Gallienus wants YOU to help build the CT Zoo

Donna- Hope you are enjoying the bull. Hard to let that one go, but I don’t need another rabbit hole to go down!

Two recent “wins”

 

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Since this is the most comprehensive Gallienus "Zoo Series" thread we've had since I joined Coin Talk, I thought I'd post my newest inhabitant for the Zoo here -- the first one I've acquired since last October. I bought it recently from our own @PeteB through Akropolis Ancient Coins, and it shows a hippocamp, i.e., a mythical beast with the head, neck, and forelimbs of a horse, and the body and tail of a fish. It's my first hippocamp on any kind of coin, and I think it's one of the best-looking ones I've ever seen!

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, Rome Mint, 9th Officina (10th emission - Göbl), 267-268 AD. Obv. Radiate cuirassed bust right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Hippocamp swimming right, NEP-TVNO CONS AVG; in exergue, N [= Nu, for 9th Officina). RIC V-1 245, RSC IV 668 [cuirassed] (ill.), Wolkow 23i9, Bust Type B3, Ribbons Type 3 [Cédric Wolkow, Catalogue des monnaies romaines - Gallien - L'émission dite "Du Bestiaire" - atelier de Rome (BNumis, édition 2019). at p. 87], Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 743b, Sear RCV III 10292. 19 mm., 2.63 g. Purchased from Akropolis Ancient Coins, May 2021.



By any chance are those supposed to be fish scales on the hippocamp's body? And what are those two diagonal lines extending beneath its body, behind the forelegs? They don't look like scratches to me.

This is actually a less-common variety of the Gallienus hippocamp than the one usually seen, which depicts Gallienus's radiate head without a cuirass, and shows the ribbons touching his neck.

On page 2 of this thread, at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ga...p-build-the-ct-zoo.361207/page-2#post-4554343, I listed the 32 different main types in the Gallienus Zoo Series that I counted in several sources. I now have a grand total of 8: hippocamp right, centaur left, gryphon left, antelope left, doe right with head turned back, gazelle right, tigress left, Pegasus right. All are posted in this thread. I think most of us know how difficult it is to find Gallienus antoniniani of any type in decent condition, so that explains, I think, the relatively low number.

(Plus, I have two Gallienus animal reverses that are not part of his "Zoo Series": a bull advancing right from his legionary series [the emblem of the Leg. VIII Augusta], minted in Mediolanum, and a lion walking left minted in Antioch that's not part of a series. See https://www.cointalk.com/threads/tw...t-part-of-his-zoo-series.368770/#post-4966036.)

If you wish, please post any coins from Gallienus's Zoo Series that you've acquired since this thread was last active in October 2020, or any coins from the series that you may already have had at the time, but didn't post in this thread. Or, any hippocamps even if they're not part of the Gallienus Zoo Series.

 

I don't think that's from the Gallienus Zoo Series, or a hippocamp. What is it? It looks like Elsie the Cow! Anyway, I hope we don't go off the subject too much.

And I don't want people to miss the new hippocamp I just posted above @scottishmoney's post!

 

I'm with you, that is the best Gallienus hippocamp I've seen Nice portrait too

If it doesn't belong in the zoo, there's always room in the jungle!!!
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/we...ngle-weve-got-hippocamps-and-centaurs.337881/
One that I did not share is this surprisingly detailed and well Patinated coin of a MAD curator:

 

clearly I should send you this coin so that it will be reunited with your coin...and provides evidence that the curator wasn't mad (just trying to ensure the label stuck) - this one didn't have enough glue to hold on to the number.

Gallienus Silvered Æ Antoninianus, Rome, AD 2267-268
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate bust right
Rev: DIANAE CONS AVG, stag walking right, X in exergue
Ref: RIC 179

 

I don't think this was posted - is it part of the official zoo list?


2.38 g 21 mm
Obverse legend: GALLIENVS AVG.
Obverse description: Radiated and cuirassed bust of Gallienus on the right draped over the left shoulder, seen from three quarters forward (B01).
Reverse legend: LEG IIII FL VI P VI F.
Reverse description: Lion leaping to the right.
Reverse translation: “Legio quarta Flavia sextum pia, sextum fidelis”, (Fourth legion Flavia pious and faithful for the sixth time).
RIC V-1, Milan 343 (Joint Reign).



Not sure if this belongs in the Zoo series but nevertheless interesting

Gallienus AE Antoninianus. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right / APOLLINI CONS AVG, Centaur walking left, holding globe and trophy - as discussed on CT, this is a reversed rudder. Mintmark H. Cohen 74, RSC 74. Sear5 10177.

 

The Centaur is in the zoo series but the lion is not.

 

That's lovely, @DonnaML! I admired it (and lamented its sold status) when I was at Akropolis Coins over the weekend. I'm glad it went to a good home.

