A nice Roman provincial type coin

I've been kind of out of circulation, in a bit of funk, really, mainly due to this business with the US Customs. But, I have reached the point with them that whatever the outcome is, so be it. It's time to move on.

I have acquired some interesting coins recently. Here's one of them, with a poetic intro:

Behold the crocodile basking in the sun,
As he lays on the bank for the next round of fun.

For he swims and waddles and bides his time,
Running down the menu as he plans to dine.

Affable he is not, he really has no friends to win,
As he sits and smiles with that wide reptilian grin.

For some time I have always looked around for a nice example of the AE as of Augustus and Agrippa of Nemausus, Gaul. This coin is quite readily available. Roma seems to have at least one in most of their auctions. Still, it is quite a popular coin, with all sorts of bells and whistles going for it.

This particular coin is from the Roma E-Sale 82, lot 870. The bidding was pretty stiff, but it is a very satisfactory type coin.

Augustus and Agrippa Æ As of Nemausus, Gaul. Circa AD 10-14. IMP above, DIVI F below; back to back laureate and rostral crowned head of Agrippa to left and laureate head of Augustus to right, P-P across lower fields / Chained crocodile to right, palm frond upwards in centre, wreath to left of palm tip with long ties trailing to right; COL-NEM across fields. RPC I 525; RIC I 159; SNG Copenhagen 700-1. 12.02g, 26mm, 12h.

Very Fine.

From the Antonio Carmona Collection.




Here's Roma's note on this issue:

"This artistically fascinating and typologically unique type refers directly to the victory of Octavian (as was) and Agrippa at Actium over the forces of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony, and to the settlement of veterans in Nemausus. The crocodile, collared around the neck and chained to a palm on the reverse of this coin is a clear reference to the subjugation of Egypt, thus obliquely referring also to Antony and Cleopatra; the wreath above with ties fluttering in the breeze is a reminder that the war was both just and necessary, with the victory having brought about the deliverance and salvation of the Roman people and the state. It is noteworthy also that the portraits of Agrippa and Augustus on the obverse are presented on the same level and back to back, at once recalling the ancient Janiform types once so prevalent on the Roman coinage, and also presenting princeps and general as inseparable and heroic partners - the one adorned with a wreath of laurel, the other with a rostral wreath in recognition for his naval victories."

Please post your crocs with their pearly whites, coins of Augustus, Octavian, Cleopatra VII or Antony, or anything else you wish.

Thanks.

 

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A very pleasing example.


Augustus, with Agrippa (27. B.C. 14 A.D.)
GAUL, Nemausus
Æ As
O: Heads of Agrippa left, wearing rostral crown and laurel wreath, and Augustus right, wearing oak wreath, back to back. IMP above, DIVI F below.
R: Crocodile right chained to palm branch with long vertical fronds; above, wreath with long ties, palms below; COL NEM flanking vertical palm.
Nemausus mint, 9-3 B.C
10.26g
27mm
RPC I 524; RIC 1 158

 

Nice Croc! I got one in a Roma lot for $12.50.
This is a great example of "Strike 4/5, Surface 0/5"

 

My recent pick-up:

 

Here is mine, looks like the legends are in Greek.


Philip I, 244 - 249 AD, Tetradrachm
Billon Tetradrachm

Seleucis & Pieria, Antioch Mint
28mm 12.35 g.

McAlee 947 // Prieur 449

 

Also a class IV type: the palm leans no longer to the right as on the previous types, and the crown of Augustus is now made of laurel.

Date: 10 - 14 AD
Bronze alloy 1 - 2.5% lead
Reference: RIC² 159-160, Sear 1731, Cohen 8; RPC 525

25 x 26 mm, 11.355 g

 

Welcome to the Croc Club! I do really like this issue and think that every collection of ancients should be in possession of at least one. I think in @dougsmit's collection, the number is more like 5.5?


