about the funerary complexes of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius as illustrated on coins.[3] Tameanko explains that the square altar enclosure (shrine) as illustrated on @ambr0zie's DIVO PIO coin was a separate building from Pius' multi-tiered ustrinum as illustrated on my coin. More importantly, he explains that "contrary to popular belief, the ustrinum was not a crematorium, but rather a monument that marked the site of the wooden funeral pyre, called a rogus in Latin, that was used to cremate the corpse." Tameanko notes the ustrinum of Antoninus was a "wedding-cake-shaped building, decorated with sculpture and statues," which "may have also been the depository for the ashes from the cremation along with dedication inscriptions and statues of family and ancestors, and possibly it functioned as a mausoleum for the Antonines and their associates" (p.10). The ustrinum itself has disappeared, but its foundations were found in 1703 near the modern-day Piazza Montecitorio. Tameanko provides a map of the funereal complex, showing the locations of the ustrinum, a monumental column, and the shrine illustrated on coins issued for Antoninus Pius. The map also notes the locations of a nearby ustrinum, temple, and column commissioned by Commodus for his father, Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius' column still stands today in the Piazza Colonna off the modern-day Via del Corso, the ancient Via Flaminia (pp. 8, 10). Zach "The Beast" Beasley emphasizes, "The building on the coins is not a wooden rogus, but an ustrinum. Numismatists are too tradition bound with terminology, so they still perpetuate the terms, 'funeral pyre' and 'lit or large altars' when they should be saying, ustrinum and shrines."[4] ~~~ 1. Sear, David R. Roman Coins and Their Values II: The accession of Nerva to the overthrow of the Severan dynasty AD 96 - AD 235, London, Spink, 2002, p. 273. 2. Beckmann, Martin. Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012, pp. 20-24. 3. Tameanko, Marvin. "The Funerary Architecture of Antoninus Pius." The Celator, May 2009, pp. 6–18. 4. Beasley, Zach. "Architecture - 'Funeral Pyre' (or Perhaps Ustrinum)." Beast Coins, beastcoins.com/Topical/Architecture/FuneralPyres/FuneralPyre.htm.
As usual, extensive info, @Roman Collector. 1st and 2nd century coins are the most appealing for me. And this kind of motifs are interesting. What I don't have, but they're on my short list, are Faustina I and II Consecratio coins. Perhaps someone will show a few coins here, to add to your Dupondius (nice coin BTW)
Nice coins! Here are a few of mine: Claudius II Antoninianus, CONSECRATIO with Altar. I also have a nice almost fully silvered one with eagle reverse. I don't have a photo of that, but I'll post it when I take one. Mariniana Antoninianus, CONSECRATIO with eagle reverse. This is still the coin that I've paid the most for in my collection, at about £80
I prefer the DIVO CLAVDIO GOTHICO version. I deeply regret the flan flaw on the H. The seller did not see it as special so I did not have to pay a premium. I would have but most people don't see this as a special feature. Why?