I think those are supposed to be its pectoral fins! They are quite prominent on my specimen of the coin:

 

So the coins celebrating legions, using the legionary badge on the reverse, are not part of the zoo series? Interesting. Some nice coins there too.

 

They are part of the legionary series. The key feature of the zoo series is that their reverses plea to one of nine Roman deities, asking for their protection. The legend on the reverses of the coins translates as "To (the named deity) Preserver of the Augustus." In addition to this plea to a deity, they depict a creature associated with that deity. For example, the NEPTVNO CONS AVG coins depict sea creatures associated with Neptune: capricorns and hippocamps. The DIANA CONS AVG coins depict various antler-and-hoof animals associate with Diana: stags, does, antelopes, gazelles. IOVI CONS AVG depicts a goat, because goats are associated with Jupiter (Jove).

 

Very interesting, @Roman Collector . Didn't make the connection until now. So on the coin with the centaur, that points to Apollo. I didn't realize that all the creatures point to a specific deity.

 

Yep. Centaurs are associated with Apollo. You may read about this in my post from a few years back.

 

There's a fantastic mosaic work in the Sousse museum that includes a great depiction Neptun on his biga. The main mosaic is supposedly from the 2nd or 3rd century, but the one below is apparently from the mid 3rd century, Gallienus times so. Look at the hippocamps and how similarly their are depicted on Gallienus coinage.
More about the main mosaic : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaïque_du_triomphe_de_Neptune_de_la_maison_de_Sorothus (no english page)




Mine has a weak obverse and the reverse legend is half gone but that hippocamp was too nice and I decided to let my second specimen go, despite the nicer (and scarcer cuirassed) bust and the better reverse legend.

 

If you go to page 2 of this thread, to the list of types at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ga...p-build-the-ct-zoo.361207/page-2#post-4554343, you will see that the list includes the deity associated with each animal. The only one that doesn't make a lot of sense to me is the association of the criocamp (mythical beast with head and forelimbs of ram, and body and rear of fish) with Mercury rather than Neptune.

In terms of the legionary series, see my post at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/tw...t-part-of-his-zoo-series.368770/#post-4966036, which includes a link to the list of the legions and their emblems depicted in that series, at http://www258.pair.com/denarius/cgi-bin/erfind.pl?sstring=legio+milan. Note that several animals served as the emblem of more than one legion -- e.g., the bull for three legions [VII, VIII, and X].

This is my only example from the legionary series (which for whatever reason is much harder to find than the Zoo Series) -- a bull as the emblem of Leg. VIII Augusta, based in Strasbourg, France (then Argentoratum in Gaul):



The obverse is pretty bad, but I like the bull.

 

For a Gallienus coin, that's (very much) above average. Well centered, good legends, especially on the obverse and I can't say I dislike the portrait.

 

Just thought I'd resurrect this thread to add several types that have yet to be represented here. The first is a gryphon walking right. It does have an unusual mintmark, bearing a sigma instead of a delta.


Next I have a gryphon seated left. This was a very hard coin to photograph and perhaps I'll retry at a later time when I have better lighting and maybe improve my photography skills which are minimal at the moment. This coin in hand has very pleasant silvering and detail, but for some reason the green encrustations kind of took over the photo. Anyways, it's much nicer in hand and a coin I never thought I would own!


Another coin i thought I would never own is the left facing Herculean lion! This was, oddly enough, one of my cheaper purchases as it came in a lot from CNG, along with my right facing gryphon and my hippocamp with an unusual mintmark.


A left facing hippocamp, another lucky find in a CNG lot.


I have two examples of the Capricorn, these are amongst my favorites in my collection.



I also have two examples of the left facing pegasus, actually I have a third but it's not even worth it to photograph. The first was in a CNG lot, and the second was a lucky ebay find. It's overcleaned, but it was a very good price despite that and the reverse is a die match for a coin sold by Wolkow himself.



And lastly, a coin that I don't recall being mentioned in this thread, I have a Gallienus coin with the IVNONI Capreolus reverse that's normally found on Salonina's coinage.

 

I also have this coin, which is by no means a nice looking coin, but the mintmark is IX instead of the XI it normally is.


I know the boar was already represented, but I love my dappled guy!


Another one of my favorites in my collection, and unusually styled Pegasus. I have a few similar to this because I just love this style, but this coin stands apart from my others as it also has what appears to be a mintmark on it's flank, possibly double struck...


Here's the hippocamp with the unusual mintmark that I mentioned in the above post.


This is an imitation gazelle coin that I purchased from Wolkow.


A rather nice portrait and tigress, my photography skills don't do it the proper justice...

Edited to add:

A hippocamp coin with the misspelling of N(A)EPTVNO. Possibly a fraudulent coin?