I've always wanted one of those Aurelian antoninianus with good silvering and a nice strike, and this coin happens to check that list. The sunlight really pops up the silvering! Aurelian Antoninianus with Sol stepping on captives, Oriens Aug, (Eastern Victory), denoting his subjugation of the Palmyrene Empire. VIIII in exergue (does anyone know what this mean?) 4.03g Also can anyone know which mint issued this coin, so far I see none mentioned online.
This is from Rome mint (RIC V 62). The VIIII is the officina number, which according to RIC start with "P" (Prima, for 1) and go up to "X" (10). RIC doesn't say which officinas use letters vs numbers, but I'm guessing it's P-Q then V-X since the letters repeat after Q (Quarta=4, Quinta=5).
I have two ORIENS AVG reverses 1: Sol trampling or chasing a defeated enemy 2: Sol triumphant over two enemies.
While Heliodromus gave the correct answer IMO I want to add how you can find such things easily. Do an 'advanced search' om the online RIC volume V part I update in progress. https://ric.mom.fr/en/search/advanced You can fill in what you can but it is important NOT to enter something that is not correct since that will eliminate what you are wanting to find. Using the pull down menus set Aurelianus in 'Person' and –/–//VIIII in 'Reverse mark'. Note that –/–//VIIII means the left and right fields are blank (-) and the exergue (//) has VIIII. If you scroll down on the pull down you can see what choices exist (they miss very few). When you are given the possible choices, select the one that seems best and bring up the full page on that coin: https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/1731?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&Person=Aurelianus&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&ReverseMark=–/–//VIIII&asmSelect10=&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&mod=result&from=advanced At the bottom you will find links to images of coins they have had reported (37 of this one) most with photos. The Oriens type was issued by more than one mint each of which numbered their officinae (workshops) as they saw fit. Rome was famous for trying to confuse modern collectors by mixing Greek and Roman numerals. Some are obviously to avoid conflicts like the Q and Q for 4 and 5. My favorite is using P for Prima (1st) but Greek B (beta) for 2nd since an S for Secunda conflicts with the Greek S mark for sixth. Some things you have to learn without understanding why they did it that way. When you brought up that search on –/–//VIIII for 'Reverse mark', you were presented with two choices. How long did you look at the two before you discovered the difference was the obverse legends differed by one C (Caesar)? This new online resource has a lot more variations than did the old RIC book. You can use RIC 62 here or perhaps the Temp №: 1731 which may get changed if and when this project is declared complete. This resource ONLY covers Claudius II through Tacitus but it does it well. Gallienus? Probus? My, wouldn't it be great to have a resource in this format for them? At the rate these thing go, the author of those may be in kindergarten.
I finally managed to get a silvered Aurelian. The surface silvering on these seems rather poor quality and it's tough to get one with partial silver, let alone full!
AURELIAN Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right REVERSE: ORIENS AVG, Sol standing left with hand raised, foot on one of two bound captives, XXIP in ex. Struck at Serdica, 274 AD 3.4g, 23mm RIC 63f, Venera 1008, C 145 AURELIAN Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right REVERSE: ORIENS AVG, Sol advancing left, holding globe & right hand raised in salute, treading on left of two captives at foot, officina letter in ex Struck at Rome,272-4 AD 4.4g, 22mm RIC 62
Cyzicus mint Obv: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG Rev: ORIENS AVG - Sol, standing left, raising right hand and holding globe in left; captive at feet XXL in exergue RIC 360 22mm, 3.8g.