AUGUSTUS & AGRIPPA
AE As. 12.0g, 26.4mm. GAUL, Nemausus, circa 20-10 BC. RIC I 156. O: IMP/DIVI•F•, head of Agrippa left, wearing combined rostral crown and laurel wreath, bare head of Augustus right. R: COL-NIM, crocodile right chained to palm branch, wreath above, palm fronds below.

Some time later, Cleopatra Selene, Antony's and Cleopatra's daughter, then the Queen of Mauretania, would issue some croc coins of her own, obviously with the crocodile unchained. I imagine it to be a show of family pride. I don't have a great example, but a nicer one would have hurt my wallet too much.


KINGDOM OF MAURETANIA. Cleopatra Selene II
AE30. 12.46g, 30.2mm. Iol-Caesarea mint, circa 20 BC - AD 20. SNG Copenhagen 612; Mazard 395; MAA 214. O: [BACIΛICCA] KΛE[ΟΠΑΤΡA], diademed and draped bust right. R: KΛEΟΠΑΤ[ΡA], Crocodile right; [BACIΛICCA] in exergue.

 

My example of the COL NEM dupondius, Type III. I'm fond of the cameo effect.

Augustus AE (Brass) Dupondius, 9-3 BCE, Colonia Augusta Nemausus [Nîmes] (Galla Narbonensis province) Mint. Obv. Heads of Agrippa left and Augustus right, back to back, with Agrippa wearing combined laurel wreath and rostral crown, and Augustus wearing oak wreath, IMP above heads and DIVI F below [Imperator Divi Filius] / Rev. Crocodile right standing on two palm branches, chained to palm-shoot standing behind it, with tip of shoot leaning to right; wreath above and to left of palm-shoot, with long ties extending behind shoot to right, COL - NEM to left and right of palm-shoot. “Type III” of Augustus & Agrippa/Crocodile coin (see https://multicollec.net/1-mo-h/1h04). RIC I 158 (p. 52), RPC I 524 (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/browse?volume_id=1&number=524), Sear Greek Imperial Coins 157 (D. Sear, Greek Imperial Coins and their Values (1982)], Sear RCV I 1730 (ill.). [See Sear RCV I at p. 337: Commemorates conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE; influenced by Augustus’s settlement of veterans of Egyptian campaign in Nemausus after colony was founded in 27 BCE.] 28 mm., 12.09 g.

 

PS: Everyone is calling it an As, but I know I've read that it's a dupondius. See, e.g., Sear RCV I at pp. 337-338.

 

Thank you all for your wonderful posts.

I am not a specialist collecting this type, so I was not aware of the different varieties, a very illuminating thread for me.

This coin reinforces for me the historically critical role that Egypt played as a major bread basket for the ancient world. The empire which controlled Egypt politically held a major key in dominance not only of the Mediterranean, but, by extension, over a good portion of Europe and the lands to the East.

 

You're right. If you go to the reference materials, they do call it a dupondius. I'm going to adjust my attribution accordingly. That and I'm going to add that mine is Type I (at least as far as I can tell). Thanks for helping educate me about my coin!

 

According to Werz, "Gegenstempel auf Aesprägungen der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit im Rheingebiet - Grundlagen, Systematik, Typologie", 2009, pp 54-55) these coins have a cooper content that is too high to be called Dupondi:

„Ikonographisch sind alle Prägungen mit nach außen gewandten Portraits mit der Darstellung des Doppelkopfes des Ianus bifrons [= zweigesichtig] der republikanischen asses zu verbinden
Die Vorstellung, daß in erster Linie das Gewicht der Münzen eine entscheidende Rolle für die Nominalzuweisung spielt, geht von modernen, fest aufeinander abgestimmten einheitlichen Gewichts normen aus und projiziert diese auf die Antike. Die Aesmünzen wurden wohl sämtlich al macro [nach dem Durchschnittsgewicht] und nicht al pezzo [auf das Stück genau mit exaktem Einzelgewicht] geprägt, wobei wahrscheinlich jedoch anzunehmen ist, daß ein Durchschnittsgewicht der einzelnen Stücke angepeilt wurde. Die Prägungen aus Nemausus sind somit als Asse anzusehen. Eine Ansprache als Dupondien aufgrund der Vorderseitendarstellung und des Gewichts der Stücke überzeugt nicht (Werz, ebd., S. 54/55). In meinen Augen ein viel zu hoher Kupferanteil, um die Nemausus-Stücke als Dupondien anzusprechen".

