Tacitus Thursday - Unique Mazzini plate coin edition

If T-Bone can have a Tuesday, and the two Faustinae a Friday, then why can't Tacitus get a day for himself as well ?

Obviously, though, we won't be talking about the historian who wrote many significative works on Roman History, but rather the other important (if we can call important a ruler who lasted less than a year - indeed, Eutropius says that "he was unable, however, to show the world anything remarkable") individual with that name, the emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus. However, even though his reign might have been short-lived, his coinage is anything but boring and, in my opinion, certainly deserves a comprehensive overview - besides having the title of being the last emperor to have had provincial coins struck for him outside of Alexandria, his antoniniani were struck at a great number of Imperial mints, with a large variety of different styles and bust types, and he also introduced quite a few new reverses while also resurrecting old ones. This series will not be weekly like @Roman Collector's, as I wouldn't manage to obtain new coins as fast as him, but I hope I'll be able to still update it periodically with new entries. As for this first edition, I'd like to make it special, so I'm going to post something that will definitely stand out - this antoninianus, besides featuring a rare and historically important reverse type (I think @dougsmit is the only other one on the forum to own one with the same legend), is also unique and can boast of a very important provenance:​

Roman Empire, Tacitus (275-276), Antoninianus, Serdica mint.
Obverse: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the front;
Reverse: VICTORI-IA PERPE-TVA AVG, Victory standing right, holding wreath in right hand and palm against left shoulder, facing Emperor in military dress standing left, right hand outstretched and holding long sceptre in left hand; star in field, KA(•)Γ(•) in exergue;
RIC V - (c.f. RIC V 201), RIC V Online 3955 (this coin), Mazzini 167 (this coin), Estiot 96, 472 (this coin)

Before analyzing the historical meaning of this coin, let's quickly talk about the original owner of this coin, Giuseppe Mazzini (not to be confused with a more famous Italian patriot of the same name): he was born in Livorno in 1887, which is coincidentally the birthplace of Giovanni Dattari as well, and he died in Torino in 1961; he was a member of Parliament and held many important positions in several Italian industries such as Montecatini and Ilva. Besides this, though, he also wrote for the Italian Journal of Numismatics and was a dedicated collector of Roman coins, assembling a collection containing over 8000 coins in all metals, which where published in a series of five volumes by Mario Ratto, who also auctioned his collection in Milan after his death (@curtislclay told me that he was able to purchase several coins from the collection in 1967). This coin was illustrated in the old black and white book and, being unique, that photo also had to be reused for Estiot's as well as RIC V Online:



Now, let's talk about the reverse type itself: it belongs to the third and final issue of Tacitus from the Serdica mint, struck in the first part of 276, and it is listed in RIC only as coming from the fourth officina (RIC V 201-203). It is also worth mentioning that it mentions the existance of a VICTORIA PONTICA AVG type as well (RIC V 204), but I've been unable to find an example, so it might have been a forgery or a tooled coin. Going back to the PERPETVA type, it was only used in Serdica, though it is clearly a parallel to the VICTORIA GOTTHI antoniniani struck at Ticinum at the same time, and they must refer to the same victories obtained by the emperor in his Gothic campaign:


(Image courtesy of Roma Numismatics)

Unfortunately, as with everything else from the reign of Tacitus, the historical information regarding this campaign is very scarce, though the few sources that mention it in some detail (Zonaras) say that the "Scythians" had come from the Maeotian Swamp (today known as the Sea of Azov) and had then invaded the Eastern provinces of the empire through Colchis, going as far as Cilicia, where they were finally crushed by the emperor. However, Tacitus was unable to enjoy his victory for long (It certainly wasn't PERPETVA as the coins claim ), because he perished soon afterwards in uncertain circumstances: while the Historia Augusta says that he died of disease, Zosimus and Zonaras instead claim that he was murdered in a plot, by a group of conspirators who eliminated him after having killed his cousin, the governor of Syria Maximinus, due to being a bad administrator. If their version is the true one, then it is interesting to wonder whether the future emperor Probus could have been involved in the assassination too, as he certainly would've gained from it - though Zosimus says that after obtaining the throne he had them condemned to death for their crimes.

At the time, the Serdica mint had four officinae, though it appears that the first one didn't strike this type for whatever reason, as no examples have surfaced yet. The fourth officina was the most prolific one in issuing it, as it used four different obverse legends: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, IMP C M CL TACITVS P AVG, IMP C M CL TACITVS P F AVG and finally IMP C TACITVS INVICTVS AVG. On the other hand, the third officina only used the first legend (my coin, the only known example) and the last one, and the second is known only from one example with the INVICTVS legend, though my guess is that, eventually, a coin with the shorter legend will surface as well. This type was also continued during Florian's reign, though it is even scarcer; while they are all very hard to find, I'll make sure to pick up all the ones I spot at auction and see how far into building a set of them I can go.

That's all for now; post your antoniniani of Tacitus from Serdica, your coins with Victory, your coins with an important provenance, or anything else you feel like might be relevant !