Translation:
Iconographically, all types with outward looking portraits are to be connected to the double-headed Ianus bifrons (two-faced) on Republican As. To consider that it is above all the weight of a coin that is decisive in determining its nominal is a modern preconception based on standard norms that are projected into antiquity. Aes coins were struck al macro (mean weight) and not al pezzo (with exact weight). The coins of Nemausus need therefore to be considered Asses. calling them Dupondii based on the obverse representation and the weight of the piece is not convincing (Werz, pp 54-55). In my opinion, having a high copper component, they cannot be considered dupondi."

That's why I am using As and not dupondius...

 

I don't know nearly enough to be able to tell if he's correct.

 

It's brassy in appearance. That's all that mattered to the ancients, who didn't have the analytical tools of metallurgy that Werz uses to bolster his argument. I will counter him by saying to consider that its copper content is above that of its nominal is a modern preconception based on standard norms that are projected into antiquity. Moreover, it's often found broken into two, suggesting each half functioned as an as while the whole functioned as a dupondius.

Nice example, @robinjojo! You gotta have a croc! As a result of modern (overzealous) cleaning, the reverse of my coin has been stripped of the patina on its high points, revealing it to be quite brassy in appearance.


Augustus with Agrippa, 27 BC - AD 14.
Roman Æ dupondius, 12.99 g, 26.3 mm, 4 h.
Nemausus, after 16/15 BC.
Obv: IMP/DIVI F, heads back to back of Augustus, right, bare, and Agrippa, left, wearing rostral crown.
Rev: COL-NEM to left and right of palm shoot, its tip to right, behind chained crocodile; two wreaths above palm tip.
Refs: RIC 155; RPC 523; Cohen 7; AMC 411; RCV 1729.
Notes: Sear (p. 338) notes this initial revival of the Nemausian series on a lighter weight standard is probably to be associated with Augustus' visit to Gaul in 16 BC.

 

In terms if copper vs brass argument - see my example above. The extremely harsh cleaning reveals a rather pink copper core with a rather yellow brass surface.

I don’t know if that helps, but it’s hard to get more visibly metallurgical than my wrecked coin

 

Who doesn't like a croc!

 

I don't know if anyone in this thread has mentioned an additional notable aspect of the COL NEM dupondii: the strong resemblance between the shape of the crocodile on the reverse and the shape of a galley as depicted on other coins. It's more evident on some examples (like mine), on which the crocodile curves upwards at each end, than on others. See Cornelis GJ Pannekeet, "Bronze coins minted in Gaul and Italy in the eraof Octavian/Augustus 44 BC - 14 AD" (2014), at p. 44
(https://www.academia.edu/7078721/Bronze_coins_in_the_era_of_Augustus):

The reverse of the coins do not show the prow of a ship but a chained crocodile representing the conquered Egypt. The crocodile with its beak open looks a lot like the prow of a warship as used on the older asses. The crocodile is standing in the midst of three palm branches, the centre one is placed upright, looks like a tree on the early bronzes and often has the top tilted to the right or left. Two smaller branches are visible beneath the crocodile, on the earlier coins they seem to sprout from the foot of the centre treelike branch. Together the branches seem to form the shape of an anchor and probably relate to the three main naval victories of Agrippa. The first was the victory over Sextus Pompeys fleet at Naulochus in 36 BC, the second was the defeat of the Illyrian pirates in 34 BC and the last great victory was the defeat of Mark Antony at Actium in 31 BC.

 

Tis a clever croc, whose body can become the shape of a galley.

All aboard!

Also, there are two letters, "P" and "P" next to and below each portrait on the coin that I posted. I've noticed that some examples posted in this thread have these letters, while others do not.

Any idea of what they mean?

Thanks

 

Pater Patriae, I presume.