Sources:
- Biography of Giuseppe Mazzini;
- RIC V Online;
- Historia Augusta, Life of the Emperor Tacitus;
- Zonaras, Alexander Severus to Diocletian;
- Eutropius, Abridgement of Roman History, Book 9;
- Zosimus, New History, Book 1;

 

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Wow, such beautiful coins. I especially like the first one!

I've always wanted a Tacitus, but they seem to be a bit too expensive for me, mostly. I suspect my best bet will be to try to find an Alexandrian tet.

I do have a similar looking dude, Florian, whom I got for like $4 or something stupid.

 

great write up Claudius, thanks.

 

Those are B.E.A - utiful @Claudius_Gothicus !
I don't have a Tacitus Victory.
Sadly, I've only got one Tacitus but he has a great neckbeard and Salus is pretty cool too.

Tacitus
Antoninanus
275-276 AD
Obverse: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: SALVS PVBLI, Salus standing right, feeding serpent in arms.
Mintmark T.

 

...tuesday woulda rhymed better but......its your show ^^..here's my tacitus still in the dirt it was found in..

 

Great write-up and coins.

My one Tacitus:

Tacitus, silvered billon Antoninianus, Lugdunum [Lyons] Mint, First Officina, 275-276 AD. Obv. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, IMP C L TACITVS AVG / Rev. Felicitas standing left, holding long caduceus upright in left hand and cornucopiae in right hand, TEMPORVM FELICITAS, A [First Officina] in left field, star [*] in right field. RIC V-1 65, Sear RCV III 11817 (ill.),.Cohen 144. 23 mm., 3.4 g.

 

A wonderful addition indeed.

CONCORDIA MILITVM is not particularly rare for Tacitus but it does seem to be a specifically Siscia type and this late fifth issue goes from the previous IMP C M CL TACITVS P AVG obv legend to the (slightly) more basic IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, which is the last form used for Tacitus at Siscia. All variations of this phase of the fifth emission are rather rare, so it is possible that they were some of the last emissions for Tacitus in the summer of 276.


AE22 4.10g silvered billon antoninian
IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG; radiate, cuirassed bust r.
CONCORDIA MILITVM; Emperor togate stg. r., clasping the hand of Concordia stg. l.
VI in exe
BNC p.377, RIC V-1 183var. (bust type variation) RIC Online #3842

 

What a great coin... interesting type, a carefully engraved bust (especially the armour and drapery), plus that provenance is hard to beat! Congrats!

Here's my Antioch double ant:


And my only Mazzini provenance:

 

Nice coin and great write up!

Here's my Tacitus antoninianus with INVICTVS in the obverse legend.

 

Great write-up, exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

I have two Tacitus Antoniniae, which celebrate his Gothic victory. Here is one of them:

IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG // VICTORIA GOTTHI - P

The coin was minted from fresh dies and the silvering is nearly completely preserved.

 

Fantastic write up! Not only did I learn about your coin and the history behind it, but also about Mazzini. Well done!

It's always a thrill to acquire a unique and provenanced coin, too!

Here's the VICTORIA GOTTHI issue to which you refer. It's my favorite Tacitus.


Tacitus, AD 275-276.
Roman billon antoninianus, 3.57 gm, 21.1 mm.
Ticinum, AD 276.
Obv: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: VICTORIA GOTTHI, Victoria standing left, holding wreath and palm; P in exergue.
Refs: RIC 172; Cohen 158; Sear 11821; Hunter 59; CBN 1676.

 

Great coin, great provenance, great writeup !
Thanks for that @Claudius_Gothicus

My only Tacitus is from Ticinium


Tacitus, Antoninianus - Ticinium mint, AD 275-276
IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, Radiate bust of Tacitus right
SECVRIT PERP, Securitas standing left leaning on column, retrograde µ at exergue
4.03 gr
Ref : RCV #11812, Cohen #131, RIC V (1) 163

Q

 

Beautiful coins. I'm also a fan of Tacitus. I have this one from Serdica, with CONSERVAT reverse.
Obv: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG.Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: CONSERVAT MILIT / B / KA. Mars standing right, holding spear and giving globe to Tacitus standing left, holding sceptre.
RIC V online 3908. Weight: 3 g.

 

Here's my contribution:

Tacitus 275 - 276

Ӕ silvered Antoninianus, Rome, 275

21 x 23 mm - 4.07 g

IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG

Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

R/ LAETITIA FVND

Laetitia standing left, holding wreath and anchor.
XXIB in exergue.

RIC Vi Rome 89b

large, grey silvering patina, XF

 

This is a wonderful write up and a top notch coin @Claudius_Gothicus ! I am particularly impressed with the provenance. Your collection is coming along quite well.

I’m afraid I don’t have a Tacitus to share but I do think he is an interesting emperor, especially being the last emperor chosen by the senate. In the 8 months it took the senate to name him emperor m it seems Severina held imperium. Here is a coin from that 8 month period.